The Reason Why I Won’t Get a Real Job

About work, life, and the definition of a “real job”

For the most part of my adulthood, I’ve been followed by questions around my lifestyle, work, and life choices. People with no connections to me seem to know exactly how and where I am supposed to live my life. But most importantly they know what a real job is and that I’m not having one.

We live in a society where people judge others and look down upon each other just to push the attention away from them. Despite living in the 21st century we still fight with prejudices and many societal “norms” which aren’t that normal after all.

Having the largest variety of educational training, job offers, and fields we can work in, it is overwhelming for a young adult to choose the right one. People often think they miss out on something or there could be something better for them out there.

My background

I was one of them. I finished school not knowing what I want to do in life. Too many options to choose from. My mom suggested I’d study early childhood education “because I can work with children so well”. So, I did.

I had my bachelor’s degree with 21 in a topic most Germans look down upon. We don’t admire or let even say appreciate those people working in educational or nursing professions. We don’t pay them well and don’t consider them as important jobs. But that wasn’t the reason why I didn’t start working. I loved and still love working with children.

But there was something different. I was 21. I had just finished university. And I did not want to fall into the cooperate world of working for the rest of my life in a profession I didn’t even pick myself.

Plus, I wanted to see the world. I wanted to explore the African continent in specific. And life had anyway different plans for me.

My working career

I ended up living in a southern African country called Namibia. A country most people can’t point out on a map. I also worked there but not in a kindergarten. I first worked as a sandboarding instructor teaching tourists and locals how to board down a sand dune.

Later I progressed in rock climbing and worked as a climbing instructor running that time the only indoor climbing gym in the country. I also offered overnight trips to the mountains for outdoor rock climbing sessions.

During all those years I picked up the sport of skydiving and progressed eventually to the level of a skydiving instructor which is my profession today.

Those jobs I worked in fulfilled me entirely. They had everything I needed in life. I was active and doing exercise at work. I was spending most of my days outdoors, in the fresh air and under the African sun.

Plus, I was happy. I loved what I was doing.

The questioning

But already in my first profession, the questioning started. Mainly tourists, mostly German parents appreciating the work I was doing for them, and their children teaching them how to sandboard down a dune would come to me after the sessions.

They would look at me asking if this was my holiday job, my temporary profession and if I would know already what I was going to do later in life. I was asked when I was going to get a “real job”.

For sure, I did not have the highest-paying job in the world. But I had a job that paid my rent, that fed me, plus allowed me to save some money and go on holidays. Oh, and by the way, I paid my own medical insurance which was not covered through the job. When I took leave days I wasn’t earning a cent.

Until today, I have not once had a paid holiday. But let’s get back to that later.

What is a real job?

I often laughed away those questions. But eventually, they started to annoy me. Who are you to judge if I’m working in a real job or not? What does a real job define? What is work anyway?

Is it sitting in an office from 9 to 5, staring at a screen, gossiping with colleagues, and going home frustrated every day? Is it having a 5-day work week with a certain amount of paid leave days every year, medical insurance paid by the employer, and a desk where piles of papers get collected?

Well, then I am never going to have a real job.

I know many who envied me for my lifestyle. They envied me for going on so many holidays, traveling the world, and not being tied to one office. They see all the glory. But they don’t see the hard work behind it. The extra hours of work I need to do to cover my insurance. The months of no income because there was simply no work. The weeks on the road where I’m happily traveling but not earning a cent because I’m not working.

I tell them they can do that too. They can take longer holidays, go on unpaid leave, and live the life they want. But none of them will ever do that. Especially that one with the unpaid leave days.

So, if I’m looking at all those things I must tell you I do have a very real job. It pays for everything in my life. Plus — it makes me happy!

Definition: real job

“A steady employment with fixed salary and working hours, as well as potential for growth and advancement. […] People with so-called real jobs might enjoy high salaries, but what they trade off is the chance to experiment and discover what they truly want out of life.” — urbandictionary.com

But if I am looking at the definition of “real job” from this dictionary I am going to tell you: no, I will never have a real job. Because I am not willing to trade off my lifestyle for a higher salary and a life that doesn’t represent what I am looking for in life.

Recreational activities as a profession

The reason why the professions I work and worked in will never be seen as a real job is that they are recreational activities people do on their vacations or in their free time after work. People see them as hobbies, not as work. Because work shouldn’t be “fun”.

Things we do to have fun can’t be connected with something as cold as “work”. Work must bring you in money, preferable lots of it, it should be hard and make you frustrated and unhappy every day.

That’s how I look at a real job today after all those conversations I’ve had over the years.

What it means to be a skydiving instructor

Today, I am strapping a stranger to my body, giving him a 5-minute briefing on what to do when I put him in the scariest situation of his life and launch myself off the edge of a plane.

I have the life of this person very much in my own hands. Whoever decided to go on a skydive trusts me with his or her life. I fight in the air with uncontrolled body positions of this person. I get people passing out under canopy and throwing up on me because of the extreme situation we’re in.

And then I land them safely on the ground again.

This job does go heavy on your mind. After a day of jumping 10 times out of a plane, you’re tired. Each time with a new stranger. After those days I am exhausted. Mentally. But also physically.

What I do is very much hard work.

I work sometimes 7 days a week. 10-hour shifts. Of course, I don’t constantly jump. I sit on the ground, prepare clients, pack my parachute, wait for the weather to get better, and chat with my colleagues.

But I only get paid when I get on the plane. If the jump has to get canceled because of bad weather, a plane that needs fixing, or a client that doesn't arrive — then I don’t earn a cent.

Security in the job

While I do think my job is very much safe in contrast to most people looking at me, there are many aspects of my life as a freelancer missing lots of securities given in other professions.

I do not have a contract. I could get fired and be out of a job tomorrow.

I do not have medical insurance paid by the employer (which is always given in Germany).

I do not have governmental paid pension funds. I need to save for my own future.

I do not have fixed working hours. Sometimes I work an hour a day. Sometimes 12. I always work on weekends. I never join family barbecues and birthday celebrations since they are always on weekends.

I don’t get paid when it rains. I don’t get paid when the wind is too strong. I don’t get paid when the plane is grounded. I don’t get paid when I’m sick.

I do not have paid leave days. I can go on as many holidays a year I want to. But I don’t earn a cent (except for those two cents from Medium).

I do send out CVs every 6 to 9 months. Often, I don’t get a reply. Every half a year I need to work myself into a new company and stand my ground.

I do not know where I will be living and working in 3 months' time from now.

I do not know when I will be settling down, getting a real job, or starting a family. If ever?

My life — my choice

But what I do know is I am going to be doing this “unreal” job as long as I’m enjoying it. As long as I’m happy with my profession I will stick with it. I’ve done that with the previous ones too and I had a blast.

I’m living my life. And I’m living it the way I want it. With a real job or not — that doesn’t matter to me. As long as my work pays my bills and allows me to afford the lifestyle I live I will remain happy.

And I am happy many of you do have a real job so I have people to turn to when I need help with the taxes, a doctor’s appointment, or my insurance papers.

And you should be happy with all of us working in unreal jobs so you can find a surf instructor in your holidays on the canary islands for your son, a skiing teacher in winter for your daughter, and a pilot transporting you to your dream destination.

For you to tick off all those activities from your bucket list you need us, the crazy ones. Those living an unconventional life.

MWC Work