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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

#51

Post by Kye »

MrPatan wrote: post #32
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.

It wasn't gray when I got to it. This is part of why the guidelines discourage complaining about downvotes. It's often temporary. Someone was probably just having a bad day.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#52

Post by giantg2 »

chadash wrote: post #34
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 exis…

Good to know you leave references until the end. I will not be able to get a reference if I leave. My company's policy does not allow employees to be a reference for anyone who is leaving.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#53

Post by collyw »

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.

Depends a lot on your workplace. If its a younger workforce it usually easy to make friends and people do things together. Once people start having children it seems to change quite a lot.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#54

Post by jacobian »

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…

You're right to be concerned - it is a red flag. It's something I'd ask about if I were interviewing you. However, it's _not_ a dealbreaker: I've hired people who've been fired, with longer gaps than yours. You can recover from this.

When you get asked about this, your interviewer is going to be looking for a few things:

- are you honest about what happened self-reflective about the causes, and take ownership of the parts that were under your control?

- what have you learned from the experience that might help prevent something similar from happening again?

Definitely don't shy away from it, or claim that you quit. Getting fired isn't a dealbreaker, but dishonesty is.

So, if someone asks you "why you'd leave Company X?" (which, if they're a good interviewer, they will), you'll want to be able to say something like:

"Actually, I was fired. I had some medical issues that I let get out of control, and my work suffered. I've got the medical stuff sorted now, and I've learned how to take better care so that my work should stay consistent in the future."

I obviously don't know the specifics of your situation, so that's fairly vague; it's better if you can share specific work strategies that you've since learned, i.e. around managing your priorities/task lists or whatever. You don't need to -- and shouldn't -- go into specifics about the medical side, but you certainly can talk about things you've learned to keep yourself engaged and focused at work.

Good luck!

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#55

Post by giantg2 »

CSMastermind wrote: post #49

> Your equity package is a lottery ticket with expected value of zero. That's good advice no matter where you're going.

Good stock market advice too. It doesn't matter what your account says your balance is. It only matters what you get when you sell it.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#56

Post by dudul »

Overall really good post, but I'm curious about the "Politics emerge when the players believe the game is zero sum".

What are the arguments that it's not a zero sum game? In theory, sure it's not. Everybody works to increase revenue and profits, ergo everybody benefits, but in reality?

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#57

Post by collyw »

pjc50 wrote: post #14

Retention offers: yeah. I've been given retention offers twice, and the second time round I explicitly said "I don't want money, I want you to change the way this team and product is managed, like the previous times we discussed this, but that's not going to happen, is it?" I ended up getting much more money, less responsibility, a nicer less open plan office, and a less dysfunctional process. Risk: yes, sometimes yo…

> a nicer less open plan office,

Impressive.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#58

Post by microcolonel »

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.

It's a luxury concept: the idea that people can rely on having a social group outside of their employer and maybe their employer's vendors and customers.

Also, don't talk to people about how their parents met; they'll be in shock that they overcame the fear that they'd become awkward or unprofessional if things broke off.

Re: Career advice for people with bad luck

#59

Post by vharuck »

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…

That's a tough one. I've never been an interviewer but have lost a couple short-term jobs because of depression. I also think it's the right way to avoid talking about the details. It's a medical condition.

You might be able to say "I put off seeking medical attention for too long, and it got in the way of doing my job. That was a wake-up call, so I've focused on getting better since then."

Was that the first resume-relevant job you lost because of depression? If so, you can also mention that now you're aware of your medical condition, you're proactively managing it.

If you have been fired from multiple resume-relevant jobs, then don't use the "I learned and won't repeat it" part. In a perfect world, the interviewer should know. Not because you're an immoral worker, but because it's a risk you and your employer would share.

Finally, you "messed up" in the way that a dropped glass hits the floor: no point shaming the glass. Be proud of seeking treatment, but remember there was also luck in that decision. Our ideas of choice and responsibility are more complicated than usual when psychological disorders get mixed in.

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