How much do you actually work at work?

[damnit458]

Its almost 11:15 now, and I have done nothing but surf the net since 8 am. On an average day, I probably do 4 hours of work and 4 hours of slacking off here at BEA. Now I realize that im in somewhat of a special situation being an intern and getting the bitchwork of the office (AKA data entry), but I am just curious as to how much those of you with actual jobs, or even summer jobs like me, actually work in a given day.

Despite how boring it is just surfing the net all day, I feel like I cant complain because I know its a pain in the ass most of the time to find work for interns to do. Im usually given 1 or 2 "projects" to work on, involving getting Census/BLS/SOI data and compiling it, and then doing basic calculations. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your viewpoint) excel can easily calculate all of these calculations and their projects only take about 1-2 hours of time. It's a bit of a catch 22 deciding how long to stretch each assignment out.

PS: If there has been a thread like this (which I dont doubt there has) just link me to it.

[bassmangrammy]

I don't get paid if I don't do the work. Wierd. I know.

[WRXtranceformed]

Heh. I work pretty much constantly at work, with maybe an hour break for lunch if I'm lucky. It's pretty much self-imposed, but it's part of the job requirement. As an intern, you aren't seeing much responsibility but as you climb up the ladder, your workload generally is contingent on your responsibility level. I.E. the more you're in charge of, the busier you'll be.

Enjoy it while you can!

[damnit458]

Heh. I work pretty much constantly at work, with maybe an hour break for lunch if I'm lucky. It's pretty much self-imposed, but it's part of the job requirement. As an intern, you aren't seeing much responsibility but as you climb up the ladder, your workload generally is contingent on your responsibility level. I.E. the more you're in charge of, the busier you'll be.

Enjoy it while you can!

Yeah I understand the intern point, hence the reason I dont mind the time, but then Ive talked to full timers at BEA who still say they surf the net a lot of the time. Same goes with where I worked last summer. Apparently the gov't is full of slackers

[Andy]

Welcome to Government work where 10 people are hired to do the job of 2 but hey, that's how NoVA is so affluent and so many of NoVA MM get track cars, and not be living in a cardboard box. I think the majority of NoVA MM suck off the tit of the Federal government in one way or another.

I'm transitioning out of Public Assistance and into a more technical role for this upcoming disaster season so I can have more steady work instead of what it is right now. Last summer, fall and just before Christmas, I was knee deep in work. 12-14 hour days mixed with weeks of assignment in Louisiana, Mississippi and the worst parts of FL followed by the past 4-5 months of sitting on my ass and doing paperwork all day. It really sucks.

If I were you, I would take this opportunity to learn the shit out of Excel and Access. At least for my company, we value the hell out of these two skillsets.

[damnit458]

Ive been working with excel for two summers now, its safe to assume I know a decent amount.

Taking SAS training and will be working with that instead of access...

[Mike]

i work 6-10 hours a day

[ScottyB]

its funny, my workload as an intern was more than my real job is now. i used to barely have time for lunch, and come home burnt out like every day.

right now i "work" anywhere from 6 to 8 hours a day. totally depends on how our merchandise is flowing in/out and what big buildups are ready to begin or close. being retail it's always sketchy like that, you can never expect a steady flow of work to keep you occupied. some days its data entry, others its graphic work, the next it's customer assistance (the worst).

definitely learn to make excel your bitch. i've never been anywhere that it's not a primary tool.

[BLINGMW]

I work 100% of the time I'm paid for.

Oh yeah.... also I should mention I don't have a job! :o

[Sijray21]

rofl

in the fall i worked about 9-10 hour days doing actual work about 90% of the time. recently our team's been "idle" waiting for response from leadership. we recommended work that we could be doing, but due to contracts we weren't allowed to do anything that wasn't assigned to us (whatever, gives me time to update my resume, search jobs, take care of personal stuff, and overall refresh my mind of what i learned at JMU).

As an intern i used to do a bunch of BS stuff (admin, paperwork, etc). Now i still do BS stuff, but i get other items on top of that (working on proposals, editing contracts, developing models, acting as the network admin...aparently they let go of the 'official' network admin and gave me the rights) which make the days longer sometimes. I do work an average of 6-9 hours a day. Longest day so far was 10 hours, then i got called back (at 10pm) for an emergency deliverable due the next day for another 4 hours. not too bad so far.

i'll probably be looking for more responsibility and tasks (with/without CSC) after my 1-year mark (Aug 1)

[bimmerboodle]

I pull 10 hour shifts in the NOC and our phones rotate around the room for incoming calls and we all monitor a shared email box for incoming work that way. Some days are slower and some just suck cause between the email and the phone everyone is jamming for a while. it balances itself out...at least in my workweek.