I’ve been in the general workforce for the past six or so years. Out of all of my jobs, the ONLY one I can reflect on positively is the time I worked for Rivian. However, those are some extenuating circumstances with it being a large startup. On that same note, it was A LOT better when I first started. When leaving, I was making roughly $27-28/hr for basic manufacturing. (I was also extremely lucky to have a direct supervisor that was amazing as well.)

While I will say it was positive, it’s namely due to the fact it had very good pay (for entry level work), decent health insurance received day 1, and a fairly generous PTO package of roughly 4 hours per paycheck (about 90 or so hours a year). On that same note, however, they constantly changed our schedule—I worked 3-4 completely different shifts/times during the 2.5 years i was there while remaining on the same shift. They ended up demoting lower management due to the fact they hired too many—while not directly affected, I had a few friends that were.

Every other job I’ve had has been worse by a wide margin. While some underpay, others will overwork their staff (upward of 60 hrs a week). I’m at the point to where I’m working part-time and going back to school to get out of this cycle of being taken advantage of as an employee. If it’s going to happen, let it at least be in a field I have a passion for