Work! Work! Work!

In the next few weeks, I will be saying goodbye to my student life. Also, in the next few weeks I need to face the consequence of bidding goodbye to that academic chapter of my biography--I need to work.
This past few days I've been thinking what kind of work I should do this time. Three years ago, I quitted my jobs as a software engineer--a computer programmer in layman's terms. I worked by developing softwares for our clients who happen to be big international companies. Well, for two years, I shed time, sweat, blood and tears just to accomplish every task that was laid before me. Those two years were so full of experiences--both enriching and hurting intertwined. Enriching because I developed my interpersonal skills and my skills in programming. Hurting because all of my efforst seemed to be unappreciated. That was my brief stint in the information technology world.
A few weeks ago, I had a number of chat sessions with a former officemate. Of course, old stories like the perenial overtime work and the infamous team leads were not spared during the trip to memory lane. My friends sighed his sentiments as to what lead him to quit his job--despite the fact that he has been promoted to team lead status. Well, I also had my own share of sourgraping but what made me ponder more was when I replied to him that I still love my work and I enjoyed the time I had been in the firm. I know I said that with vindiction but we all know how painful my last year in the company had been. To make the long story short, due to some incompetent people labeled as our superiors, my performance was under assessed which lead to my annual income increase to be put on hold that same year which hurted me so much. As a protest to that, and to other wrongdoings of our so-called superiors, our senior team members left the team one by one, with me leaving the firm itself as the third member. News from teammates left behind kept me posted as to who left the team or the company afterwards. Right now, the team seems to have become stable again but still when talks between us former colleagues start, we still recall how happy we were eventhough we were experiencing physical and emotional stress during and beyond our working hours.
Having that not that sweet two years in the IT field made me think again... and again whether I should engage myself again in an IT-related work. Looking at the simple reasons, I still want to work in Makati. I still want to hit the computer keyboard. I still want to code and debug computer programs. I still want to do testing and maintenance. I still love my work. But, ooops! There are also some other things to consider like the pay and the career path. These things never crossed my mind the first time I signed my contract with them. But it seems that these are the more important things to consider when signing in again for a job. Anyway, right now I haven't decided yet what work I'll be doing in about a month's time but definitely, IT is still on the list.