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My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

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Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#91

Post by mercutio2 »

gregd wrote: post #82
mercer wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense taken. I do not have children and currently no SO, and I do realize that this makes a big difference. As I mentioned, I do understand that not everyone has the luxury of finding 'nice' work. What I said applies mainly to those that DO have this luxury. I just think a lot of people, especially in Western Europe, have this luxury and don't use it. Shouldn't the knowledge that your freedom is likely to dimini…

Great response mercer. I have to clarify one thing for you though. Having a family IS extremely gratifying but it doesn't come at the expense of freedom. Simply put, your priorities change. What may seem like a loss of freedom to you now, will probably become less and less important to you as you take on a family. There is something immensely gratifying in doing work that you're also passionate about..don't get me wr…

> I have to clarify one thing for you though. Having a > family IS extremely gratifying but it doesn't come at the > expense of freedom. Simply put, your priorities change. > What may seem like a loss of freedom to you now, will > probably become less and less important to you as you take > on a family.

Hmm. I'm glad this is true for you. It's certainly not true for me (or most parents I'm close friends with).

Don't get me wrong, I love my wife and daughter and wouldn't trade them in. But I have mourned my adventures lost and I expect I will continue to do so.

It's certainly also true that emotionally well-balanced people don't dwell too much on the impossible, and I strive to find joy in the very different opportunities parenthood presents. I also have found my priorities adjust with partnership and parenthood, so some adventures no longer have the same allure.

But I would never counsel unattached people that parenthood doesn't entail dramatic loss of freedom. That just sounds like crazy talk to this parent.

Rather, I'd say: parenthood can be wonderful! But I sure recommend getting your fill of adventure before embarking on reproductively oriented sexual activity.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#92

Post by mercer »

gregd wrote: post #82
mercer wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense taken. I do not have children and currently no SO, and I do realize that this makes a big difference. As I mentioned, I do understand that not everyone has the luxury of finding 'nice' work. What I said applies mainly to those that DO have this luxury. I just think a lot of people, especially in Western Europe, have this luxury and don't use it. Shouldn't the knowledge that your freedom is likely to dimini…

Great response mercer. I have to clarify one thing for you though. Having a family IS extremely gratifying but it doesn't come at the expense of freedom. Simply put, your priorities change. What may seem like a loss of freedom to you now, will probably become less and less important to you as you take on a family. There is something immensely gratifying in doing work that you're also passionate about..don't get me wr…

Interesting. Maybe it's all about changes in priority throughout life. I feel frustrated to see so many of those around my age settle for and into something that perhaps at a later time would be fine, but just seems like a waste currently.

I'm still pretty young, but I already notice how priorities change. I feel less of a need to be part of a 'clique' than a few years ago, for example. But I'm happy that in my college years I joined a student organisation and had all the 'clique' I needed, because I'm pretty sure it would've felt like something I'd missed out on otherwise.

My frustrations don't primarily stem from a belief that there is one 'path' that makes everyone happy, but primarily from the belief that, living in the richest part of the world at a time where we're still doing quite well (Holland/Germany/etc.), it's such a waste to settle for less than something that makes you happy. And yet many of my peers do just that. I often try to think of ways to change that, while being mindful that my path to happiness does not apply to everyone (or I try to, anyways. Plenty of youthful arrogance left in me!).

Anyways, thanks for the advice/perspective. I'm sure that my priorities will change significantly as I age, and I try to be mindful of that fact.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#93

Post by mercer »

mercutio2 wrote: post #91
gregd wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great response mercer. I have to clarify one thing for you though. Having a family IS extremely gratifying but it doesn't come at the expense of freedom. Simply put, your priorities change. What may seem like a loss of freedom to you now, will probably become less and less important to you as you take on a family. There is something immensely gratifying in doing work that you're also passionate about..don't get me wr…

> I have to clarify one thing for you though. Having a > family IS extremely gratifying but it doesn't come at the > expense of freedom. Simply put, your priorities change. > What may seem like a loss of freedom to you now, will > probably become less and less important to you as you take > on a family. Hmm. I'm glad this is true for you. It's certainly not true for me (or most parents I'm close friends with). Don't…

What do you miss most, if I may ask?

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#94

Post by icebraining »

prawks wrote: post #81
icebraining wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe he doesn't click linkedin links because they track and report what you've viewed if you're logged in All decent browsers support private tabs/windows nowadays, you can just open the context menu to open the link in one. It'd take less time than writing the post.

I don't believe private browsing masks your IP, and I'm not sure it changes your user agent either. It's very likely LinkedIn can still track your activity if you're browsing in a Private tab.

Even if they track, they're not going to report it.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#95

Post by normloman »

hackula1 wrote: post #88
ignostic wrote: post #6

I feel like I'm a different species when I hear someone excited about working 80+ hours a week. Having so little free time and so little time to spend with friends and family seems like a sad life regardless of the paycheck. I agree with this: "Have a passion for Doing something rather than Being a title on a business card." I also agree that "Showing up a lot increases your odds" (in this case meaning working a lot…

Da Vinci most certainly worked 80 hour weeks, and I am sure he loved every minute of it. Why? Because he got paid to think up cool shit day in and day out. I have worked jobs that were so mind numbingly boring that I could barely muster 30 hours a week when I was single. Now I am married and could easily pull 60-70 hours a week at my significantly more interesting job. Work is the place you will spend most of your li…

If he did work 80 hours a week, he could have accomplished the same amount of work in half the time, had he given himself breaks. Everyone knows productivity goes down when you work to long.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/09/working-...

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#96

Post by jdbernard »

peterwwillis wrote: post #89

> Trust your instincts > Showing up a lot increases your odds > Trust that the dots in your career will connect > Have a passion for Doing something rather than Being a title on a business card. So basically, his advice is to just hope everything works out okay. What he doesn't explicitly point out is that all of the success in his story is based on being a really good bullshitter. If you can bullshit well, you can g…

> all of the success in his story is based on being a really good bullshitter.

And then delivering on what he said. You forgot that part.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#97

Post by PeterisP »

z92 wrote: post #24
ryanjshaw wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with this parable is that it equates two different scenarios. A fisherman without extensive financial resources is not the same as a person with extensive financial resources choosing to fish. Here's some alternative endings, in a country without social and medical support in place, for you to consider: 1. The fisherman develops a serious illness and finds he can no longer support his family. His wife, wh…

On the other hand you can get bankrupt due to: 1. Share market crash. 2. Change in government regulations. 3. Getting sued. 4. Or simply bad luck. 90% of all business fail anyway.

None of these should cause a wealthy man to go bankrupt.

It can cause a business to go bankrupt, and a wealthy man to become much less wealthy, but otherwise either you are stupid or you are diversified; and it's easier to 'stay there' than to 'get there'. If a stock market crash or, say, Madoff hurts you then it's bad luck; but if it destroys you then it's stupidity.

For example, Bill Gates should still be wealthy even if Microsoft went completely bankrupt at any point since mid-1980ies. Sure, he probably wouldn't be on his malaria campaign in that case, but it wouldn't hurt his life that much.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#98

Post by crusso »

VLM wrote: post #74
JoshTriplett wrote: post #13

> Two weeks before the class was over, the head of the deployment team asked, “Steve, are you single?” Yes. “Do you like to travel?” Sure. “Why don’t you come to Korea with us when we ship the system overseas.” The first of those questions was completely unnecessary, and invited a potential employment discrimination lawsuit; it fairly directly implies they might not have made the offer if he wasn't. It would have suf…

The weirdest part of the meta discussion is the fixation on legality rather than morality of finding out if someone is single. Also its an extremely bad business strategy. Take a single dude who probably loves the night life to Korea on a deployment, what could possibly go wrong? If you're planning a party that sounds like a fun plan. On the other hand I hate traveling, so if you pick me I'll get that system up and r…

morality of finding out if someone is single

It was likely asked in a perfectly moral way as in, "Do you have any family reason why you couldn't pick up and move to another country next week?"

Moving someone to another country is a huge life change. More so if there is a spouse and/or children involved. Sadly, political correctness makes casual concerns something to be litigated over.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#99

Post by dragonwriter »

crusso wrote: post #98
VLM wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The weirdest part of the meta discussion is the fixation on legality rather than morality of finding out if someone is single. Also its an extremely bad business strategy. Take a single dude who probably loves the night life to Korea on a deployment, what could possibly go wrong? If you're planning a party that sounds like a fun plan. On the other hand I hate traveling, so if you pick me I'll get that system up and r…

morality of finding out if someone is single It was likely asked in a perfectly moral way as in, "Do you have any family reason why you couldn't pick up and move to another country next week?" Moving someone to another country is a huge life change. More so if there is a spouse and/or children involved. Sadly, political correctness makes casual concerns something to be litigated over.

> It was likely asked in a perfectly moral way as in, "Do you have any family reason why you couldn't pick up and move to another country next week?"

A "perfectly moral" (and more appropriate to the goal) method would be to exclude the reference to family and just as "Do you have any reason why you couldn't pick up and move to another country next week?"

I mean, if the intent isn't just to discover information about their family structure, there is no reason non-family reasons would be less relevant than family reasons.

Re: My First Job: Fired and Rehired on Day 1

#100

Post by cfqycwz »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #13

> Two weeks before the class was over, the head of the deployment team asked, “Steve, are you single?” Yes. “Do you like to travel?” Sure. “Why don’t you come to Korea with us when we ship the system overseas.” The first of those questions was completely unnecessary, and invited a potential employment discrimination lawsuit; it fairly directly implies they might not have made the offer if he wasn't. It would have suf…

I think you may be overthinking this a bit much. It seems like it's just a joke about extended business travel, and they would have made the offer either way.
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