Yay for weekends!
Happiness is...
- having an essay in the bag
- looking forward to my weekly bubble bath
- looking forward to snuggles
- writing out exactly what I'm involved in at work (and realising that it ain't small potatoes!)
- finally getting my turn at having stuff done just for me at work
Just so I wouldn't have to keep telling myself not to forget stuff, I wrote out a list of all the tasks/projects/whatever you want to call them that I'm currently involved in with a few sketchy notes about where I'm up to and what I need to do next to complete them. Currently, I'm in the midst of:
- writing next year's Regulations (a task that I have become more and more involved in over the last couple of years)
- mapping the University's processes with a view to getting them on the website and available to all (this is a major part of the new job that's been created for me)
- writing, editing, quality controlling and publishing interactive training documentation using the new training tool (the other major part of my new job)
- capturing data on courses that are run on a not-for-credit basis as opposed to most of our programmes of study that involve students studying for academic credit (which has been part of my job for a long time)
Add to this list that I've just OK'd next year's academic calendar and I have an intimate knowledge of our current student records system (and am hoping to have a hand in the development of the new one) and you'll maybe understand why I sometimes feel frustrated at the financial side of my job. The job itself is (much of the time) varied, challenging and interesting. I receive plenty of praise and recognition from the people I work with (and they are all over the University, not just in my department). But until the mapping and training tools came along and I took to them like a duck to water and left everyone else floating in my wake, the various elements were all things that just about anyone could do as well as me given enough time. Of course, it would have taken them 8 years to reach my level of knowledge and expertise and probably one person wouldn't have been able to take on the full load since I've accumulated bits and pieces over the years, but that isn't a factor in how these things are calculated.
Now, however, I have a specialist role, tailored to fit me and only me. In the immediate term, it should mean that my grade doesn't change. But, I'm expecting all of the specialist roles to be bumped up a grade once all the toing and froing between our boss and Personnel is sorted - so, I'm hoping that I'll be included in that. That would put me on a level of pay that would finally allow us to get to grips with our debts and still have cash for things like decorating, gardening an even the odd day out somewhere. AND once the debts were gone, maybe even a full-blown holiday, who knows? :p
Right, I'm off for my bath. Toodles, LJ.
- having an essay in the bag
- looking forward to my weekly bubble bath
- looking forward to snuggles
- writing out exactly what I'm involved in at work (and realising that it ain't small potatoes!)
- finally getting my turn at having stuff done just for me at work
Just so I wouldn't have to keep telling myself not to forget stuff, I wrote out a list of all the tasks/projects/whatever you want to call them that I'm currently involved in with a few sketchy notes about where I'm up to and what I need to do next to complete them. Currently, I'm in the midst of:
- writing next year's Regulations (a task that I have become more and more involved in over the last couple of years)
- mapping the University's processes with a view to getting them on the website and available to all (this is a major part of the new job that's been created for me)
- writing, editing, quality controlling and publishing interactive training documentation using the new training tool (the other major part of my new job)
- capturing data on courses that are run on a not-for-credit basis as opposed to most of our programmes of study that involve students studying for academic credit (which has been part of my job for a long time)
Add to this list that I've just OK'd next year's academic calendar and I have an intimate knowledge of our current student records system (and am hoping to have a hand in the development of the new one) and you'll maybe understand why I sometimes feel frustrated at the financial side of my job. The job itself is (much of the time) varied, challenging and interesting. I receive plenty of praise and recognition from the people I work with (and they are all over the University, not just in my department). But until the mapping and training tools came along and I took to them like a duck to water and left everyone else floating in my wake, the various elements were all things that just about anyone could do as well as me given enough time. Of course, it would have taken them 8 years to reach my level of knowledge and expertise and probably one person wouldn't have been able to take on the full load since I've accumulated bits and pieces over the years, but that isn't a factor in how these things are calculated.
Now, however, I have a specialist role, tailored to fit me and only me. In the immediate term, it should mean that my grade doesn't change. But, I'm expecting all of the specialist roles to be bumped up a grade once all the toing and froing between our boss and Personnel is sorted - so, I'm hoping that I'll be included in that. That would put me on a level of pay that would finally allow us to get to grips with our debts and still have cash for things like decorating, gardening an even the odd day out somewhere. AND once the debts were gone, maybe even a full-blown holiday, who knows? :p
Right, I'm off for my bath. Toodles, LJ.