Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
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Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#2Sounds to me like author has had some bad experiences and is trying to generalize them. But I would have been curious to read about those things directly that inspired the author to write this, instead of the indirect points. It all seems reasonable stuff that most of us do when picking a place to live, work, etc. Of course buying a house will pin you to the surrounding area. And I don't know if anybody does that without at least examining the house and area in person at least once, instead of just going by photos. Anyway.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#3> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is:
Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits,
let this frustration sit for way too long,
snap
and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out,
join there,
and repeat the cycle all over again.
It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate around some seriously bottom levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs - you literally could be without home and (in the US) healthcare if you do this precipitously or without somewhere to jump to, or if you make a poor choice in jumping.
Not saying it's good to sit pat until things get so bad you can't, but there's real scary things behind folk's decisions to stay and weather the horseshit at a place.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#4> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is: Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits, let this frustration sit for way too long, snap and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out, join there, and repeat the cycle all over again. It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate arou…
The takeaway here is to leave before you're frustrated. While things are still good. That is when you are in the best position and frame of mind to make a change. Because you can walk away from any offer that isn't better. If you wait until things are terrible then yes you can feel trapped in a bad situation because you have to pay the bills.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#5> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is: Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits, let this frustration sit for way too long, snap and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out, join there, and repeat the cycle all over again. It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate arou…
The takeaway here is to leave before you're frustrated. While things are still good. That is when you are in the best position and frame of mind to make a change. Because you can walk away from any offer that isn't better. If you wait until things are terrible then yes you can feel trapped in a bad situation because you have to pay the bills.
sure sure, but given the (potential) downsides of choosing wrong, what would be the trigger or reason for leaving IF things are still good?
Or are you saying if you see signs of things going downhill but things are currently good?
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
The takeaway here is to leave before you're frustrated. While things are still good. That is when you are in the best position and frame of mind to make a change. Because you can walk away from any offer that isn't better. If you wait until things are terrible then yes you can feel trapped in a bad situation because you have to pay the bills.
sure sure, but given the (potential) downsides of choosing wrong, what would be the trigger or reason for leaving IF things are still good? Or are you saying if you see signs of things going downhill but things are currently good?
More money. More impressive title. Wanting to relocate. Downsizing. Learn new tech stacks/skills not available at your current job. Scoping out a new industry to prepare for launching a business.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#7> Here are the dragons: ... Buying a house or an apartment will disproportionately affect other areas of your life
I agree with the general caution about buying a property and the baggage it comes with. Unfortunately with kids there be dragons in renting as well: having to move when getting priced out.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
The takeaway here is to leave before you're frustrated. While things are still good. That is when you are in the best position and frame of mind to make a change. Because you can walk away from any offer that isn't better. If you wait until things are terrible then yes you can feel trapped in a bad situation because you have to pay the bills.
sure sure, but given the (potential) downsides of choosing wrong, what would be the trigger or reason for leaving IF things are still good? Or are you saying if you see signs of things going downhill but things are currently good?
Compare it to investing. Do you wait for the stock to go down and then sell, or do you sell when it's high and take your profit elsewhere? Even if you invest it in something that then goes down, you still made your profit. If you move before things get bad, you'll always be able to look back at your time at the company with happiness. No burnt bridges, no bitterness. Sure it's a risk to move somewhere else, but in this other world where you wait for things to get bad before moving then 100% of the time you're signing up for some period where your (work) life sucks.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#9> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is: Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits, let this frustration sit for way too long, snap and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out, join there, and repeat the cycle all over again. It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate arou…
Incredibly scary, and on point. Definitely describes how I have moved around jobs.
It's articles like this that make me realize how fortunate I am to work in Tech, which has a really low unemployment rate. It's pretty easy to get a job that pays the bills (if your bills are reasonable) - it's more difficult to get one which is higher than your last one.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#10> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is: Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits, let this frustration sit for way too long, snap and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out, join there, and repeat the cycle all over again. It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate arou…
The takeaway here is to leave before you're frustrated. While things are still good. That is when you are in the best position and frame of mind to make a change. Because you can walk away from any offer that isn't better. If you wait until things are terrible then yes you can feel trapped in a bad situation because you have to pay the bills.
If I did this I'd be finding a new job every 3-6 months.
Over time I've realized that I'm not going to be happy in any 9-5 position, so I might as well save as much money as I can until I can afford to do something else.