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How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

charity.wtf

201–210 of 235 posts

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#201
Sometimes it is experience that comes with finding out a job is right for you. The job itself can be great, the projects fun, but if the companies structure is anti-growth and headed for some idiotic goals (like "we want to start making the software that our most expensive supplier makes" aka want to go up in the food-chain in a already well-established market) instead of working with the chances they got- you will go nowhere. And you will know it.

If all the ambitious people leave- or go into inner exile, while the work stays the same but the company goes nowhere, the job has quit on you and its time to walk.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This must be a god level troll post.

I was asked for an opinion and I gave one. Don't make too much of it. Rails devotees can't stand hearing a bad word about their baby, they always make a fuss.

I reckon the negative reactions are at least partly down to your wording, e.g.

> there is no good work

> total lack of discipline

> impossible to build

This level of absolutism is problematic for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's ambiguous: a "total" lack of discipline would entail never releasing anything. This is clearly inaccurate, and the reader is left guessing what level of discipline is implied. Secondly, without more detail, most will assume exaggeration, given that RoR sees significant commercial use. You haven't provided compelling reasons to trust your judgement over anyone else's, so users are well-justified in raising counter-examples from their experience.

You also come off as dismissive of opinions and lived experiences that differ from your own; suggesting that anyone who disagrees is a "devotee", and that concrete counter-examples are meaningless one-offs. Having been on the sharp end of this dismissiveness myself, it mostly acts to drag the discussion down. Like, fair enough, maybe you're incredibly experienced, you want to make the world a better place by passing on your wisdom, and you're tired of dealing with half-baked takes. But belittling your fellow users is not helping. And again, from my own experience, you can be quick to say that a take is half-baked even when it aligns with scholarly opinion.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs said it most profoundly: "love what you do". This is the opposite of "do what you love". I wish I understood where he learned this. It's very profound (and true).

It is not the opposite. If you do what you love, you love what you do. So its more of, "love what you do" is what to aim for, and "do what you love" is one way to achieve this.

Like dont pursue the happiness but be happy pursuing

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#204
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do what you love, then you love what you do. If you love what you do, you didn't necessarily get there by doing what you love. Reminds me of: a duck is a bird but a bird isn't necessarily a duck. I agree it's not the opposite.

> If you do what you love, then you love what you do. While it is possible to both do what you love and love what you do, often if you do what you love you are apt to find out that you don't actually love doing it. Hence the common refrain that cautions against turning your love into a job.

That could also be the overjustification effect

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overjustification_effect

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#205

This isn't at all a rebuttal of the post, more a different perspective. I started a new job while basically deeply depressed. It colored all my opinions of the company and my coworkers. As I'm coming out of that through a combination of medication and intensive CBT I'm realizing that a lot of the negativity I felt towards my job was the result of the depression. As things improve I'm realizing that the job is mostly…

Steve Jobs said it most profoundly: "love what you do". This is the opposite of "do what you love". I wish I understood where he learned this. It's very profound (and true).

A similar quote from Nietzsche has really struck to me:

Happiness is not doing everything you want, but wanting everything you do.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#206

A couple of rules I have that have worked for me so far is: Colleagues, tasks, compensation - if at least two of the three are good, it's fine to stay. If not it's time to look for something new. The first year is a learning year, the second is a productive year, and the third is a "what else can I get out of this place" year. If nothing changes in the third year, then there's not much more to learn from the company…

https://old.stonecharioteer.com/posts/2022/two-of-three-rule...

I wrote something exactly like this a while ago.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#207
My last job had some giant red flags right up front. “Who would I report to?” “We don’t know.” “Who would I work with?” “We’re not sure yet.” And then there was a high profile legal issue after I accepted but before I started, and it rendered the position I was hired for irrelevant.

I worked there for four years anyway. Every one of those red flags was a sign of a real problem. Three of those years were very good, but eventually the chickens came home to roost.

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm well aware there is a large Rails shop with famously strong engineering practices, which I believe deserve much credit that accrues for some reason instead to the framework.

Yes, yes, yes, everyone knows about Shopify and no that’s not the multi billion dollar monolith shop I’m referring to, but we definitely have taken some inspiration from their excellent practices. We also brought in a lot of best in breed from Microsoft and Amazon. Bottom line is it’s about the talent and the discipline. At the end of the day it’s not bad languages that are the problem it’s bad engineers.

[deleted]

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#209
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was asked for an opinion and I gave one. Don't make too much of it. Rails devotees can't stand hearing a bad word about their baby, they always make a fuss.

I reckon the negative reactions are at least partly down to your wording, e.g. > there is no good work > total lack of discipline > impossible to build This level of absolutism is problematic for a couple of reasons. Firstly it's ambiguous: a "total" lack of discipline would entail never releasing anything. This is clearly inaccurate, and the reader is left guessing what level of discipline is implied. Secondly, with…

Yeah, everyone wants a treatise here, always and only on whatever they happen to disagree with. There's no kind of intellectual consistency more consistent than imposing an effectively unsatisfiable bar for standing to dissent, but letting whatever you like to hear slide without a second thought or question. Meanwhile detailed and substantive technical critiques provided by other users - critiques of the sort I learned a decade ago not to bother making - go totally ignored as I knew that they would.

I don't really see why I should take that sort of thing very seriously. Do you?

Re: How long it takes to know if a job is right for you or not

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm well aware there is a large Rails shop with famously strong engineering practices, which I believe deserve much credit that accrues for some reason instead to the framework.

Yes, yes, yes, everyone knows about Shopify and no that’s not the multi billion dollar monolith shop I’m referring to, but we definitely have taken some inspiration from their excellent practices. We also brought in a lot of best in breed from Microsoft and Amazon. Bottom line is it’s about the talent and the discipline. At the end of the day it’s not bad languages that are the problem it’s bad engineers.

[deleted]
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