Career Advice (2013)
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Career Advice (2013)
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Re: Career Advice (2013)
#2> As a young person, though, I think the best thing you can do is to ignore all of that and simply observe the older people working there.
> They are the future you. Do not think that you will be substantially different. Look carefully at how they spend their time at work and outside of work, because this is also almost certainly how your life will look. It sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how often young people imagine a different projection for themselves.
> Look at the real people, and you’ll see the honest future for yourself.
…
> This is all just to explain why, when people write me for career advice, I’m as likely to respond with something like “if I were you, I’d hitchhike to Alaska this summer instead.”
> My career advice usually falls within the framework of doing the absolute minimum amount of work necessary to prevent starvation, and then doing something that’s not about money, completely outside of supporting structures, and not simply a matter of “consuming experience” with the remaining available time.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#3The Stanford prison experiments are pretty well debunked at this point
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#4My interpretation when watching Fight Club was that Tyler Durden meant you become your job. But at that point, when you're a working adult, you are that job, so you may as well say that you are your job.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#5That was amazing to read.
> Be careful not to discover a career before you’ve discovered yourself.
Words to live by.
> There is a tremendous amount of support for these decisions, and very little support for making any deviating choices.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#6I would love to hitchhike to Alaska, but I’m terrified of what would happen to my career if I did. I worked hard to get a good job, and the situation right now is bad. There are so many people waiting for me to keel over and die because they’re also good engineers who want good jobs.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#7The Stanford prison experiments are pretty well debunked at this point
True, but the larger point stands: your job has a huge influence on who you become. And the organization's mission and culture also will impact your identity. I have seen a lot of former colleagues make a lot of gross compromises for career advancement over the years. People who wanted to make a positive difference in the world who end up working for weapons manufacturers and the intelligence agency cutouts that create the conditions for our forever wars.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#8> Be careful not to discover a career before you’ve discovered yourself
I feel it's possible to re-discover yourself more than once throughout your life. Right after finishing high school I thought that writing code is the real me. Now more than a decade has passed and I'm trying to find myself again. Our jobs define us, but we're in charge of how far we're willing to take it. There are engineers who are genuinely passionate about writing code and will happily do so outside of working hours, for free, with no intent for recognition or clout. And then there's me and the rest of average Joe's - sure our job has defined us, but it hasn't consumed us. Be careful about your career choices consuming you.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#9The Stanford prison experiments are pretty well debunked at this point
True, but the larger point stands: your job has a huge influence on who you become. And the organization's mission and culture also will impact your identity. I have seen a lot of former colleagues make a lot of gross compromises for career advancement over the years. People who wanted to make a positive difference in the world who end up working for weapons manufacturers and the intelligence agency cutouts that crea…
> create the conditions for our forever wars
If there were no weapons manufacturers or intelligence agencies you would still have wars.
Humanity always finds a way to resolve disputes through violence and aggression.
Re: Career Advice (2013)
#10I didn’t read the whole article because I stumbled on the Stanford Prison Experiment part.
As far as I can tell this experiment was largely debunked, or at best widely questioned and not reproducible.
It’s one of those stories that lives on because it’s simultaneously so implausible yet seems to say something believable about human nature.
But I suspect it was between 90 and 100% b.s.