眷戀--神無月之巫女

According to a Taiwanese paradox saying, a perfect job requires three benefits: high pay, few duties, and a short commute distance. High pay leads to a high living standard and a high social position in a capitalist society, while few duties involve a lighter job load and few job responsibilities. Furthermore, a short commute distance in a crowded, busy, and heavy-traffic city will allow commuters to spend more time with their families. Although the perfect job seems a myth as it is almost impossible to gain these benefits at the same time, many, like me, have been searching for the perfect job for years.

My first job was in junior high school teaching physics and chemistry in my home city. My parents were very proud of me because they thought it was a wonderful job; not only was the salary acceptable but also the profession itself. In addition, they were glad that I could live with them after I had been studying in another city for four years to get my undergraduate degree. I also thought it might be a nice job which I could rely on for my entire life; instead, I finally figured out that it was only my parents’ perfect job, not mine. Because of problems controlling the class, I couldn’t even enjoy a little fun in my work. Consequently, I decided to go to graduate school to get my master’s degree and think about my next job.

My second job was working as an engineer for a semiconductor company located in HsinChu Science Park；even the name “a science engineer” sounds smart, important and “cool”. Because the income was also good enough to rent an apartment and to buy a car, I thought it’s a great job, except for not living with my family.

However, the more I got acquainted with my job assignment, the more I lost my passion for it; I became fed up with those boring routines since they were not as thrilling as I had imagined. As a result, I decided to change to the Information Technology (IT) field which had attracted me for a long time.

I was lucky to get an IT job in a software company although I didn’t have an academic degree in this field. I was also happy that I could play with the computer, surf on the Internet, and earn money at the same time. Knowing that everything I did had to be related to my job, I spent almost all my time reading, studying and doing my best for my job. Until I was hired by another software company and became a project manager with many responsibilities and became exhausted, I finally found out that I only had my job but lost many important things in life such as leisure time, family life, and health.

Now I understand there is no way to define a perfect job since it depends on individual requirements which might change with time. When you are in your twenties, you might think that finding an interesting job is the most important thing. When you are over thirty and married, you might want to find a stable job to support your family. For me, a person who has changed jobs many times, there is no job more perfect than another. As long as I can balance my job and my life, that job will be my perfect job.