Jobs you can skate by on

[BlueNote]

Someone mentioned ESL. I did this for about 16 months in Japan, no teaching experience or formal education in teaching. My first gig sucked because the company went bankrupt and didn't pay me. I got a second gig working about 23 hours a week, making about $30-$40 an hour (when you include my free rent and car usage). I got 6 weeks of paid vacation a year. I toured more of Japan then most natives do in their lifetimes during those 6 week. I did a lot of song and dance with the young classes which was actually a great work out. There was definitely anxiety in the beginning because I had to sing and dance which was like asking a fish to climb a tree but I made myself do it and eventually became competent. I also had to drive to locations and I knew next to no Japanese and didn't use a GPS so that was intense at first. After the first 2-3 months it got a lot easier and by the end of my adventure in ESL I was designing my own custom lesson plans based on research into the field (my school provided lots of books on ESL teaching).

The thing that makes teaching ESL way easier over time is that once you have done a lesson so many times you could do it in your sleep but the first few iterations are daunting especially with 0 experience, culture shock and jet lag.

[jesmine]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... _skill.svg
Mileage obviously varies, but using the diagram is a good way to match your lifestrategy with your current state and tendencies.

Can you describe a current challenge that affords you a flow state? In what sector do you spend most of your time?

[ertyu]

Good thread to resurrect. I'm particularly curious how the 3 skate by on jobs mentioned above, technical writing, business analyst, and project manager, have stood the test of time in '24, a round 10 years after the original discussion. Are technical writers still a thing in the age of chat gpt? What jobs would make it to your current list of cake jobs?

[guitarplayer]

First few months: Anxiety
Year 0.3-1: Arousal
Years 1-3: Flow
Years 3-4: Control
Years 5-6: Relaxation
Years 7-8: Boredom

So far, this roughly holds true for me based on a sample size of continuously about N = 3. It also fits the 'lifetimes comic'.

[guitarplayer]

You can skate by on any job which career path doesn't have an up-or-out structure. Look around, do you see all age groups represented at your pay-grade or just the young ones. If all ages are represented, that's a good indicator of a skate-by job.

Bump up, good advice.

[jacob]

Can you describe a current challenge that affords you a flow state? In what sector do you spend most of your time?

Writing missives like viewtopic.php?p=292933#p292933 easily gets me in the flow state.

I've previously talked a lot about how I tend to experience the chart in a clockwise manner much like this quote except maybe twice as fast.

First few months: Anxiety
Year 0.3-1: Arousal
Years 1-3: Flow
Years 3-4: Control
Years 5-6: Relaxation
Years 7-8: Boredom

I get serially fascinated by new things only to drop them again when I've learned everything I can about them. (This renders me incompatible with the idea of doing the same thing for 30 years in a career while waiting for promotions to open up. A career would mostly be a life of apathetic boredom.) Right now my interest is in computer games. This followed Randers2052 prediction that the world is fast running out of nature, jobs, and tourist attractions and so his recommendation is to better learn to appreciate electronic entertainment than be forced into it later for lack of alternatives. (Also see people over 60 and their computer problems.)

I've found a few things. First, modern games are nothing like games from 20+ years ago when I last spent a lot of time on this. They are much more complex both in depth and width. It used to be a game was something that cost $24.95 and offered maybe 30 hours of entertainment to get through it and then it on to the next one. Rinse and repeat. Now, games are massive with anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands simultaneous players and based on either grind- or subscription-models. Some games have been running for 20+ years complete with communities and subcultures built around them and so in that way they compare more to amateur sports or volunteer jobs.

Second, different games send me into different states. The game I play the most by far (World of Warships) puts me in the flow state. The fundamentals of driving and shooting are relatively simple to learn (mouse + WASD + ~5 different buttons) but the game is all about positioning and team play trying to outmaneuver the enemy which is much more complex (Sun Tzu and Book of Five Rings right there). Having spent about 600 hours in nearly 2000 battles, I have a win rate in the 64% percentile (and improving) on the North American server (about 75000 people), so I'm decent but not great, which means I'm still in the learning stage. Conversely, combat flightsims put me in the anxiety (sweaty palms) or worry states; and with VR occasionally also in the a state of literal nausea Contemporary flightsims aim to be as realistic as possible so they model the full systems of the airplane just like the real world version. Now we're talking 250 different controls and 600 page manuals as these fighter jets are practically "flying computers". The learning curve is so steep that I'm not eager to run to [that wall]. Playing these games is essentially akin to a real world education as a fighter pilot. I also play a bit of Prosperous Universe which is the most advanced economy/finance/government simulator out there. Since I already know how that stuff works, this is already pure control/relaxation mode for me (skipping the whole anxiety and flow parts of the clockwise clock.) I can already see the apathy in the distant horizon. The ultimate purpose of this game just seems to get richer and richer, maybe become an angel investor, and perhaps ultimately run for governor. I'm currently building my second base which was quite exciting to set up. I just don't think that will be the case at base #50. It would take me a few years to get to that point though.

[guitarplayer]

I get serially fascinated by new things only to drop them again when I've learned everything I can about them.

You can apply the travelling-three-times formula to this to extend the shelf life of pursuits

1. learn all there is about something (plan your trip)
2. do something (do the trip)
3. look back and see how it went (picture slide show)

[jacob]

You can apply the travelling-three-times formula to this to extend the shelf life of pursuits

1. learn all there is about something (plan your trip)
2. do something (do the trip)
3. look back and see how it went (picture slide show)

I kinda do that [for a given activity] and it goes like this for me:

1. Learning: worry, arousal, flow.
2. Doing: flow, control, relaxation.
3. Looking back/doing maintenance: boredom, apathy.

[guitarplayer]

I see potential for nesting but this is probably splitting hairs. Wonder how many iterations of this it takes so that it itself becomes repetitive? I fear I might be hitting that spot sometime.

[FieDollar]

Avoid a job where you work alone in this spot. Being around other people is a valuable thing.