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Ask HN: Why isn't having two or three careers the norm?

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Re: Ask HN: Why isn't having two or three careers the norm?

#22
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time many people stop improving after the first few years on the job, and some even get worse with time as they get lazy, or bitter, or they simply don’t adapt.

That's not true at all

it is

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't having two or three careers the norm?

#23
post #3

You go down to the bottom of the pay scale every time you change career. If that means you won’t be able to afford your current lifestyle, then unless you have a good reason for walking away from that career, that’s going to make you unhappy.

That's assuming you have no transferrable skills from one career to the next and that there's a well-mapped career path in existence for a given role.

What about new careers that suddenly pop into existence around nascent technologies like AI?

I've transferred into product management now that enough companies officially recognise it as a career. I had been doing it in various guises for years where it was called 'project designer', 'project manager' or 'programme manager'.

Regardless of title, the common theme has been aligning business needs and engineering needs to deliver customer value they're willing to pay for. That meant I didn't start at the bottom when 'moving career'.

Re: Ask HN: Why isn't having two or three careers the norm?

#24
post #3

You go down to the bottom of the pay scale every time you change career. If that means you won’t be able to afford your current lifestyle, then unless you have a good reason for walking away from that career, that’s going to make you unhappy.

That's assuming you have no transferrable skills from one career to the next and that there's a well-mapped career path in existence for a given role. What about new careers that suddenly pop into existence around nascent technologies like AI? I've transferred into product management now that enough companies officially recognise it as a career. I had been doing it in various guises for years where it was called 'pro…

I don't think OP is talking about a mere title change when asking about career changes. I've had lots of different titles when I change companies or old titles become unfashionable, but only maybe one career change.
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