I was reading an interesting short article over at Lifehacker.com and stumbled across a comment that was better than the article itself. The original is here but I am cutting and pasting it below in case it goes away.
What Do You Know Now That You Wish You Knew When You Started Your Career?
As with learning things about college in hindsight, it sometimes takes years (maybe even decades) to get wise about our work. If you were going to give career advice to a novice in your field, what would it be?
Patrick McKenzie recently wrote this awesome post (he calls it a README.txt for your career) on what he learned after ten years “and a lot of suffering” as an engineer. Though meant for programmers, there’s great universal advice in there, such as positioning yourself in terms of how you contribute to your company’s bottom line rather than your job title, why if you want to succeed you have to drop the modesty, and how the best jobs happen through networking. It’s a worthwhile read for any stage of your career.
However, we’re asking you, Lifehackers: what are the things you’ve learned since you started working that could help those new to your field or creating a career in general? We learned some fantastic advice about college from you, so let’s share what we know about work now too.
Comment:
When I started, I was all doe-eyed and willing to learn. Anything to get me out of that backwater hell of a childhood. But then, the guy who hired me died on the job right before I started, and they promoted this wet-behind-the-ears guy who worked for him. I swear I knew more than this guy. They even tried to get into my personal life, telling me I couldn’t date because it would interfere with the job. So, I heard this other company started by some guy I knew since I was a kid was recruiting, so I went to apply. I was intrigued by the promise of better on-the-job training. My old bosses didn’t accept my resignation, so I trashed the place on the way out. The biggest problem with the new job was that I had to wear a suit to work. You know, the heavy, itchy, black kind that you can never seem to get comfortable in. I went right to the top. Anyway, it was all great for about 18 years, until the old company I used to work for went through a restructuring, and wanted me back. My boss went after some of their hotshot young employees with some hardball recruiting tactics. Basically, I had enough, and initiated a hostile takeover. That’s when I threw my boss down a reactor shaft and the second Death Star exploded.
Pretty original and pretty funny. For those of you who aren’t Star Wars fans and don’t get it, my apologies. Please come back tomorrow.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
