When I started working after university about 2 1/2 years ago, I was eager to finally do something, create and produce something relevant rather than just sitting and absorbing knowledge.
Now, I managed to get myself a more realistic point of view on the topic of work and joy.
If you love the matter of your work, things will piss you off. Often. Things will not happen like you want them to. You will not have the power of control to make things the way they should be to be good. They will always turn out as a agreement between different powers, as a huge pile of non-fitting parts made to fit so everyone can tell his boss he got it his way (or at least was able to say "No" to smth.). There will always be fights over who gets to decide. If you don't have to fight with your collegues, you will have to fight with your client (which is a lot more difficult and consumptive). Your work might consist of 20 % of actual work and 80 % communication (e.g. emails, client calls, meetings). This can be frustrating and kill your motivation at all.
Now you might ask yourself: "But what should I do about it?"
I don't say that this can be applied to all jobs and companies. But these tips are my conclusion after 2 1/2 years in a very stressful job:
1. Always give 100 %. If you love it, give 120 %. Never give 80 % (this might get you fired…).
2. Do it like you would do it for yourself. Half-assing the job will get you a shitty reputation amongst co-workers and clients faster then you can say "Please don't let me go".
4. Fight for your ideas.
5. Nevertheless, your ideas might sometimes not work. Accept this as a fact when proven so. Be open to "kill your baby".
6. Doing things extra-good from the beginning might save your ass when you fuck up something later.
7. Always have a plan B. For everything.
8. If things piss you off, say it out loud in a reasonable situation and language. Keeping silent and then leaving is for cowards.
9. If you leave, make it clean. No matter how fucked up everything was, look forward and start fresh, don't waste your time and energy and creating more mess than there already is.