Changing jobs! Seems like it's so much easier to make more money by getting a new gig than by negotiating with your current employer. I've changed jobs every year since I graduated college; each jump has added 20k or 30k to my salary. I didn't have the best grades, didn't go to a good uni, but I've gone from 45k to 170k in 6 years.
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?
#32A bit of an unethical life pro tip, but to lie. Lying allows you like no other skill to get a huge jumpstart in your career. I'm not talking about some basic white lie, but some Death Note-level type of deceptive schemes where you can then act on the deception. It also trains you for leadership, as deception is an incredibly important skill the higher you get. http://fortune.com/2016/06/02/lying-leadership-skills-exp…
The more liars that enter the job market who are unable to deliver on their empty promises, the more valued the people who actually put in the work will become. So go ahead and lie, make my day.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#33Getting a job in a major metro area. I was very resistant to moving away from the smallish city/metro area I lived in until my late 20's. When I did, my career just took off.
I'm not even talking about Silicon Valley. I worked in Boston, Seattle, and Sydney, Australia. Never set foot in the valley as an employee of a local company. Made insane salaries, one company I worked for got acquired, another one went public, etc.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#34Strategically burning bridges when appropriate, putting forth a will-do attitude even if it means doing things outside scoped responsibilities, and just being kind to people.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#35I quit my job to read and hack or a project and random shit. I’ve gotten so much more knowledgeable and skilled. I’m also getting much better job offers than I used to.
I want to say that I did something similar, and I had to go the odd day without a meal here or there every once in a while. Not to say that is a bad thing, but definitely be ready to have a similar experience if you aren't prepared.
It’s not meals that kill you. It’s rent and shit.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#36To stop overvaluing work/business/career.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#37Six years ago I left my job in IT, took a pay cut, and gave up great benefits to go work for a startup as a junior developer. I had caught the bug and knew I wanted to create software for a living.
I’m still here and now I’ve helped to build a team of super-talented engineers and we are building some very cool things and having fun doing it.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#38Taking a chance and joining a very large corporation.
Previously I was all about startups or small companies and was very much against the mega-corp environment.
Over several months a colleague "recruited" me to join their team and I don't regret it.
I've been able to climb pretty high within this corp and it has been a wild ride. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd have any sort of influence over technology strategy that one of the largest US corporations would follow for the next decade.
So, I've learned to keep an open mind and not let preconceived notions on how others do business until I see it for myself. If I had not done this I'd still be hopping from start-up to start-up.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#39Changing careers. Left software to become a doctor. I'll graduate in 7 months.
Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?
#40Teaching myself to program. Nothing caused such a hockey stick in opportuinities. I was able to make way more money in a very short time period and work in much more interesting companies.
I never took anything so seriously in my life as when I decided to become a programmer. I bought dozens of used textbooks, read and meticulously underlined them, relentlessly wrote code and read all the programming interview books, made guides for myself to study, said yes to every contract and bug I could help with regardless of the tech stack. I refused to be anal about picking one programming language over another.
I have a marketing degree from a not good school. If I could do it again I would (a) drop out and move to a major tech metro and (b) identify a high growth tech stack and study it intensively. Never should have wasted time getting a useless degree.
The best thing learning to program taught me was how to read books properly - Write in the margins, take extensive notes, phrase and rephrase the lessons, write my own articles and guides to solidify the learnings.
This year I mad $350,000 and got promoted to manage five people. I couldn’t have gotten here without learning to code.