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If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

gregmckeown.com

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Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#41

Post by socketcluster »

I have a really hard time designing my career in tech because I believe that people already have more options than they need or can afford.

What people need aren't more options. What they need is MONEY; which is the ability to obtain the options which exist. And the only way to give people more money is through political means. This is why I was interested in crypto; it seemed to get straight to the point...

I later quit crypto due to too much corruption in the space and launched a mainstream startup with a co-founder centered around helping people find 'the perfect job' but I quit as co-founder because the idea of it almost makes me want to vomit now.

The system is firing people en masse. The system itself doesn't want people to have jobs... So me, trying to work against the system by offering a solution that operates within the system feels futile and like gaslighting users and myself. It's selling a dream. There is no perfect job. Reality is our socio-economic system doesn't even have a shitty job for you... Let alone a perfect job... And most jobs seem like bullshit jobs anyway.

It's extremely hard to find an idea that's both truly useful and profitable these days. That's a shame because that's exactly what I want to do with my life but I feel like this does not align with what is possible within the current system. I cannot find any such opportunities in the tech sector.

Someone told me I should get into politics but again if I think about what the typical politician does, I feel nauseous. The only kind of politician I could possibly be is the honest kind that gets assassinated... And of course I don't want that. Besides, nobody would fund me... My hitman would probably have an easier time raising funding to 'take me out' of politics than I would raising funding to get into it.

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#43

Post by tock »

keiferski wrote: post #27

The main thing missing from this IMO is an element of chance or randomness, the ability to incorporate “unknown unknowns” into your life. The most interesting people I’ve come across have had a variety of jobs, many of which they knew absolutely nothing about when starting out. There is a genuine value add when you’ve worked beyond the same white collar profession your entire working career. In other words, the probl…

Do you have a link to that podcast? Sounds interesting!

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#44

Post by anal_reactor »

Swizec wrote: post #6

My favorite lens on this comes from Hamming: > It is well known the drunken sailor whos taggers to the left or right n independent random steps will, on the average, end up about sqrt(n) steps from the origin. But if there is a pretty girl in one direction, then his steps will tend to go in that direction and he will go a distance proportional to n. In a lifetime of many, many independent choices, small and large, a…

Ok but how do you know that the pretty girl isn't a succubus?

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#45

Post by keiferski »

tock wrote: post #43
keiferski wrote: post #27

The main thing missing from this IMO is an element of chance or randomness, the ability to incorporate “unknown unknowns” into your life. The most interesting people I’ve come across have had a variety of jobs, many of which they knew absolutely nothing about when starting out. There is a genuine value add when you’ve worked beyond the same white collar profession your entire working career. In other words, the probl…

Do you have a link to that podcast? Sounds interesting!

I forget the exact podcast, as I think he did a few different interviews. Might have been this one?

https://www.artofmanliness.com/people/fatherhood/podcast-108...

The book itself is called The Preparation.

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#46

Post by ramon156 »

nottorp wrote: post #5
ramon156 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Juniors fall into this pitfall so quick. Our newest hire actually set boundaries early on and I was pleasantly surprised

So it's the kind of work place where you have to set boundaries? :)

We work in different timezones so it's a mess. Either people give up their morning or they give up their evening time.

I'm at the bottom of the chain here and have no authority to change this. Given that I'm being let go soon there's not much reason for them to care about my mental state either.

But from the time I've been here, yes, you need to set boundaries or they'll do it for you. It seems like most PMs are used to talking to robots, because that's how they talk to us lately.

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#47

Post by WhereIsTheTruth »

> Many years ago I followed this process and, without exaggeration, it changed the course of my life. The insight I gained led me to quit law school, leave England and move to America and start down the path as a teacher and author. You’re reading this because of that choice. It remains the single most important career decision of my life

That "decision" required a safety net most will never have

Designing your career isn’t about self introspection, it’s about leverage

And leverage is stolen from the invisible hands that keep your world running while you journal

The problem isn't individual, but systemic: why is the freedom to choose rationed so narrowly?

For a lot of people, work isn't a career to design, it's survival math

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#48

Post by lbotos »

amelius wrote: post #35
Swizec wrote: post #6

My favorite lens on this comes from Hamming: > It is well known the drunken sailor whos taggers to the left or right n independent random steps will, on the average, end up about sqrt(n) steps from the origin. But if there is a pretty girl in one direction, then his steps will tend to go in that direction and he will go a distance proportional to n. In a lifetime of many, many independent choices, small and large, a…

That's basically diffusion versus drift. But I think it is the wrong view, as generally people do move into the direction they want to go. Take a person doing plumbing but wanting to be in art. The problem is not the direction, the problem is taking the first step. In general, many people dislike changing jobs, so they don't take steps. The steps are the problem, not the direction.

You don’t know anyone in your life that “talks big game?

Or someone else that “can’t get their stuff together?”

A lot of people never even “move”.

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#49

Post by ramon156 »

socketcluster wrote: post #41

I have a really hard time designing my career in tech because I believe that people already have more options than they need or can afford. What people need aren't more options. What they need is MONEY; which is the ability to obtain the options which exist. And the only way to give people more money is through political means. This is why I was interested in crypto; it seemed to get straight to the point... I later…

I resonate so much with you. I'm in the middle of getting my product out for people to use and naively kept thinking that a good product means people are interested.

I need to integrate with tools that prematurely deny me because I'm not a big company. I basically already lost, despite my tool being much more reasonable and maintainable (I've worked at the competitors and it was a mess).

The world doesn't care about good products, they just care about how it looks. Big companies look good, you don't. It got me demotivated early on. You really need thick skin to start selling a product.

Re: If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)

#50

Post by ramon156 »

y-curious wrote: post #23
nottorp wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it's the kind of work place where you have to set boundaries? :)

“Set your own boundaries, or someone else will do it for you” Turtles all the way down

I think this mostly speaks about setting boundaries with your higher-up, which is revolved around you.

So, I guess it would be "Turtles all the way up"

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