On Being a Secretary

For most of my adult life I was very career focused. I wanted interesting work, but I also wanted the money and the status. I wanted to be able to call myself a professional. My father was a doctor, my mother a nurse and my brother also a doctor - even as a Network Administrator I was pretty much a tradesman or technician to them.

Now, though, I've turned away from that. Six years of under-employment have taught me humility. The least pleasant thing I've done to keep a roof over my head was telemarketing, and everything else gets measured by that yardstick - is it as bad as telemarketing? No? Well, okay then.

I'm enjoying the tasks that go with my new job, but I can see the time when I might be a little embarrassed to tell people that I'm "just" a secretary. On the drive in to work, though, I heard this piece on NPR's Morning Edition. The essay, part of the This I Believe series, is by a programmer-turned-secretary, and she expresses a lot of my feelings on the matter. Go listen to it or read it - it's good stuff.

I'll take being a secretary and feeling good about myself over IT and an ulcer any day.