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Career advice for people with bad luck

chiefofstuff.substack.com

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Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#31

Post by blumomo »

meddlepal wrote: post #26
Tade0 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need to share any subset o values. Otherwise there's no space for dialogue. I believe this is the norm.

Are people using values to mean interests? I need to share some interests: sports, beer, model building, architecture etc... Values though? I can't see that being the norm unless your shared interest is politics, religion, or social order/dynamics.

aren’t you valuing tennis as a sport if you like to talk about it with colleagues? I’d say that interests and values go a long way together.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#32

Post by MrPatan »

throw4failure wrote: post #29

This seems like a good thread in which to try to solicit some advice, since it's at least tangentially related. I was terminated from my last job. In my opinion it was due to my chronic and major depression that I have since been seeking extensive treatment (medication, several months rent in therapy) for. I say "in my opinion" because I really can't rule out that I'm just a lazy, crappy developer who is trying to us…

Why would I see the parent comment grey? I surely hope there is some rule I don't understand here about new accounts, because otherwise it means somebody had nothing better to do than to be mean to someone depressed and asking for help.

Maybe that's the advice for you, if you're feeling down go have a look around for somebody who has it worse than you and push them further down! Nice work, everybody.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#34

Post by chadash »

throw4failure wrote: post #29

This seems like a good thread in which to try to solicit some advice, since it's at least tangentially related. I was terminated from my last job. In my opinion it was due to my chronic and major depression that I have since been seeking extensive treatment (medication, several months rent in therapy) for. I say "in my opinion" because I really can't rule out that I'm just a lazy, crappy developer who is trying to us…

I interview people regularly and if I see someone with technical talent, then I'll proceed. Chances are I'm not looking up your references until I'm pretty sure I want to hire you, so up until that point, it's on you to impress me with your technical knowledge.

Brush up on the fundamentals. Maybe read cracking the coding interview. And if possible, spend some time working on an open source project, preferably an existing one, not your own (it shows you can collaborate, which is a useful skill if I'm gonna hire you).

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#35

Post by rwmj »

sys_64738 wrote: post #33

My advice is to do a startup as early in your career as possible. Then you'll feel failure and the emptiness as it hits the skids. It's a life lesson in a few months because startups that fail usually tip over the cliff real fast.

In my experience the worst start ups don't hit the skids fast. They kind of keep bumping along, often for years. Neither growing much, nor dying, nor making much money, nor losing enough to go out of business. I even co-founded one of these a few years ago. If you're in one of these my advice is to recognise it and quit.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#36

Post by kamaal »

rb808 wrote: post #23

A lot of talk here that colleagues aren't friends. What is wrong with you people? If you like your colleagues you can invite them to do stuff after you or they leave. They probably haven't invited you because they never got around to it either. Most of the older generation people met through work is the only way to make friends. No wonder loneliness is so rampant now.

Unacknowledged fact. Due to Stack Ranking and modern day Machivellian work culture, colleagues are competitors.

Most relationships end up the same way. If there is some kind of comparative ranking/selection, even if it is just fame or some recognition. Even sibling rivalry roots in this.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#37

Post by okt »

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'…

my 2 cents: there is rarely a shortcut available and is hardly a 6 months course work designed to get into google or the alike unless you have a friend or family member who guides you through the whole process and points you to the right direction, not least giving hope and motivation.

you have to develop a sustainable long term learning habit to hone your skills without being getting burned out and without hoping a dramatic success in the short term.

To get noticed or get an interview you have to identify people there and somehow get them forward your CV and/or build some proof of your skills in form of personal projects which many others like you dont have. Chances you are, you will get atleast an interview somewhere at big tech, if not at google.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#38

Post by giantg2 »

To the people questioning why it is about luck: I think it is because it is written from the perspective that you are at a bad/dying company or have a bad boss. A lot of this article seems to be about leaving that situation. If you had good luck, then you might have been hired onto a good company in the first place.

I do think the article should point out that sometimes bad luck just happens and there's nothing that could have mitigated it. I work for a good company (top 20 IT best places to work) and I have had good managers (some bad too) and I have still been unlucky. I saw a coworker get promoted rapidly for filling the tech lead role for one year. When he left, I stepped up to fill that role for 1.5 years. I didn't get promoted or even the highest performance rating. My manager even told me they believed I deserved it but didn't have to power to make it happen.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#39

Post by werber »

Insanity wrote: post #10
chesterarthur wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to share values with someone to be their friend?

To form a long-lasting friendship, you need at least some common ground to touch on.

That's the great thing about co-worker friends. I don't have tech friends from my "real" life, but I have a ton of random friends from old jobs I talk to and (in what seems like a different life, before COVID-19) get together with regularly. What started as joking about agile processes is now planning weird trips and brunches.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#40

Post by werber »

kamaal wrote: post #36
rb808 wrote: post #23

A lot of talk here that colleagues aren't friends. What is wrong with you people? If you like your colleagues you can invite them to do stuff after you or they leave. They probably haven't invited you because they never got around to it either. Most of the older generation people met through work is the only way to make friends. No wonder loneliness is so rampant now.

Unacknowledged fact. Due to Stack Ranking and modern day Machivellian work culture, colleagues are competitors. Most relationships end up the same way. If there is some kind of comparative ranking/selection, even if it is just fame or some recognition. Even sibling rivalry roots in this.

I've had such a different experience than you. I feel that being friends with co-workers has always been more about mutual aid than competition.
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