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To those who have office jobs in the loop working for large corporations, what is it like? Do you like you jobs? Do a lot of people at work hook up? Is it a great feeling knowing your in Chicago, wearing a suit or tie, working downtown in a nice office, around the best and the brightest, with a good job with room to climb the ladder? Is it what you thought it would be?
To those who have office jobs in the loop working for large corporations, what is it like? Do you like you jobs? Do a lot of people at work hook up? Is it a great feeling knowing your in Chicago, wearing a suit or tie, working downtown in a nice office, around the best and the brightest, with a good job with room to climb the ladder? Is it what you thought it would be?
I have worked in and around the Loop for most of the past 17 years, part of the time working for companies that, globally, had over 100,000 employees, a little bit of time working for a non-profit, and the balance working for small-to-mid-sized companies.
I have only had to wear a suit and tie for about three years of that time. I'm sure there are places that are most strict about that but certainly not everyone who works in the Loop needs to dress in full business regalia. I do sometimes like to wear a suit, though. Like a lot of things, it's much more fun when you do it by choice, only when you feel like it, than when it's mandated.
My first job in the Loop was with a commodity broker that was a subsidiary of a global agribusiness conglomerate. I had to fly to the headquarters for orientation, which was very corporate. The Chicago office was in the Sears Tower, just a few years after Sears had moved out and it'd been renovated so it was still top-tier office space at the time. I loved it. As a kid who grew up in a town of 560 seven miles from anywhere, working in the (at the time) tallest building in the world and getting to go on the floors of the (then still mostly open-outcry and very busy) commodity exchanges to see the energetic chaos was very, very heady stuff. One of the VPs looked, talked and acted like Gordon Gekko. Everything was clean and modern, we had the best information that money could buy, the best technology available at the time, and some of the best people in the business. And here I was, just a kid who managed to take an interview a cousin had leveraged for me and talk my way into the club.
I took the typical new grad advice about being the first to arrive and last to leave to heart and worked a lot of hours. My starting salary was higher than my dad's. It didn't take long and I was making double what he was, but I never really bought into the mindset of superiority. I knew and still knew how lucky I was to have an "in" there. I left that company after a little over three years, but the experience has opened a lot of doors ever since. But I don't really like clubby atmospheres. Part of what I liked about the old open-outcry system was that plenty of regular Chicago guys made their way into the offices by paying attention and working their way up through the ranks. With computer-based trading, you get mostly high-math quant-jock types, and I like math and understand it, but I also like it where it's not only highly-educated types in an office. There were South Side Chicago guys - the office ballpark outings at that first place were to see the Sox, not the Cubs. It was real people, just real people who made a bit more money than most through hard work, loyalty and, usually, a few lucky guesses. And they knew it was part luck. I get fed up with people who claim chance has no bearing on success.
Over the years I've come to realize that I don't really like corporate life. I'm not even 40 yet, but I'm formulating a strategy to be able to leave by 45 or so. Not retire exactly - I can't put together enough money to be independently wealthy by then - but a plan to use savings and paying down mortgage and living within my means in some ways to live a life I have more control over.
But at its best, working in the Loop can be a lot of fun. The jobs there aren't all the same - some people never travel, some people travel every week. Some people are born into families such that they really have no clue how most people live - they may mean well, but just don't have any understandings of what it's like to stare at an empty bank account and and empty fridge with payday still a week away. My jobs in the Loop have afforded me the luxury of not having that experience in a long time now, but I do know what that feeling is like from my early days.
I will also say that being actually IN the Loop is better, more intense and different from being even just a few blocks outside of it. If you're at Lasalle and Madison, it's more intense than if you're at Madison and Canal, especially in the summer.
It is nice when you work with really smart people. Big corporations tend to have some really smart people and some really lazy people, and sometimes they're the same person. Lazy people can slide by at a large corp. That can be annoying when you need something from them. At smaller companies, it's harder to hide. At my current company, it's small. It was REALLY small when I started. I was like employee 12 or something.
It will always be a great feeling being in Chicago, though.
enjoy working in the loop, but it all depends on who your team is at work. I like the poeple I work with, we all work hard, but laugh along the way. Lots of opportunities for out of work fun, although I have kids, so I miss a lot of it because I like to see the kiddies.
To those who have office jobs in the loop working for large corporations, what is it like? Do you like you jobs? Do a lot of people at work hook up? Is it a great feeling knowing your in Chicago, wearing a suit or tie, working downtown in a nice office, around the best and the brightest, with a good job with room to climb the ladder? Is it what you thought it would be?
I work for a very large corporation (over 100,000 people) that has an office in the loop. People do not hook up at my current job. Heck, at least half of the office is over 60. I'm probably the 5th or 6th youngest person there and I'm 31... Of course, at my first job the culture was very different; the average age was a lot younger and yes, some people were hooking up.
My experience and feelings are very similar to what emathias posted. My parents did not go to college and got ahead by working hard. So, I did the whole coming in early and leaving late routine as well. I doubled my salary in 3 years that way, which was cool. But, in the long run I want to get out of this routine. I don't like working for a big corporation. I want more control over my time and I'm hoping that in a few years I can quit and do work I find more interesting.
Working downtown can make you feel important in a way. The offices are beautiful and the buildings are huge and if you get an office, you'll probably have a cool view. All that stuff is nice, but unless you enjoy the actual work, it isn't enough to make you feel fulfilled.
Last edited by nikitakolata; 12-13-2012 at 10:05 PM..
I have worked in and around the Loop for most of the past 17 years, part of the time working for companies that, globally, had over 100,000 employees, a little bit of time working for a non-profit, and the balance working for small-to-mid-sized companies.
I have only had to wear a suit and tie for about three years of that time. I'm sure there are places that are most strict about that but certainly not everyone who works in the Loop needs to dress in full business regalia. I do sometimes like to wear a suit, though. Like a lot of things, it's much more fun when you do it by choice, only when you feel like it, than when it's mandated.
My first job in the Loop was with a commodity broker that was a subsidiary of a global agribusiness conglomerate. I had to fly to the headquarters for orientation, which was very corporate. The Chicago office was in the Sears Tower, just a few years after Sears had moved out and it'd been renovated so it was still top-tier office space at the time. I loved it. As a kid who grew up in a town of 560 seven miles from anywhere, working in the (at the time) tallest building in the world and getting to go on the floors of the (then still mostly open-outcry and very busy) commodity exchanges to see the energetic chaos was very, very heady stuff. One of the VPs looked, talked and acted like Gordon Gekko. Everything was clean and modern, we had the best information that money could buy, the best technology available at the time, and some of the best people in the business. And here I was, just a kid who managed to take an interview a cousin had leveraged for me and talk my way into the club.
I took the typical new grad advice about being the first to arrive and last to leave to heart and worked a lot of hours. My starting salary was higher than my dad's. It didn't take long and I was making double what he was, but I never really bought into the mindset of superiority. I knew and still knew how lucky I was to have an "in" there. I left that company after a little over three years, but the experience has opened a lot of doors ever since. But I don't really like clubby atmospheres. Part of what I liked about the old open-outcry system was that plenty of regular Chicago guys made their way into the offices by paying attention and working their way up through the ranks. With computer-based trading, you get mostly high-math quant-jock types, and I like math and understand it, but I also like it where it's not only highly-educated types in an office. There were South Side Chicago guys - the office ballpark outings at that first place were to see the Sox, not the Cubs. It was real people, just real people who made a bit more money than most through hard work, loyalty and, usually, a few lucky guesses. And they knew it was part luck. I get fed up with people who claim chance has no bearing on success.
Over the years I've come to realize that I don't really like corporate life. I'm not even 40 yet, but I'm formulating a strategy to be able to leave by 45 or so. Not retire exactly - I can't put together enough money to be independently wealthy by then - but a plan to use savings and paying down mortgage and living within my means in some ways to live a life I have more control over.
But at its best, working in the Loop can be a lot of fun. The jobs there aren't all the same - some people never travel, some people travel every week. Some people are born into families such that they really have no clue how most people live - they may mean well, but just don't have any understandings of what it's like to stare at an empty bank account and and empty fridge with payday still a week away. My jobs in the Loop have afforded me the luxury of not having that experience in a long time now, but I do know what that feeling is like from my early days.
I will also say that being actually IN the Loop is better, more intense and different from being even just a few blocks outside of it. If you're at Lasalle and Madison, it's more intense than if you're at Madison and Canal, especially in the summer.
It is nice when you work with really smart people. Big corporations tend to have some really smart people and some really lazy people, and sometimes they're the same person. Lazy people can slide by at a large corp. That can be annoying when you need something from them. At smaller companies, it's harder to hide. At my current company, it's small. It was REALLY small when I started. I was like employee 12 or something.
It will always be a great feeling being in Chicago, though.
Sorry this was so stream-of-consciousness.
Good post, interesting to read..
Most people do get tired of corporate life after a while, but it's not always easy, or practical to pursue other options, especially if the money stream dries up..
Most people do get tired of corporate life after a while, but it's not always easy, or practical to pursue other options, especially if the money stream dries up..
Yep! Or, marry someone who makes enough and doesn't hate what they do. My husband also works in the loop and he doesn't hate his job the way I do, luckily. Once the house is paid off, I'm out when it comes to my job.
To those who have office jobs in the loop working for large corporations, what is it like? Do you like you jobs?
What's it like? It's fine...can be fun. I don't think the geography necessarily defines it. I work for a very large corporation but my division is kind of different from most of the rest of the company. We are more artistic let's say. Just because I work in the Loop doesn't mean my job isn't "cool" or robotic. There are still artistic types of jobs in the Loop and not ones where everyone is trying to brown nose all the time (even though at my office there's definitely that but it's usually only with one or two people).
Quote:
Do a lot of people at work hook up?
I have no idea. I work with a lot of married people. I know of some people hooking up (non married peeps) and a few affairs in the past. I have considered it before to be honest and I could have easily done it with a few but decided it might be weird. My coworker did and he had an odd experience after.
Quote:
Is it a great feeling knowing your in Chicago, wearing a suit or tie, working downtown in a nice office, around the best and the brightest, with a good job with room to climb the ladder? Is it what you thought it would be?
I don't wear a suit or tie to work. I've never worn one to work in fact. I wear jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt or whatever the hell I want (except a beer shirt) to work everyday.
You see here's the deal. The geography doesn't necessarily define what kind of job it is, it's the employer that does. As long as I'm not at a client, my employer barely has a dress code. I guess I am not really affected by people wearing suits and what not. I've been around enough very successful people since I moved to Chicago to not get swayed like that anymore. To me it's just where my work is. I don't think I'm any better or any worse than anyone else just because I work in the Loop in Chicago.
No offense, but your message kind of comes off as snide in a way to me at least. If that's not your intention then sorry.
Last edited by marothisu; 12-14-2012 at 08:13 AM..
You see here's the deal. The geography doesn't necessarily define what kind of job it is, it's the employer that does. As long as I'm not at a client, my employer barely has a dress code. OH but I work in the Loop. Is that what you thought? No offense, but your message kind of comes off as snide.
My thought as well.
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