The 5-year plan to 50k posts - part douche

I’m not talking about random summer jobs though. Going to uni makes it easy, you’ve got long summer holidays, after first year you’re typically paying for a house or flat on an annual basis so it shouldn’t matter where your parents live. Any number of companies are open to some work experience/shadowing. Paid internships in various places are competitive though but well paid, can more than cover the cost of accommodation in say London.

Likewise there are the sandwich degrees where the university literally has employers lining up ready to take on students for a year of paid work. Though frankly there is nothing stopping a new grad from working somewhere for a year and then deciding it’s not for them after graduating too, very easy to explain in an interview if the new employer is a completely different industry.

For example a friend of mine landed a job at a big 4 accountancy firm, he basically fell into it I think, it was just the done thing to apply for a “graduate job” but he quit after a year as it was boring AF! He switched careers and got a job in media, he’s a very social guy and dealing with salespeople, building relationships in that sector was much better suited to him than studying for some incredibly dull exams at a big 4 firm.
Click to expand...
A lot of the big firms offer "summer boot camps" too. I think half the problem is that the big firms offering these tend to market towards specific Universities so folk like @413x (and me) never really heard of these try before you buy until it was way too late.

I wouldn't say Uni's have sandwich placements on tap either, it is still very competitive. And a lot of folk will commit at sandwich year to do the real thing once they graduate (again, the firms see this as a recruitment tool rather than a mechanism to let you try before you buy).

Unfortunately the big quality gap amongst all educational institutions is where a lot of this disenfranchised sentiment comes from. I am so so so so lucky that my University had a chap who would just copy paste advertisements and I managed to be "force fed" one of the emails and decided to apply to a firm I had never heard of. That set me up for (my very short so far) life.
 
I'll set up one of them African Prince bank accounts then and do an email shot to everyone. I need to get £40 million out of Africa (I think a good film name, might make that) and for £250 I can probably put a £1M your way.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
We work in similar industries...in contrast I imagine you find, like I do, areas where senior staff are underqualified and inept, and are in the their current position only due to longevity. I would imagine also that these types of people don't suffer from imposter syndrome.
Click to expand...
You're right, there's almost a "righteousness" about their position... or that they've earned it and as such what they say goes.

I've been known to be quite disruptive and saying what I think in board rooms, I'm not flat out rude, but I do say it as it is. This hasn't caused me issues other than given more workload to "prove" what I'm saying, which I invariably do. However, I now work closer to policy-side of things and industry-wide rather than specifically for a company so it's easier to deliver work, but there's less opportunity to make big bucks (0 opportunity really) as it's a not-for-profit organisation.

It's daft as the pale male and stale boards I used to sit on just couldn't see the wood from the trees, even though dangling in front of them were £ms of pure profit that they just didn't think was important yet they whinged about margins every. single. year.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
We work in similar industries...in contrast I imagine you find, like I do, areas where senior staff are underqualified and inept, and are in the their current position only due to longevity. I would imagine also that these types of people don't suffer from imposter syndrome.
Click to expand...

I dunno, I suspect that is what causes a lot of the claims of "imposter syndrome" in the first place. In reality, in various industries, plenty of people aren't necessarily the most competent - the'yve perhaps done well from longevity or making the right moves at the right time, some people happen to have a manager who left etc... position became available others end up with a manager who isn't likely to move any time soon. I'm certainly not saying it is just luck, there is a big element of pushing for these positions too, pushing for a promotion, being willing to move around if needed etc.. but simply having pushed for a bit of career progression doesn't necessarily mean someone is going to be significantly better than others in that role.It is perhaps less applicable in more technical fields where there might be a more objective measure of how competent someone is, or indeed in say sales roles or others with a strong link between performance and variable compensation but it can get a fair bit fuzzier in other roles. With diversity hiring increasing we'll probably see more of it too, that isn't to say it isn't valid in some cases but in others it seems like a big cope for people who might otherwise have realised they're not really as competent as they perhaps should be.
 
That's the thing, I work in a technical area (civil engineering / Innovation and R&D ) but there are a lot of luddites who claim they know all about it, but don't really. The reasons why at times I felt the imposter syndrome feeling is that I do sit on panels / industry bodies with very senior people (HOC / HOL as an example) but actually you realise you ARE an expert and you have delivered - that said, it's often hard to appreciate your own capabilities until you showcase them to people who know less or don't know about certain things that you know more about. IT's hard to not feel overwhelmed when you've landed a big promotion or a new role, with a large team, large budget and a scrutinising PA and not think "holy ****, what the **** do I do now?!". Then you realise that a lot of what you bring isn't being done, so you just have to make it happen. It's hard work, but that's what they've hired you to do, deliver something that doesn't exist. It becomes easier to benchmark; here's where we were when I started; here's where we are now - this is what has changed, this is what needs changing, these are the benefits / ROI etc... that have occurred since joining.

I'm sure a lot of us with at least a couple of decades in our careers have been in that situation where we've started a new role and wondered how it'll go - I think that's my take on imposter syndrome, but you've been scrutinised, your history / reputation should have preceded you so you should be a "Safe bet" - that said there is an element of personality and culture within the business. Since I can't change some things, sometimes it's easier to walk away or change roles. I've come to realise that despite big roles / responsibilities they can be toxic or harder to deal with and expect to have a good work/life balance, in fact I call it work / life integration as it's more accurate.

I actually enjoy work, and the work I do, I don't want to be around places that hold me back from delivering what is important to me.
 
Freefaller said:
That's the thing, I work in a technical area (civil engineering / Innovation and R&D ) but there are a lot of luddites who claim they know all about it, but don't really.
Click to expand...
That must be really frustrating and reminds me how lucky I am to be always encouraged to question everything and (professionally) challenge my superiors in their decision making, doctrine, standards, the lot. Good leaders welcome critique and bottom-up steering at appropriate times, it leads to innovation and often the best problem solving. To be stubborn and holier than thou due to position is a completely unlearned fallacy in my world. It baffles me that many other realms of work don't see it this way either.
 
It is a funny one. We're all wired differently when it comes to these things. I have realised that I'll probably never be "happy" because I'm wired such that I can't stop pushing. If I don't feel I'm progressing, whether at work or at home in bettering myself, or ticking things off my big ass long list of things I want to achieve in my life, I get really down. It really affects me badly. I have to see progress, whatever that might be. I can be content in the now, but as long as I know I'm moving forward too.
Other people are completely content and are not ambitious, and probably far happier in their lives than I am. So who is winning really?

You really have to just look at what makes you happy, if you're happy at work and like it, that's fine... but it sounds like you feel like something is missing but you don't know what? Instead of putting pressure on yourself to nail something like coding, why do you want to learn it? What's it going to give you you feel you need in your life? What do you think is missing that you want?
 
randomshenans said:
You really have to just look at what makes you happy, if you're happy at work and like it, that's fine... but it sounds like you feel like something is missing but you don't know what? Instead of putting pressure on yourself to nail something like coding, why do you want to learn it? What's it going to give you you feel you need in your life? What do you think is missing that you want?
Click to expand...
Oh it's not necessary just coding anyway. My fault for putting so much emphasis on that at the start.

I always wanted to learn a language - but German was hard and I quit :p
I always wanted to git fit and lose weight - but it was hard and... I quit.
I always wanted to learn to cook, but I have fully convinced myself this is an arcane art beyond my comprehension.

And this isn't even the elephant in the room. I can't even talk about that, because ... ugh. I deserve to be mercilessly mocked for what I'm about to post. Mercilessly. Pitilessly. I sincerely doubt there are many people in the entire history of human civilisation to live their lives as singletons from cradle to grave. And that eats me, daily. Now I shouldn't have said that, it's pathetic. Utterly pathetic. I feel sick. Dammit, why... Something has to change, sharpish, because my life is more than 1/2 over as it is.

Oh.. the why... it's because human relationships are hard and I ran a mile from that one.

Generally, the theme is running/hiding from difficult things instead of embracing the challenge. It's not about coding - that's just an instance of something hard. Not even a biggie.

(Mods please ban me before I post any more pathetic crap here for no good reason. I shouldn't just spill my guts on the internet, it won't end well.)
 
So perhaps you could learn to code if you had some structure in place and could cope with the psychological issues.

Seems like a part time college or uni course might be useful there.

Living with parents isn’t too great re: relationships, better to get a place of your own even if it involves overcoming your landlord phobia.
 
@FoxEye there is nothing pathetic whatsoever about the long term absence of a romantic companionship, but you are right that time is ticking and you do need to do something to break yourself from your ‘routine’. You won’t be able to procure a romance until you break from your mindset (or at least act differently).

Here’s one simple rule to get you started (on your health): treat yourself like someone you are responsible for looking after.

^ do dwell on what that means.

I say this as a big blob - need to sort my **** out myself!!
 
I am rooting for you FoxEye, start with small steps. It doesn't matter if your a virgin, work on improving yourself by learning one of those skills you have mentioned, that will boost your confidence and then maybe look into relationships. Maybe you could do with some councelling regarding the human relationship things you struggle with.

Good luck man..
 
randomshenans said:
It is a funny one. We're all wired differently when it comes to these things. I have realised that I'll probably never be "happy" because I'm wired such that I can't stop pushing. If I don't feel I'm progressing, whether at work or at home in bettering myself, or ticking things off my big ass long list of things I want to achieve in my life, I get really down. It really affects me badly. I have to see progress, whatever that might be. I can be content in the now, but as long as I know I'm moving forward too.
Other people are completely content and are not ambitious, and probably far happier in their lives than I am. So who is winning really?

You really have to just look at what makes you happy, if you're happy at work and like it, that's fine... but it sounds like you feel like something is missing but you don't know what? Instead of putting pressure on yourself to nail something like coding, why do you want to learn it? What's it going to give you you feel you need in your life? What do you think is missing that you want?
Click to expand...
I’m not entirely sure this helpful, because it’s perfectly possible (I’d say normal) to want completely contradictory things in different capacities - most people are absurdly fickle about what makes them happy because it’s driven by want and satiation (which is why people eat large amounts of cake).

I think pursuing happiness is a fools errand. Rather, everyone should pursue betterment - in doing so, you will experience more happiness than if you don’t.
 
cheesyboy said:
my real strength seems to be in interviewing well (except, occasionally, where it just doesn't click).

So, to maximise my particular talents, interviewing well and being decent short-term, I just have to change jobs regularly.

Recently left a position I'd stayed at for far, far too long, treading water on experience and pay, so plan to stick new role for a year, then change at least twice more within another 3 years, and after that I should be earning about what I aim to be on..
Click to expand...
Sounds like you should go contracting (assuming it is at least moderately common in your industry); interviewing well is probably the main skill you need and you can just float around picking up new contracts every 6 months even if you aren't actually that good in the medium-long term.
 
HangTime said:
Sounds like you should go contracting (assuming it is at least moderately common in your industry); interviewing well is probably the main skill you need and you can just float around picking up new contracts every 6 months even if you aren't actually that good in the medium-long term.
Click to expand...
Funnily enough my new role, which I was a bit vague about staying for a year, is actually a 12 month contract :D

So, yeah, I came to that conclusion too! Although I'm not set on fully going contracting : I just decided it was a good opportunity to try something different (still same profession, but different sort of role)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom