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Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

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Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#371

Post by DIVx0 »

bonniemuffin wrote: post #86
btown wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you able to remain technical as your rank and responsibilities expanded? Or did you need to move into a management-only role to reach a turning point in the "influence" you mentioned?

I work at a megacorp and I'm familiar with lots of staff/principal-type ICs who lead big high-impact technical projects that are tremendously influential around the company. We really need the tech lead types to complement the people managers, so each side can focus on what they do best.

I totally agree!

Large tech focused corps usually have a career path for individual contributors to rise up the ranks without becoming people managers. This career path is almost meaningless unless there is a corporate culture of collaboration between ICs and directors/VPs.

A senior IC should not be navel gazing all the time and just building whatever or getting into peoples business while VPs should not be so protective of their thing to dismiss or wall off outside contributions.

"Assume positive intent" and "It's all the same stock price" is heard around here a lot.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#373

Post by polalavik »

WhompingWindows wrote: post #361
andrea_sdl wrote: post #351

Working part time. Inspired by a comment here in HN I decided 3 years ago to take the leap and moving from 5 days/week to 3.5day/week to spend more time with my family. My paycheck is less but I get to enjoy life a lot more and I have more time to replenish my energies. I remember that before this I always felt out of breath at work. Too much high paced, too little time. After this change I got more efficient (and I…

"The benefits are well beyond the change"...unless you lose your benefits for not working full time.

In Most circumstances employers don’t actually define “full time” as 40 hours. My employer, for example, defines full time as someone working over 32 hours which means I can work one less day and retain full benefits.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#374

Post by nojvek »

VLM wrote: post #367
sanbor wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect I'd like to ask if you don't have ethical issues. The military forces of USA has been doing pretty bad stuff in the last 50 years, so I have the feeling that you're not saving lifes but rather ruining them. War became such a common thing and nonsense in the US that at this point thatnpeople is not sure if they're at war or not.

Its hard to analyze which way the balance tips if on one side of the balance his job is fulfilling, while on the other side of the balance sophistry gets upvotes. They're almost orthogonal issues.

All in all, if you’re working for US military you cannot make a claim “I save lives and do good ladila”, indirectly you may be ruining many many lives.

I don’t think the US has a good reputation as peace makers, albeit the opposite.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#375

Post by yifanl »

expathacker wrote: post #235

Emotionally detaching. I was a workaholic from age 16 until 33 and this was my primary identity. I used to always be proud of the work I did, no matter how lame the company or how many times I was screwed over. Then one day my father died, and I was fired from a company who I truly believed in and for whom I had sacrificed. This sounds cynical, but it's really peaceful. With the emotional energy and sheer time saved…

I've taken the attitude that I should be as dispassionate as possible to the work I do. Which doesn't mean don't care about the work I do, but there's a point where I become a perfectionist over the projects I truly care about.

It was actually one of my managers who told me to get some perspective about it, it was very hard for me to realize that my work ultimately doesn't define me.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#376

Post by tvanantwerp »

goatherders wrote: post #310

I started waking up early (5am) to start work. I typically am done with the important stuff by 11am which frees the rest of the day for things like "not working at all" "learning something" "experimenting with something". This also means that on the once or twice monthly occasion that I have too much to do, I still get it done by 5 or 6pm at worst instead of working into the late-night hours like I used to. I agree w…

I struggle to wake up early in the winter months in particular. My body resists being up before the sun. Do you have this problem? If so, do you just will yourself through it or is there a better solution?

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#377

Post by Vraxx »

koonsolo wrote: post #304
m_fayer wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems intuitive to me that the thing you pour your intellect, attention, and care into for 7-9 hours a day 5 days a week should be meaningful and fulfilling. On the other hand, hanging meaning and mission over one's head seems like a great way to manipulate and underpay them, and being susceptible to this seems like a great way to become a useful idiot. Squaring these two views is something I struggle with.

I might have a solution for you: Look at yourself as an independent contractor, even if you are an employee. This way you can put out your best work & work on things that excite you, but are still protected from manipulation and underpay. Your customer is your employer. He's also the main person that needs to be pleased with your work. Companies try to push the "This company is all of us" mentality, but in some situa…

It's tough because I think the group mentality is part of what can really make a company able to produce the value it can (more than just the sum of its parts and all that), so I feel that mentality can come from a genuine place, but it is also used manipulatively. How we tell the difference is a problem I'm currently incapable of solving.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#378

Post by mywacaday »

expathacker wrote: post #235

Emotionally detaching. I was a workaholic from age 16 until 33 and this was my primary identity. I used to always be proud of the work I did, no matter how lame the company or how many times I was screwed over. Then one day my father died, and I was fired from a company who I truly believed in and for whom I had sacrificed. This sounds cynical, but it's really peaceful. With the emotional energy and sheer time saved…

The deathbed scenario is something I use regularly when faced with a difficult decision. Cuts a lot of BS out of decisions

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#379

Post by Vraxx »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #343
brianwawok wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The counter to this is one can find meaning and fulfillment in any task, by doing it well and to the best of ones ability.

But why do that if it only makes things worse for you in the end? Better to find meaning in things you don't have to delude yourself about and view your job as what it probably is: just a means to sustain your quality of life.

good point, I think GP's counter is a counter only if you accept as a premise that you must find fulfillment in your work. Otherwise this point undercuts it by attacking that implicit premise.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#380

Post by cmdrtaco »

blakesterz wrote: post #8

I wish I could say I had a plan that lead me down my career path. I made one dumb random decision after another, and somehow they all got me where I am today. The best decision was way back in 1999 I started a blog because I loved Slashdot. I used that to learn how to program, and that has lead to every job I've had since. So my long winding dumb successful career path is all thanks to me wanting to be like cmdrtaco!…

Still here. Still appreciate the kind words ;)
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