25 years old and deep in debt

[Malthus]

DG, you're like an accountant.

Anyway, if you want an accountant, talk to HVC. 

[ulmont]

Missed the original post, but:

Ide, I graduated law school and got a job in 2006.  Still at the same firm, which has sent me to little Rock for the day...

[Ideologue]

Wow, I was way off on that.  For whatever reason I thought you were in your 3L year.  I blame you for not posting more.

[alfred russel]

Actually, I've considered going back to school for accounting--it doesn't seem like it involves an overwhelming level of mathematical skill, it is more-or-less marketable, it can be socially useful, it could get me a gubmint jerb which would make the amount of any debt taken on to pay for it irrelevant (though the amount of my educational debt is by definition irrelevant regardless of employment, though I wonder if that conclusion is in itself ethical accounting), it may be the rare instance where a JD background might help (some of the small number of CPA exam questions I looked at it were essentially legal/compliance questions), and honestly it looks easier than being a lawyer (especially a real lawyer) while being more remunerative and stable.  DG, you're like an accountant.  Tell me how to steal an American's job!

Ide, rather going back to school for 2-3 years to get an accounting degree which will then qualify you to apply for jobs against a herd of traditional accounting students, are you sure there isn't a way to make the law degree thing work out?

[Caliga]

Yeah.  Ide, I really don't think you'd like to be an accountant.  I think you fancy yourself a bit of a sophisticate, and entry level accounting work (which there's no way in hell you'd be able to bypass) is mind-numbingly repetitive and boring, and a monkey could do it.  It's not till you get to the higher positions that you actually get rewarded for thinking strategically and innovating.  In fact, if you try to do that as a grunt you'll actually probably get fired because low level accountants are expected to basically perform like automatons.

[Ideologue]

mind-numbingly repetitive and boring, and a monkey could do it

Yes, but what is the part that I wouldn't be good at?

I started an accounting thread of its own, but the short version is that I'm not after intellectual stimulation in my job, but rather career stability and enhanced earning potential.  As David Byrne said, same as it ever was.

The shorter version is I don't fancy myself anything; I know.

The shortest version is FU.

[garbon]

I started an accounting thread of its own, but the short version is that I'm not after intellectual stimulation in my job, but rather career stability and enhanced earning potential.  As David Byrne said, same as it ever was.

Once you have that - you will wish that sometimes you'd need to turn your brain on.

[ulmont]

Yeah, but lets be clear - ide's current gig is mindnumbingly boring.  If he can do that without going mad, he can probably do anything.

[Eddie Teach]

Yeah.  Ide, I really don't think you'd like to be an accountant.  I think you fancy yourself a bit of a sophisticate, and entry level accounting work (which there's no way in hell you'd be able to bypass) is mind-numbingly repetitive and boring, and a monkey could do it.  It's not till you get to the higher positions that you actually get rewarded for thinking strategically and innovating.  In fact, if you try to do that as a grunt you'll actually probably get fired because low level accountants are expected to basically perform like automatons.

Easier to be a sophisticate with cash in pocket, one assumes.

[garbon]

Yeah, but lets be clear - ide's current gig is mindnumbingly boring.  If he can do that without going mad, he can probably do anything.

I did data entry for a bit without going mad.

[Ideologue]

It's really not that bad.  If it was permanent, and I could drop to 40-50 rather than 50-60, I think I could probably do it forever.  And if it paid somewhat more, it'd be great, but that's always the case.  The problem is less that it is boring, but that it's boring and involves longish hours to make the money I need (albeit not psycho hours), so it cuts into goof off time or developing fun hobbies that I once had, like art.  My worries are then largely about job stability and remuneration, with a side of peace and quiet.

I do think it's made me stupider, though--like, maybe not genuinely less mentally acute, or unable to absorb interesting information that I care about, but rather less able to focus on boring shit when the reward is neither intrinsic nor certain, e.g. bar study.

They ever throw doc review your way, ulmont?  Aside from being easy to bill, I imagine it's probably relaxing in the context of an actual job.

[Ideologue]

Yeah, but lets be clear - ide's current gig is mindnumbingly boring.  If he can do that without going mad, he can probably do anything.

I did data entry for a bit without going mad.

I actually expect doc review is better than data entry.  It's more passive, requiring less keyboard input.  Though it does involve a lot of mouse-clicking.

One impediment to doing doc review forever, actually, is that it messes up your arm and hand.  Redactions in particular, and redactions of spreadsheets particularly in particular, can be really drag-and-click intensive, especially since some platforms don't allow copy-and-paste boxes so every one must be manually drawn onto a jpeg or tiff or whatever format they use image of the doc, cut into a zillion different pages that you have to click to navigate through, and the navigation options are limited.

The really annoying part of that is that it does not become apparent sometimes that whole rows have to be excised until you get to a column on a subsequent, occasionally far subsequent, page.  Then you have to click back, do redactions, click forward again.  It's really a shockingly shitty interface.  (Well, not that shockingly, if you understand what the raison d'etre de l'examen des documents is.)

[garbon]

Yeah I'd think that would be more damaging to one's wrist than data entry. The latter can involve a whole slew of keys, though mine was mostly learning how to be a pro at the number pad.

[ulmont]

Ide,

Oh yeah, I've done doc review and its transactional cousin due diligence (which is somewhat nicer because it typically involves more detailed analysis of a smaller universe of documents).

It's not bad if you can interleaved it with other work - it's pretty nice to have an unlimited number of easy hours sitting out there to pad out your day when you're done really thinking.

If it's all you have for weeks on end, not so much fun.

[crazy canuck]

I was hoping that the story would end on a more entertaining note.

Student: "I got a B.  I have never had a B.  I always get As."

Prof: "Well, there *is* a way you can get an A..." 

Prof: Let me handle your Ds, and we'll see about an A.

Now there is a guy who can write for a living!