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Career advice for people with bad luck

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Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#201

Post by coldpie »

mettamage wrote: post #15

Finally, a post that isn't all hunky dory. I'm at the bottom quartile at the moment, so I'm happy to take any reasonable advice that doesn't sound like: study algorithms and get into Google. Ok, I studied algorithms, got rejected at the paper round. Now what? The tough part isn't passing the interview, it's getting a chance in the first place. This advice is better. Some points that really stood out to me and that I'…

IMO, forget the big companies and startups. There's plenty of opportunities at smaller, established companies, which are, in my opinion, often better places to work anyway.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#202

Post by robertlagrant »

Balgair wrote: post #169
username90 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids are not luck though, people have all the power to decide not to have kids until their finances are better.

Through true, that's a bit of a coarse statement. Should children wreck your finances? A lot of countries are spending a lot of money to reverse that sentiment right now. Yes, they are currently expensive, but blaming people for having children isn't going to fix anything. What about health aspects? One should never overestimate their fertility. Rates of birth defects rise as humans age (not just women, men too). Com…

> A lot of countries are spending a lot of money to reverse that sentiment right now. Yes, they are currently expensive, but blaming people for having children isn't going to fix anything.

I think it's more about why people blame the government or society for the economic ramifications of this choice.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#203

Post by chosenbreed37 »

LarryDarrell wrote: post #198
mdorazio wrote: post #67

I really want to see more articles like this on HN. However, this is really "career advice for people at struggling companies." The luck part doesn't get discussed in the way I expected. To me, bad luck is things like: - You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ex. you graduated in 2008-2010/now or your business sector got wiped out by COVID - Despite your best efforts at networking, you simply never meet that ma…

I suspect it's because there isn't much advice to give. My answer, having checked a few of your boxes... Your lifetime wages are going to be lower than many of your peers. This is unlikely to change. Adjust your worldview accordingly. Don't assume any debt that relies on increasing future earnings to be comfortable. By all means, keep trying, but stay level headed. Success for most is not always right around the corn…

> Read some philosophy. Buy a reliable used car. Look inward for contentment. Try therapy if your shitty childhood and shitty parents made inward a hard place to look.

I'd recommend the following:

1. Meditations - Marcus Aurelius

2. 12 Rules for Life - Jordan B Peterson

3. Letters from a self made merchant - John Graham

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#204

Post by throwaway6734 »

rapfaria wrote: post #196
decafninja wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been studying for the past two years and have failed at multiple FAANGs, some twice. Failed at FB, NFLX, AMZN, in addition to MSFT and UBER. Then again, I'm not entry level (10 yoe), so I might be competing at a higher bar. However, I'd gladly join any of these companies as a junior engineer without hesitation. I've seen stories of, amongst others, someone who studied while in prison get into GOOG, someone who w…

But why would you want to join those companies as a junior engineer?

Better long terms salary growth

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#205

Post by TeMPOraL »

robertlagrant wrote: post #202
Balgair wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Through true, that's a bit of a coarse statement. Should children wreck your finances? A lot of countries are spending a lot of money to reverse that sentiment right now. Yes, they are currently expensive, but blaming people for having children isn't going to fix anything. What about health aspects? One should never overestimate their fertility. Rates of birth defects rise as humans age (not just women, men too). Com…

> A lot of countries are spending a lot of money to reverse that sentiment right now. Yes, they are currently expensive, but blaming people for having children isn't going to fix anything. I think it's more about why people blame the government or society for the economic ramifications of this choice.

Which people? Environmentalist maybe. But those worrying about failing retirement pension system or the amount of migrant labor probably do realize both are caused by low population growth in their country.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#206

Post by Reedx »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #108
mdorazio wrote: post #67

I really want to see more articles like this on HN. However, this is really "career advice for people at struggling companies." The luck part doesn't get discussed in the way I expected. To me, bad luck is things like: - You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ex. you graduated in 2008-2010/now or your business sector got wiped out by COVID - Despite your best efforts at networking, you simply never meet that ma…

>- You're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ex. you graduated in 2008-2010/now or your business sector got wiped out by COVID I feel bad for the higher class pizza restaurant that opened down the street from our house at the end of January after a long time of renovating the building. Even though their pizza isn't really as good as the fancy pizza place at the mall (it's a mall in a rich area) down by the nearby…

Ouch. Bad luck combined with an already risky venture...

> Even though their pizza isn't really as good as the fancy pizza place at the mall

They opened the "not best pizza option" and "nTH restaurant option".

Opening a restaurant is a good example of what to avoid if you want to be resilient in the face of bad luck. It's a fragile and brutal business even in the best of times.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#207

Post by TeMPOraL »

dkersten wrote: post #199
username90 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kids are not luck though, people have all the power to decide not to have kids until their finances are better.

Potentially very unpopular opinion, but to add to this, I think it’s irresponsible and unfair to the children if you choose to have have kids before your finances are in order. And selfish to put your desires above the wellbeing of the potential child’s.

We're talking in the thread about bad luck. It's entirely possible - and common - to have finances in order, decide to have children, and then experience sudden events causing financial hardships.

Also, we're in a subthread of "saving lots o'moneys by working for big tech", so this applies also to people wanting to improve your situation. I personally didn't realize how bad the calculus of chasing after companies in tech hubs looks until I started doing costs-of-living calculations while evaluating job offers with relocation. I ended up doubling down on remote, because even a moderately shit tech job (even a in-office one where I live) would leave us with more savings on a single income than us relocating to a big tech hub and living on two incomes (one non-tech).

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#208

Post by kevsim »

omniscient_oce wrote: post #85
ashtonkem wrote: post #2

> The company is not your family. Some of the people in the company are your friends in the current context. It’s like your dorm in college. Hopefully some of them will still be your friends after. But don’t stay because you’re comfortable. This one hit hard. It’s amazing how many of the close work friends I had over the years were only close because of the shitty circumstances we endured together. Once that was gone…

You may like the Japanese phrase 一期一会 (ichi-go-ichi-e). To me it means that you should cherish each relationship and encounter, regardless of whether you know it will last a long time or not. You may never get the chance to experience that particular relationship again. I actually learnt this word firsthand from a man that it applies to, an middle-aged Japanese guy who was volunteering with kids near where I live. We…

That's a lovely concept. Thanks for sharing!

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#209

Post by WhompingWindows »

The concept of "bad luck" is reinforced by endless self-comparison with those who had extremely good luck.

It's MUCH more valuable to compare yourself to those who are unlucky: the mentally disabled, those who died from COVID at age 29, those born/raised in North Korea. Compared to these people, we've all hit the fucking jackpot.

Adjust your mindset and you'll notice you're luckier than you thought you were.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#210

Post by pjc50 »

chrisabrams wrote: post #166
pjc50 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, this wasn't the retention offer, this was the new job! And it's still technically open, but nicely spaced with sound-absorbing partitions. The dysfunctional place had a pingpong table within earshot.

This was not clear :O Would be good to clarify in your original post.

Edit window now closed, but yes. My point was that a counteroffer can only ever change a very small set of things, so they're very rarely worth bothering with.
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