Week 10 Assignment

Case Example

John is a 29-year-old Caucasian man who has come to see you for career counseling. He is currently employed full time as a tester for a computer company. Additionally, he works part time as a DJ for weddings and other social events on evenings and weekends. After high school, John started college at a local community college, taking primarily general courses in math, English, and computer technology to complete the requirements for an associate’s or bachelor’s degree. He quickly became disinterested in classes and left to work full time. For the past several years, John has been steadily employed in several different dot-com and Web-based companies, moving from one company to the next when each company subsequently went out of business. In general, he has been satisfied with the standard of living his vocation has provided him, but he finds the nature of his work at his current company stifling. The part time job as a DJ has given him a more creative outlet and provided him with a needed social context outside of work.

John is currently very dissatisfied with the rut in which he has found him- self and feels that he needs to make some changes in his life. Although he likes the financial rewards of his tester position, he cannot imagine himself staying in that vocation for the rest of his life. John finds his work an increas- ing drudgery and is concerned about the lack of long-term stability in the industry. Although he finds his work as a DJ much more interesting, his employment there is sporadic at best, and he believes the hectic party pace and atmosphere would wear on him if he were to try doing it full time. John has also revealed to you that he currently copes with his job stress and dissatisfaction through recreational drug use. He has been an infrequent marijuana user for years and has recently started using cocaine regularly after being introduced to it through his work as a DJ. He says that marijuana helps him escape the intense pressure of his work as a tester and cocaine helps him become energized for his work as a DJ. Although he is aware of an increase in his drug usage in recent months, his primary anxiety concerns his current job situation.