Why I Don’t Ask People “What Do You Do?”

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It happens almost every time you meet someone for the first time. Within the first five minutes, the question is asked:
“So, what do you do?”
I know the person is asking me what my job is, but my job is only one part of who I am. More telling questions would be:
“Who are you?”
“What do you love?”
“What are you passionate about?”
“What drives you?”
My job at Perficient isn’t just something that I do. It’s something that I am extremely passionate about. It’s not a place where I spend 8 hours a day. It’s a place where I get to learn and grow and work with amazing people. But there is much more to me than the career that I’ve chosen.
I’m a mother. I’m a writer. I love road trips. I read incessantly. THAT is who I am…not what I do.
Each of us is a composite of life experiences and education. We have strengths and weaknesses that are different from anyone else. We have families. We have hobbies. We have struggles.
We are, quite simply, so much more than “what we do.”
Perficient understands the importance of looking at people as a sum of many parts; one of which is work. We are given opportunities to grow both personally and professionally. By having a balanced life, we are less likely to feel that pull between work life and home life. We are able to experience life as a compilation of all of the things that make us who we are.
It allows us to be who we are, not just what we do.