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Career Advice (2013)

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Re: Career Advice (2013)

#101

Post by didibus »

saganus wrote: post #39
throwaway_75369 wrote: post #14

Should be labelled (2013). Would be nice if I didn't have to say that; in so many ways the bloom is off the rose of my (admittedly high paying) corporate job. I even recently reunited with some old friends who chose a more independent career path, and was jealous and nostalgic- they're definitely working far closer to their passions with more freedom than I've felt in a decade. But man, what a decade since 2013. I wo…

Along those lines, one of the things that I still struggle with after 20+ years of working, is squaring this feeling of not working enough/earn enough money to have a comfortable retirement, while at the same time trying to live my life and not just work myself until death (very original, I know). So I've always had this conflict with the saying that goes something like "nobody regrets not working more, while in thei…

I normally heard "nobody regrets not working more" in the context of work that has bad or no ROI.

For example, lots of people work themselves to burnout by not taking all their vacations, returning to work very soon after their child is born out of fear of falling behind, working extra late or weekends from peer pressure from their boss/peers, etc. Most of which won't result in additional pay, promotion, and might not even help advance your career.

There's this other addage I heard that I quite like:

"Work harder on yourself than at your job. Invest in yourself, not in your job."

The idea is, don't spend your energy on your current job stupidly, instead spend that effort trying to find a better job, or learning skills that are more valuable, in keeping yourself relevant, etc.

I feel taken together, it forms the basis of how to balance work/life so that work can build up to a good retirement, allowing you to enjoy life in your later years, but also making time in the present to enjoy life in your current and younger years.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#102

Post by moffkalast »

achenet wrote: post #99
moffkalast wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh you gotta curb your expectations with 8 billion people alive trying to out-achieve you every single moment.

it's not a zero sum game or a competition though. You can make beautiful music, and someone else can create a beautiful choreography for it... their achievement will probably increase your joy, not decrease it.

To some degree yes, but after a while there are so many creators that it's just noise and nobody can really stand out unless they're truly beyond exceptional. So in that sense it is more of a zero sum game in practice.

Take Steam for example. After Greenlight was superseded by Direct and you now only need $100 to get on the platform it's practically drowning in games, making for near zero discoverability.

But especially in terms of idk, government jobs or certain positions at a specific company it's usually a fixed number of seats that will be filled from a large pool of people, making it a completely zero sum game. There can only be one president of a country at a time and a fixed number of them during your lifespan. What are you gonna do, make a new country?

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#103

Post by raister »

"...if I were you, I’d hitchike to Alaska this summer instead."

Read this book first though: "Into the Wild", a 1996 non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#104

Post by ceceron »

helloplanets wrote: post #76
kstenerud wrote: post #11

No. What the experiment showed is that you can be TEMPORARILY coerced into certain behaviors in abusive environments (especially by authority figures - as was exemplified in the Milgram experiment), but it won't change who you actually are. The SPE is really a study in toxic workplaces and abusive relationships. I really wish people would stop quoting the SPE without researching what actually happened and why (and th…

Stanford prison experiment has very much been debunked, it does not reflect at all what would naturally happen in such a situation. > These new criticisms include the biased and incomplete collection of data, the extent to which the SPE drew on a prison experiment devised and conducted by students in one of Zimbardo's classes 3 months earlier, the fact that the guards received precise instructions regarding the treat…

That's why I am so often disgusted with the psychology research ethics. So many experiments are impossible to reproduce (vide recent reproducibility crisis), some (like the Stanford Prison Experiment) are debunked, but it is already too late — the damage is already done. As soon as a controversial research thesis reaches the public opinion (Zimbardo made sure his thesis would become popular), it becomes part of the "folk wisdom" and is repeated as a holy truth and a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#105

Post by achenet »

badpun wrote: post #73
drewfis wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you start working out 3x a week, you will continue doing this and be physically fit. If you drink alcohol 3x a week, you will continue to do this and become wrinkled and grumpy. What about working out 3x a week and drinking alcohol 3x a week? Potentially that could be a sweet spot for sociability and activity. Compared to doing neither 3x a week, what do you think would be better? Both drinking and exercise mean…

Is the alcohol really necessary? Any social relation that requires alcohol to continue does seem low value.

maybe not alcohol, but many of my closet friendships, which are probably the greatest sources of joy in my life (maybe romantic relationships come close), were formed around shared intoxication - weed, LSD, 2C-B, MDMA, Ketamine...

now obviously the relation has moved beyond that, we're very happy hanging out sober, and generally spend the vast majority of our time together sober, but getting intoxicated with someone is actually a good bonding mechanism.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#106

Post by rubicon33 »

farmeroy wrote: post #43

I spent my twenties riding freight trains across the US and cycling across Europe and Asia, living off of music. I'm not sure I would recommend that to anyone who is looking for career advice - Now I'm trying to build a solid career for myself as a software developer and I have no idea if it is easier with all that behind me or not. While I'm hoping that the soft skills and self knowledge I may have acquired over the…

I wouldn’t necessarily expect that you gained some discrete skills that will help you in software. Probably what you gained is something more valuable: perspective, and peace.

Now when you are 45 or 50, rather than a crushing feeling of having wasted your life behind a desk you will hopefully feel happy that you spent your good years living life.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#107

Post by badpun »

Swizec wrote: post #78
saganus wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Along those lines, one of the things that I still struggle with after 20+ years of working, is squaring this feeling of not working enough/earn enough money to have a comfortable retirement, while at the same time trying to live my life and not just work myself until death (very original, I know). So I've always had this conflict with the saying that goes something like "nobody regrets not working more, while in thei…

Few people regret not working more. Almost everyone regrets not having achieved more.

> Almost everyone regrets not having achieved more.

Depends on the culture. This my be true in the US, but most other cultures aren't as obsessed with achieving.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#108

Post by bjornsing »

hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #28

Pretty good combined life+career advice I heard a long time ago and followed: If you're going to move countries, the best time to do it is right after college. Starting from scratch in an entirely new country, with no connections, no professional ability to speak the native language, and rapidly dwindling cash reserves, was one of the scariest and most thrilling things I've ever done in my life. I recommend it to no…

> If you're going to move countries, the best time to do it is right after college.

Perhaps this should be reconsidered in light of remote work? I’m 45 and thinking about moving to another country, mostly for lower cost of living and lower taxes (I’m Swedish). I’m basically a remote freelancer, so the step doesn’t feel huge.

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#109

Post by dumpsterdiver »

rubicon33 wrote: post #106
farmeroy wrote: post #43

I spent my twenties riding freight trains across the US and cycling across Europe and Asia, living off of music. I'm not sure I would recommend that to anyone who is looking for career advice - Now I'm trying to build a solid career for myself as a software developer and I have no idea if it is easier with all that behind me or not. While I'm hoping that the soft skills and self knowledge I may have acquired over the…

I wouldn’t necessarily expect that you gained some discrete skills that will help you in software. Probably what you gained is something more valuable: perspective, and peace. Now when you are 45 or 50, rather than a crushing feeling of having wasted your life behind a desk you will hopefully feel happy that you spent your good years living life.

45? Wha... these are still our good years!

Re: Career Advice (2013)

#110

Post by badpun »

hcks wrote: post #90

This is all extremely bad advice. To sum it up: work is a long endless grind that will alienate you, therefore therefore left-libertarian flavoured YOLO. Without downplaying the existing structures of social oppression, you may be lucky to live in a country and a time where you have rights. In that case, you need to decide for yourself what you want in life (economically). You need to decide how much money you want,…

That's exactly right. For example, I decided I prefer to live on $500-$1000 a month to having to work more years. So, I retired as soon as I could afford $1k till the rest of my life. It's not a life rich in material goods, but, in my experience, the stuff that brings me the most value is super cheap, and after that it's mostly diminishing returns.
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