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What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

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Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#71

Post by mdorazio »

Article comments and comments in this thread seem to miss the point of the title entirely. Here's some actual advice I don't want my name on, but seems pretty effective based on working at a lot of different Big Cos:

- Always go for prestige over purpose. Have a choice between a shiny project with very little actual impact to the company and a behind the scenes project that will actually make lives better for employees and customers? Go for the shiny project. It will look better on your resume and to executive teams, and will get you promoted faster.

- Learn the art of looking busy and practice it often. If you look busy all the time, people will assume you're productive and also not give you a bunch of extra work for no extra compensation.

- Play politics. A lot. Especially throwing other people under the bus. The key is to align your politics with the right power players in your org. You'll get promoted faster, get more bonuses, and be able to get away with more things in general.

- Get the scoop on what's actually going on at executive levels by making friends with the office managers/personal assistants. You'll get an early notification of problems coming up, people to avoid, opportunities to take advantage of, etc.

- Loyalty is for chumps. Play the game for yourself. If you get a better offer somewhere else, take it. If your boss is an asshole or putting a glass ceiling over you, leave. If you need time off, take it. If your team isn't being effective, throw them under the bus and move on.

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#72

Post by [deleted] »

southphillyman wrote: post #31
opportune wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has to be Amazon or Apple. Probably Amazon due to the skimping on RSUs and bonuses, have heard that they’re upping the PIPs lately

"Upping the PIPs"? Is that a thing? For a company to formally raise the bar across the board as a means to not give bonuses or raises! I wonder if having Amazon on your resume is a bad signal now. Risk of the candidate being a participant in a toxic environment. Also a signal that the candidate was at Amazon because they couldn't get into other FAANGs (is it common for people to select Amazon over others when holding…

[deleted]

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#73

Post by alexpotato »

jdauriemma wrote: post #44

It's actually very useful to try to visualize the social relationships that underpin the people you work with every day. Make a diagram and identify people who are supportive, people who are forthright, people who are untrustworthy, people who are obstacles, who are their friends, who are their adversaries, etc. Update it from time to time. When you want to push an agenda, you'll have a better understanding of the po…

I've seen the most basic version of this as a chart with two axes:

Axis 1: How much political influence does this person have?

Axis 2: How easy are they to influence?

Some key points: - Axis 2 is from your perspective

- It's good to keep in mind that the chart might look different for other people

As an example: you might find it easy to influence person B who only has mid-level influence.

However, Person B might be able to influence someone you have no chance of influencing.

You can also add other dimensions such as "What does each person value e.g. money/influence/respect" etc

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#74

Post by gnopgnip »

wodenokoto wrote: post #18
xvector wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m in this situation right now. Got my first job 17 months ago at a FAANG. Was promised compounding RSUs every year and a bonus every year. They’ve delayed the compensation by 5 months because “I joined late.” They didn’t tell me about this until I asked about 10 months in. Hell I joined this company earlier out of college than most students. 2 weeks of vacation post-college when most students were taking 2-3 months…

How are those things not specified in the contract?

Bonuses are discretionary, or based on future performance

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#75

Post by soVeryTired »

watno382 wrote: post #56
dmitrygr wrote: post #2

Value all parts of compensation that you cannot easily sell at zero. Options? Zero. RSUs for a private company? Zero. Promises for future raises? Zero. Actually: any promises - zero. (Promises on signed paper may sometimes be worth more than zero) Always remember that the place you work at has no (and owes no) loyalty to you. Calculate accordingly.

Cool, I have $1500 to wire for free. Do you want it? You just agree I'm now the owner of everything you mentioned. (All your stock options etc). No other obligation on your part. $1500 for free. What's your email? Oh wait. Turns out you aren't going to agree with what I just proposed as you don't actually value them at $0 hence not interested in trading $0 for $1500. Basically you're full of shit. (Lying.) If you wer…

This is such a wierd response. Like, you can disagree without calling the GP a liar.

He's not literally saying they're valued at zero. He's saying you shouldn't let RSUs (which are not wealth, but contractual promises of future wealth) or options (which are lottery tickets) affect your career decisions.

If the difference between vesting vs. not vesting is a month or two, stick around. But most of the time you shouldn't take promises of future wealth in lieu of hard cash.

Read between the lines. You don't need to take everything literally.

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#76

Post by RIMR »

stencil25 wrote: post #30
ggm wrote: post #21

Have the courage to stand up for what you believe in, even if it terminates your employment status. I'm only unkeen to have my name on this, because I haven't done it, and I wish several times in the past, I had. I respect the person who did this early in his career in one ISP immensely: it was stunning to watch somebody say "you're full of shit" to the new CEO, and walk out. (he was btw, full of shit)

How is that beneficial to someone's career though? Sure, it shows one's morals and standards, but how does that boost one's career?

If you value living a moral/ethical life, then working for a company that operates immorally/unethically would be bad.

If your only considering career benefits in terms of career advancement compensation, then perhaps doing the right thing won't be "beneficial" to you.

However, if you aim to be a good person, doing the right thing is the correct path.

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#77

Post by jansan »

mdorazio wrote: post #71

Article comments and comments in this thread seem to miss the point of the title entirely. Here's some actual advice I don't want my name on, but seems pretty effective based on working at a lot of different Big Cos: - Always go for prestige over purpose. Have a choice between a shiny project with very little actual impact to the company and a behind the scenes project that will actually make lives better for employe…

I will print this out for my teenage sons and make them learn this.

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#78

Post by vvanders »

the_watcher wrote: post #11
rinchik wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important: same goes for bonuses, which are also practically promises, and are not guaranteed.

Some bonuses actually are contractually guaranteed. They might be variable by performance, but every company I've worked for with a bonus plan has guaranteed some bonus outside of the absolute worst performance (in which case you should be looking for a new job long before this becomes an issue)

Hah, may I point you to the fact that MiB writers still haven't been paid royalties[1] because the movie was never "profitable"?

[1] https://twitter.com/ed_solomon/status/1139031900931198976

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#79

Post by protomyth »

clinta wrote: post #70
adrianpike wrote: post #29

"HR does not operate with your interests at heart, do not talk to them." -- Anonymous

Be smart enough to determine if your interests align with the company's interests before talking to HR. Sometimes they do.

Yeah, HR is a dangerous tool. Know the rules and intent before using.

Frankly, if you are to the point where HR is even in the conversation, then you really need to have a large financial incentive to stay around. The reward better be worth the risk.

Re: What’s good career advice you wouldn’t want to have your name on?

#80

Post by scotth »

jansan wrote: post #77
mdorazio wrote: post #71

Article comments and comments in this thread seem to miss the point of the title entirely. Here's some actual advice I don't want my name on, but seems pretty effective based on working at a lot of different Big Cos: - Always go for prestige over purpose. Have a choice between a shiny project with very little actual impact to the company and a behind the scenes project that will actually make lives better for employe…

I will print this out for my teenage sons and make them learn this.

Ugh, please don't.
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