A required job or task; a job that requires a substantial amount of effort.
1966,Joseph McBride,Searching for John Ford, quotation of original by John Ford, published 2011:
I have never thought about what I was doing in terms of art, or "this is great," or "world-shaking," or anything like that. To me, it was always a job of work—which I enjoyed immensely—and that's it.