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Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

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Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#441

Post by mmcnl »

m_fayer wrote: post #289
expathacker wrote: post #235

Emotionally detaching. I was a workaholic from age 16 until 33 and this was my primary identity. I used to always be proud of the work I did, no matter how lame the company or how many times I was screwed over. Then one day my father died, and I was fired from a company who I truly believed in and for whom I had sacrificed. This sounds cynical, but it's really peaceful. With the emotional energy and sheer time saved…

It seems intuitive to me that the thing you pour your intellect, attention, and care into for 7-9 hours a day 5 days a week should be meaningful and fulfilling. On the other hand, hanging meaning and mission over one's head seems like a great way to manipulate and underpay them, and being susceptible to this seems like a great way to become a useful idiot. Squaring these two views is something I struggle with.

I have my own personal goals. The company has some goals. As long as there's some overlap between those, and I can achieve both goals at the same time, then we're all good.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#442

Post by retiredcoder »

CityYogi wrote: post #341
benmorris wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a hard lesson to learn for me as well. It is something I strive for now though even running my own business. I maintain boundaries like strict work hours and try to keep my work away from my life outside of work.

I am halfway between quitting a job I have dedicated myself to in the last 5-6 years. Making this call is so hard

After 5 jobs, I can tell you it will never be an easy call, even if you dont really like the job, company is sinking, bad management, etc. But like the initial commenter said, less attachment helps and time will perspective.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#443

Post by retiredcoder »

apohn wrote: post #336
Tistel wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am trying to learn how to do this! Teach me!

I think the sad truth is that most people learn this the hard way. You care too much until you feel badly betrayed by the company or get totally burned out. Then you realize one of the major causes was the emotional attachment and you need to let it go.

After 10+ years in the industry, I let myself fall the “passion at work, coworkers are your friends, etc”. I don’t know why... I guess I was a bit tired to be always cynical and let my guards down. After quitting, I then realized that I was a fool and that hurted even more.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#444

Post by laurentl »

1. Quitting. I realize this is not a big deal if you have a highly sought-after expertise (e.g. software development) and the local culture and employment laws make it easy to change jobs (e.g. the US). But in my case, I was working as a department head in a big company in France in a relatively small town with a really small labor market for my particular skills and salary expectations. And I’d been working in that company since graduating, playing the corporate ladder game. Changing jobs meant moving (taking my family with me), making a gamble that I’d be able to make it in the new job and that it was all worth it — as the saying goes, you know what you’re leaving behind but you don’t go what you’re going to find.

2. Understanding and accepting that it’s more important to love what you do than to chase status and promotions. At my previous job, I was keeping track of success by how many people I had in my team and how much responsibility was given to me. But most days were spent in meetings and budget forecasts and PowerPoint slides, and it kinda sucked. Plus to reach the next rungs it was heavily hinted that I should move from engineering to marketing or customer operations (because “you will never manage a BU if you don’t have direct customer experience”), and I knew full well that I’d hate it. Accepting this gave me the impetus to look for a new job and quit, and I haven’t regretted it for a second.

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#446

Post by ILikeConemowk »

hikarudo wrote: post #258

Founding a startup. Two years before that I had very low self-esteem, due to having dropped out of a PhD program and coming back to my country, basically giving up the life I had built abroad over a few years. It took me one year to go back to being a functional person, and after one more year working at a company I felt confident and wholesome again. Then I quit that company and co-founded a startup, to which I dedi…

What does your start-up do?

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#447

Post by ILikeConemowk »

bsvalley wrote: post #414

I quit for a year after a burnout working at a faang. This was the 1st time in my career where I had absolutely no plan after leaving my employer. I usually switched jobs in the past for a better job. This time I had no plan but to just chill. What happened? I was out of the rat race and I took time to look around me. I could feel the rush of people going to work on the morning and coming back on the evening, while I…

Would you say you got out? What are you doing nowadays?

I'd love to ask you a couple of questions about your story!

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#448

Post by ILikeConemowk »

rsrx wrote: post #436
rakoo wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like you've made your decision already but you just want to be sure it's the good one, which unfortunately no one can tell you. I feel what you're saying, I've been to Asia (especially SEA) every year for holidays, and I love the atmosphere and the "easiness" feeling; however I do like the stability and the reliability of things here in Europe. Tough decision. Good luck to you!

Thanks!

I'm in a very similar position right now, could I ask you a couple of questions over DM / email?

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#449

Post by ILikeConemowk »

jdpigeon wrote: post #17

To leave the academic track and start working full time on a mobile app at the end of my Masters. Nearly everything notable that's come my way career-wise stemmed from people noticing that little app that I spent less than 6 months working on.

Mind sharing what app that was or what it was about?

Re: Ask HN: What was the best decision you made in your career?

#450

Post by ILikeConemowk »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #49
oceanman888 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More details?

I started a doctoral program at the University of Maryland in aerospace engineering, instead of going to work with a bachelor’s in CS. Had I started a programming job, my net worth would almost certainly have an additional zero behind it. But: A PhD gives you intellectual freedom you don’t get any other way. I’m the PI for a space robotics program. And in grad school I made friends I’ll have for life. I got to do a V…

Thanks for this perspective, I enjoyed reading it.
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