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Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

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Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#21

Post by pmorici »

mathattack wrote: post #14
stblack wrote: post #5

This resonates profoundly. But I'll tell you who I REALLY feel sorry for. I feel sorry for today's 20- and 30-somethings who will likely never know the $1000-$2000 days many of us knew in the 80's, 90's and 00's. Back in the days when FedExing diskettes across the planet was a normal thing. Take today's 20 and 30-somethings and project forward 20-years, I wouldn't want to trade positions.

Much easier to learn to program and do bigger things today. Professional life (and life in general) is much better today than 25 years ago. 20 years ago: - It was hard to find books on technical subjects. - Computing time was so scarce you had crazy internal chargeback systems. (Though this is sort of coming full circle with AWS) - You had to worry about every level of the stack to do the simplest things. (Weak abstr…

You realize it will be 2015 in two weeks right? 20 years ago it was 1995 computing time wasn't "scarce" the PC had already been around for 10+ years 20 years ago.

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#22

Post by smoyer »

There are truly horrible jobs - I said it just to get it out of the way but ...

The rest of this comment doesn't apply to convenience store clerks with degrees in computer science.

Many times when I hear people say something like this, they're working in a job they hate because they're making good money. If you can't make job change because you're expecting the same wage, that's a different problem (Dear Santa - please include personal budgeting software).

Fortunately, unless you have one of those truly horrible jobs, there's a better way to get the job you want. Change your own job - and you start with changing your own behavior. This method requires a lot more work than sitting in your cube all day (playing with your red Swingline stapler) but broadly try this (not every problem will require all the steps):

1) Exceed your bosses expectations but still be on time.

2) Change how you do the job so that you're enjoying yourself.

3) Learn something new in the process of doing 1 and 2 above.

4) Use an appropriate new technology to replace something old - make sure you can justify why you replaced the old (presumably working) way.

5) Teach others in your office how you achieved more by doing things this new way.

This makes a few changes:

1) You think differently about your job and the enjoyment you get from it.

2) Your boss thinks differently about you.

3) Your coworkers think differently about you.

Don't underestimate the important of your perceptions - you can probably do your current job in a way that you find enjoyable if you tweak the job and change your attitude!

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#24

Post by lingua_franca »

stblack wrote: post #5

This resonates profoundly. But I'll tell you who I REALLY feel sorry for. I feel sorry for today's 20- and 30-somethings who will likely never know the $1000-$2000 days many of us knew in the 80's, 90's and 00's. Back in the days when FedExing diskettes across the planet was a normal thing. Take today's 20 and 30-somethings and project forward 20-years, I wouldn't want to trade positions.

wake up, many guys in their 20's make $300k to half million a year at Google/Facebook/Amazon these days...

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#25

Post by smoyer »

mud_dauber wrote: post #20
smoyer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I turned 50 last summer and the last time I was looking, I had no problem finding a good job ... perhaps the best job I've ever had. But to survive the interview process, you can't act 50 (or 55 or 51). You need to be current and make it obvious you've kept yourself up-to-date. To a lesser degree you can't look 50 either - I'm fortunate to have been dirty blond when I was younger and my hair doesn't seem to be greyin…

Completely agree. Like you, I have fortunate genes & much younger mindset.

One more anti-pattern to avoid during interviews - don't be the naysayer during your interview!

If they say they're going to be trying "technology/algorithm/framework X", don't immediately say "that will never work!". Sure you've got 30 years of experience and you've tried that and failed with it 15 times but they're young and impressionable and they can do anything. Plus they might be right in this instance!

Instead, you're the flexible guy who balances his experience, intuition and caution with the realization that while X might have failed you in the past, there might be situations where it's the right fit. So play the wise sage and say something like "that's an interesting idea, I'd be careful about Q, R and S but if it's implemented correctly that might be exactly the right plan (for instance, sometimes people really do need a NoSQL database, but often it should be put next to an RDBMS ... don't just choose one!). And you'd certainly like to be on the team working with X right? (you are presumeably at the job interview to get the job).

So the right play during the interview is to look like you'd be a valuable member of the team. Once you've joined the team you can help guide them to a proper solution - whether or not it includes X.

Bonus: Do not in ANY CIRCUMSTANCES get drawn into flame wars during your interview. Editors, IDEs, editors versus IDEs, languages and frameworks are tools - your position is that you use the one that best fits the project and maximizes productivity.

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#26

Post by mud_dauber »

smoyer wrote: post #22

There are truly horrible jobs - I said it just to get it out of the way but ... The rest of this comment doesn't apply to convenience store clerks with degrees in computer science. Many times when I hear people say something like this, they're working in a job they hate because they're making good money. If you can't make job change because you're expecting the same wage, that's a different problem (Dear Santa - plea…

Upvote for the Swingline ref. I needed that.

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#27

Post by bshimmin »

davelnewton wrote: post #19
wyldfire wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused: $1000-2000 days? Are you suggesting that there are "many of you" who pulled down ~250-500k USD per year back in the 80s/90s/00s? Which industry(ies)/career(s) are you referring to?

It depended... $1k days weren't terribly unusual back then, or now, if you have specific skill sets.

Or even if you only happen to have a pretty standard skill-set, but are reasonably good at what you do, good at selling yourself, and happen to be connected with the right sort of people. (Though making $2000 a day might also require being quite hard-working, depending on what you do.)

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#28

Post by angdis »

lingua_franca wrote: post #24
stblack wrote: post #5

This resonates profoundly. But I'll tell you who I REALLY feel sorry for. I feel sorry for today's 20- and 30-somethings who will likely never know the $1000-$2000 days many of us knew in the 80's, 90's and 00's. Back in the days when FedExing diskettes across the planet was a normal thing. Take today's 20 and 30-somethings and project forward 20-years, I wouldn't want to trade positions.

wake up, many guys in their 20's make $300k to half million a year at Google/Facebook/Amazon these days...

I find that very difficult to believe. Also, what do you mean by "many" ?

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#29

Post by mathattack »

pmorici wrote: post #21
mathattack wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much easier to learn to program and do bigger things today. Professional life (and life in general) is much better today than 25 years ago. 20 years ago: - It was hard to find books on technical subjects. - Computing time was so scarce you had crazy internal chargeback systems. (Though this is sort of coming full circle with AWS) - You had to worry about every level of the stack to do the simplest things. (Weak abstr…

You realize it will be 2015 in two weeks right? 20 years ago it was 1995 computing time wasn't "scarce" the PC had already been around for 10+ years 20 years ago.

I'm aging myself. Maybe I should say 25. :-)

When I was in school, computing time was a pain in the ass. Same with my first job after. I'm not talking run a little Excel, more like "Create the data cube for a company's monthly sales numbers" computing.

Re: Santa, I'll be 55YO in a few days. All I want is a better job. Thanks.

#30

Post by lingua_franca »

angdis wrote: post #28
lingua_franca wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wake up, many guys in their 20's make $300k to half million a year at Google/Facebook/Amazon these days...

I find that very difficult to believe. Also, what do you mean by "many" ?

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