Bored + unchallenged = time to move on?

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Roman77

I say if you're not happy, make plans to find a new job. Life is too short( and guaranteed to no-one) to get stuck doing something you don't want to do. I would say that its very difficult for many people to find a job that 1) pays well and 2) allows for creative freedom, challenges you intellectually, feels fresh, etc etc. There's only so many of those jobs around,reality is most jobs are probably about process and procedure, repeating the same duties over and over, and slowly starts to feel like soul-sucking hell, especially if you're a creative type that winds up in such a position.

This. A lot of us want something is mentally stimulating, well-paying, etc, but it's difficult to find that. If you are compensated well and are on cruise control at work, I would focus on other personal interests.

[MPowering1]

It never hurts to look around and see what opportunities are out there. Freelancing is also a good idea. But you may find yourself in a similar situation. You have to take your ego out of the equation and understand that what is in place is there because it apparently works. If it doesn't fulfill the need to be creative, you can either find a job that allows that, which may mean you have to move up some levels, or find another outlet such as freelancing.

[yellowsnow]

Looking at what's available out there will make you happier with what you have. Real writing/journalism type positions are rare these days. And jobs that pay well with benefits are almost unheard of.

I do content writing for literally pennies. And I would love to have a job like yours.

If you can find something worth jumping ship for, great. If you can't look elsewhere for challenges. Write what you have been wanting to write anyway. Doesn't matter what it is, just do it and perhaps you will be fortunate enough to find a market willing to pay for your work.

[Wordsmith12]

I noticed several people said writing/editing jobs that come with a good salary and benefits are hard to find. I know that firsthand, because mine involves virtually no original writing. I can count with one hand the number of times I've had to write something from scratch. Instead, my position mostly involves proofreading and taking boilerplate content that already exists and slapping it on paper. Everything that goes out has to be legally approved, so my boss prefers grabbing stuff that already exists rather than reinventing the wheel.

I guess the only industries that call for original writing are publications (newspapers/magazines). But in corporate communications, it's a different story.

[FredJung]

You already answered your own question. You seem to need strangers to confirm what you already know.

You're young. And thus more flexible. Do what you want. Don't become a mindless complacent drone.

[ragnarkar]

Always have stuff to do to fill your downtime at work, even if it's unrelated to your job. When I first started working, it was surfing the web and going o CA and forums. But now, I find that mostly a waste of my time,not to mention my employer's as well. Now, I have a huge "stash" of books on my kindle to help learn new skills I've been putting off for so long.

I'm a bad employee in the sense that I'm always sneaking off to do my own thing whenever I have downtime. For 90% of people in the same situation, that means engaging in personal email, useless gossip, surfing the net, etc on company time. I, on the other hand,will invest in myself on my company's time.

I'd advocate taking advantage of your boredom at work to learn something new on the company's time, preferably something related to your line of work. Check out Coursera and Udemy for courses as well.

[Mr. Ryu]

before you do anything since this job has excellent salary benefits.. do you have any debt? How much do you have saved for an emergency (emergency fund account), etc.