I have lurked on this forum for a few months now and finally feel like I need to post. I am in the UK so I hope it's ok to post here. I am very aware that I am privileged to have a lot of the rights that we do in comparison to the US.
I work in the public sector. I returned today after 3 days of annual leave (on top of the weekend/bank holiday). My state issue laptop can barely function at the best of times but after its little break it couldn't cope. My contracted hours are 0830-1630. I turned the laptop on at 0730 and it started to be usable at 1030. I've been refused a replacement many times. 5 years ago I would have then made up those lost hours at the end of the day and lose my evening but now I can't be bothered and will still be ending at 1630. I estimate I lose about 25% each day to IT issues which then makes my work harder as I have less time to fit it in.
I have 3 degrees, am a registered professional with ongoing professional development and the longer time goes on the longer I wonder why on earth I am doing this. I pay monthly fees which are mandatory. The responsibility I have is hideous (huge amounts of risk that can maim/kill individuals). I earn the equivalent of 46000 USD. I pay student loan out of that. I am lucky to be a homeowner. I have enough money but it continues to be devalued and I now spend as little as possible. I think twice now before buying a chocolate bar. I went into this career to help others but as time goes on the portion of my time that achieves this is now about 10%.
I don't really know what I want to achieve by posting but I suppose I wanted to know there are others feeling the same way. Interestingly a lot of my similar aged friends (mid 30s) are also feeling the same. I think after decades of working hard and achieving we are all thinking 'is this it?'