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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?

#401
post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 15000 people I can't imagine the low SNR because of that enabling you to derive any use from it.

Sounds like one of the random LinkedIn requests I get on a pretty much daily basis that I just hit the "Ignore" button on. I guess there are people who accept them. Furthermore, if I do get a random LinkedIn connect request that's immediately followed by someone trying to sell me on something, that's a recipe for reporting spam.

Like I said, I don't randomly add people. I network with founders and recruiters. I never send them a private message until we have something to talk about and I don't do sales.

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

#402
post #382

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…

As a related note - why do employers prefer younger devs? Because they haven't learnt this lesson yet.

Bingo. It’s the same reason marketers love the 15-34 demographic. They haven’t woken up to the bullshit yet.

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

#403
post #291
post #134

I was a mid-level developer at a large software company making a very competitive salary and quit to join the U.S. Marine Corps and train to become a Naval Aviator. I'm now a 'mid-level' AH-1Z pilot. I work longer hours and have generally a lower quality of life but there's something to be said for the immensely unique things I've gotten to do and how profoundly well-rounded the entire experience has made me. I will…

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.

You're either very young or naïve or both. Almost everything we do in this world has good/evil direct/indirect consequences. For example, should I blame you for polluting the planet because you are using an electronic device to post naïve comments on the internet that likely gets its energy by producing some sort of pollution? What about the vehicle you drive? What about the slaughters that take place because of your meat consumption? What about the carbon dioxide you breathe out that's toxic in high quantities? How dare you add to our carbon footprint!

In the end good/evil are myths. They are human constructs and they can change depending on time and place. Ethics is not a hard science and your belief that something is good does not make it a fact.

The military can cause a lot of destruction and grief around the world, no doubt, but it can also cause a lot of good and stability. In the real world there will always be "winners" and "losers" An action that benefits you may directly or indirectly hinder someone else.

Our military's mission is to defend our country and that means that sometimes other countries will lose if they decide to engage. Inevitably there will be innocent casualties. This will never ever change. It is an honorable thing to do what we can to minimize it but unrealistic to expect it to ever go away.

You will likely see the world in a different light the older and more experienced you get. You're not a good person. You're not a bad person.

You're just a person.

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

#404
My best career decision was to leave microsoft for a smaller company. Back then, there was a toxic culture at microsoft due to the dog eat dog review system they had in place. I was spending 60-80 hrs at work with a lot of stress. Ever since I left, I have been happy and have a good work life balance.

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

#405
post #291
post #134

I was a mid-level developer at a large software company making a very competitive salary and quit to join the U.S. Marine Corps and train to become a Naval Aviator. I'm now a 'mid-level' AH-1Z pilot. I work longer hours and have generally a lower quality of life but there's something to be said for the immensely unique things I've gotten to do and how profoundly well-rounded the entire experience has made me. I will…

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.

I never been in the armed forces, but I understand well enough that joining the army is a sacrifice in many ways, including one's agency in respect to those above you to make good and bad decisions in an morally indifferent and complex world that hungers for control (as is human nature). An army could not function and protect if everyone retained their agency. Thus, taking up your (IMO ignorant) moral qualms with the OP instead of your government is NOT respectful and is in poor taste.

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

#406

There is no loyalty in business. Keep your loyalty for your family and may be friends, not for the company you work for. The company will never be loyal back. Have an opportunity to make more or work more interesting? Grab it with both hands. If you are 99.99% of the workforce, you are not indispensable no matter how much you think you are.

And I'll fly the opposing flag here. Loyalty to people is everything in business. Got a good working relationship with people? Stick to them like glue. Make your moves as a unit. Having a team of people consistently work well together is lightning in a bottle. I've built relationships with people just by doing right by them in tough situations that have lasted decades and paid fantastic dividends.

I think it's both. You won't get very far if you treat everyone at your job like an enemy. Don't burn bridges if not necessary. If you find a better job, leave graciously and do what you can to help transition. You don't know when you will need the help of somebody there in the future.

Also understand the motivations of people more powerful than you. They want to succeed, get promoted and make more money. If your goals align with theirs, you're golden. If they see you as being an impedance to their goals, you will get tossed aside, no matter how much bullcrap they heap on you in orientation and all-hands meetings about caring about the employees. It's just profit and loss, raises and promotions- nothing else.

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

#407
post #382

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…

As a related note - why do employers prefer younger devs? Because they haven't learnt this lesson yet.

Actually I've noticed that many of the new grads recently all go home early and really dont care that much. I'm not sure if they're sensible, or maybe attracted to the industry because of the jobs and money and aren't really that interested in tech. Or just dont know what a tough job market looks like. But seems different now.

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

#408

There is no loyalty in business. Keep your loyalty for your family and may be friends, not for the company you work for. The company will never be loyal back. Have an opportunity to make more or work more interesting? Grab it with both hands. If you are 99.99% of the workforce, you are not indispensable no matter how much you think you are.

Disclaimer: I have a company and I've started a few in the past. My take is that the loyalty a company has towards a given employee cannot be the same, simply because it lacks the emotional basis that usually makes that loyalty as strong and/or as irrational. It's completely a matter of company culture which, in most cases, isn't very empathic to employees. I don't think lack of loyalty is a rule though. I think that…

Thing is though from the other side even if you have good intentions, you still have more then one people to think about. So your loyalties are split. For an employee, it's only one entity to be loyal to.

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

#409

By far, applying to work remote for a US based company 3 years ago. I am living in Romania. I still work for them. Theoretically I should be able to retire in about 5-10 years, in my mid 40s, depending on how frugal I am with my expenses. This wouldn't have been possible working for a local software company, even though I was paid about 3 times the average national income.

I do the same as Tudor. 10 years since I work as freelancer, before that was basically changing jobs in Romania every year or at best every 2 years. For me the site that enabled me to have US/Canada clients is Upwork (former oDesk when i started)

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

#410
post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a mega corp in terms that it is comprised of several large enterprises. If the "arm" I worked in was spun off as its own corporation it would be Fortune 30 by revenue. Worldwide I think we have about 40k of the 270+k total employees in the corp group. The group as a whole is in the Fortune 10 and serves the health care industry. My part of the corp is all software. Product development both "commercial enterprise"…

That'd be United Health Group, McKesson or CVS Health.

Optum.
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