Live data from Hacker News

A career ending mistake

bitfieldconsulting.com

1–10 of 332 posts

Re: A career ending mistake

#4
I'm going the senior IC route, I would add to the description in the article that the job usually comes with an expectation of technical leadership and mentoring and/or helping to steer management. I spend hardly any time in general meetings but do spend some time building consensus around technical decisions.

Re: A career ending mistake

#5
"It's not surprising, then, that many of us find ourselves in less than fully satisfying jobs, with doubtful or non-existent prospects for advancement."

Very true. I can't wait for my career to be over. I don't think I'll ever find the position where I feel I belong, so I'll just be miserable anywhere now that I know how broken the system really is.

Re: A career ending mistake

#6
post #5

"It's not surprising, then, that many of us find ourselves in less than fully satisfying jobs, with doubtful or non-existent prospects for advancement." Very true. I can't wait for my career to be over. I don't think I'll ever find the position where I feel I belong, so I'll just be miserable anywhere now that I know how broken the system really is.

I'm sorry to hear that. I've had many positions where I felt like I belonged including my current. The ones where I didn't were very depressing and stressful.

I hope you will find more fulfillment in the future!

By the way I never planned anything. I don't think more than a week ahead. Somehow I have fallen into the right places anyhow.

I tend to get really bored once I've totally mastered a job so I change a lot. I need a challenge. Because I do this within the same company (lucky to get the opportunity!) it didn't really make me look like a jobhopper, that helped alleviate worries about having a CV that's all over the place.. Also, some things I've done (like desktop office telephony) are totally extinct now so it is pretty easy to explain. I'm definitely in the "Senior IC" category in the article.

But I can recommend to look around if you're not happy. You never know...

Re: A career ending mistake

#9
post #4

I'm going the senior IC route, I would add to the description in the article that the job usually comes with an expectation of technical leadership and mentoring and/or helping to steer management. I spend hardly any time in general meetings but do spend some time building consensus around technical decisions.

Sounds like your HR is doing a decent job then, unlike mine. I recently applied to a business analyst role. I was told in the informational that I would spend only about 25% of my time researching/reporting, and that the other 75% would be project/stakeholder management. Ridiculous. No wonder we have trouble finding people when position titles are basically lies.

Re: A career ending mistake

#10
post #5

"It's not surprising, then, that many of us find ourselves in less than fully satisfying jobs, with doubtful or non-existent prospects for advancement." Very true. I can't wait for my career to be over. I don't think I'll ever find the position where I feel I belong, so I'll just be miserable anywhere now that I know how broken the system really is.

How about making your own company or career? Would that help? (It definitely helped me in a lot of ways.)

I’m curious what you mean by ‘how broke the system really is’. Which system are you referring to, how is it broken, how could it be fixed, and what kind of expectations did you have going in that?

Post reply on HN