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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?

#121

Post by RandomBacon »

9nGQluzmnq3M wrote: post #114
driverdan wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Get the scoop on what's actually going on at executive levels by making friends with the office managers/personal assistants. I'd expand this to always make friends with gatekeepers. Office managers, PAs, front desk, kitchen staff, building security, etc. They're hardworking people who tend to be ignored and mistreated. Respect them, be friendly, and it will open many gates along with making their lives better.

Genuine question: how is making friends with the kitchen staff going to advance your career?

They hear things and typically like to talk.

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

#122

Post by cameldrv »

nostrademons wrote: post #109
godot wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel may not pay like the FAANGs but I don't think they're terrible to work at like you said. My first job out of college (15 years ago) was at Intel (Folsom) and it was actually relatively peaceful and nice. I left after 2 years because I wanted to chase the silicon valley startup dreams at the time (which was a right move for me at the time I think, and looking at the outcome/my past 13 years, I'd say it was a goo…

I had a few Google coworkers that were Intel alums. It's not that they're a bad place to work - I heard that working conditions were fairly good actually, in terms of pay, work/life balance, management, etc. But they could be a stifling place to work. Intel is effectively a monopoly, with a clear development roadmap and a clear Process-Architecture-Optimization model with deliverables every 12-18 months. Pretty much…

Intel is (recently) no longer effectively a monopoly, and Intel and the industry is in huge turmoil between process issues, neural accelerator chips, ARM, and AMD. Intel just hired Jim Keller, and we will see what happens to them, but it's bound to be interesting.

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

#123

Post by vvanders »

the_watcher wrote: post #116
vvanders wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Not really sure how pointing out that Hollywood accounting exists relates at all to my noting that some bonuses are contractually guaranteed. Such as mine, which guarantees an X-Y% of base salary bonus based on my performance.

Yes, but was the language for your performance gone over by your own lawyer?

Is there a clause for when an upstream team decides to stonewall the work you've involved with?

What happens when your boss transfers and the new person you report to doesn't have any history to go on?

This stuff happens all the time, although mostly at the business level. Zeroing it out is a great way to make sure you aren't in financial position where you're taking a risk on things you don't 100% control.

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

#124

Post by jmpman »

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.

HR is not in your interest. They are only looking out for the company. They will protect illegal actions by the company if you are raising issues. See how Wells Fargo HR was complicit in their recent scandals.

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

#126

Post by impendia »

PaulOlteanu wrote: post #90
dev_dull wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobility but no means, versus means but no mobility. Most people find later in life that they actually had more means then they realized.

So what things should someone in university atm look to do to ensure they're maximizing their means

I think the answer will differ wildly for different people. What I wish I had done:

- Pay at least a little attention to nutrition.

- Be more willing to do things by myself; there were certain activities, for which I had a vague impression you were supposed to wait until other people invited you to go with them.

- Be less afraid of upsetting professors and other authority figures. (And I say this as someone who is a professor now!)

- Try less hard to weasel my way into the "in" crowd. (And by "less hard" I don't mean "not at all"; these efforts were worthwhile to some extent.) Conversely, there were all sorts of interesting people who weren't "popular"; try to make friends with them, or even ask them out on dates.

- Somehow found a way to relax more, although that is always much easier said than done.

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

#127

Post by freedomben »

maxk42 wrote: post #27

Unless required by law in your profession: Don't go to college.

I don't know if this is serious or not, but really these days learning to code and engineer software without college is extremely doable, and you can be ready to work in under a year (faster with boot camps and such, but the cost there may not be worth it). I know many, many highly successful developers that didn't go to school at all. They taught themselves to code and built something cool, then started working. By the time most people leave school with a mountain of debt, they are making 20 to 30k more than entry-level engineer would make. You really don't need college anymore.

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

#128

Post by global6000 »

mnm1 wrote: post #39

Work is irrelevant beyond a paycheck. Don't stress out over anything if it doesn't involve you getting fired. Work as little as possible. Get as much done as you can working as little as possible as long as it doesn't stress you out. Never lose sleep over work. Never work unpaid overtime unless you'll lose your job over it. Never care if your bosses are angry or unhappy as long as it doesn't affect you having a job.…

What other advice do you have?

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

#129

Post by exolymph »

breakerbox wrote: post #83

When I was an intern at an Aerospace org, I had a mentor that was the head of engineering of several smaller companies at once emphasize one point - Always align yourself positively with people 2-3 levels of leadership above you. That is, if necessary, skirt around your direct report(s) if you have something to bring to the table for higher up people. It is how you move up faster, but of course, strains your short te…

Build those relationships in advance, and only go around your manager if you absolutely have to and are reasonably confident that higher-ups will side with you. They will be useful regardless.

Best option when you have a frustrating manager, although not always feasible: Quit and work somewhere else with better management.

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