There’s a big difference between a job and a career, not that one is necessarily better than the other. Teh bestest place ever is pushing all employees to attend numerous workshops on “career advancement” and “envision your career future” malarkey. Useful for younger employees? Yes, to some extent. Something for a man that’s been working for 50 years and will turn 65 next next month? No.
When I dropped out of college and returned to LA many years ago, I took any job I could find. That job started out as just a paycheck and turned into a career. That happened because of several things. 1) I was incredibly lucky and had a mentor. 2) Moving up through the ranks paid more. 3) I found I actually liked it.
That was my first career. I started my second career because it paid way more than what I could make sticking just with my first career path. And again, I got that opportunity because of a friend that I had worked with before.
My third career was the only one I actually chose for myself and I got my first paying opportunity because of a contact I had made previously -- that turned into an 8-year gig and after I left there, I ended up at teh bestest place ever. This is a job -- nothing more. What I was sold as the position and opportunity when I interviewed and was hired was utter bullshit. It’s a paycheck and that’s it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t do my job to the best of my ability, but I’m under no illusions that it means anything other than employment. And don’t get me wrong -- I’m very grateful to have a job, but I’ve come full circle back to 1983 when it was just about the $.
What drove me to work? Necessity -- I needed the money. What made me “successful”? Friends, contacts, and a willingness to work hard on the job and going back to school at night to increase my marketability.
OK, enough of the trip down memory lane -- don’t know if any of what I wrote was useful. I did one time find my “dream job” and it turned out to be not so good.
An empty thread is a terrible thing to waste…
Amen. But the cat can fill it.
Perhaps an empty thread is not too bad…
.
Damn. Too late to take that back, right?
Given the choice between the two, I side with ones that have fur.
Thinking about what you wrote last night, Dv8.
There’s a big difference between a job and a career, not that one is necessarily better than the other. Teh bestest place ever is pushing all employees to attend numerous workshops on “career advancement” and “envision your career future” malarkey. Useful for younger employees? Yes, to some extent. Something for a man that’s been working for 50 years and will turn 65 next next month? No.
When I dropped out of college and returned to LA many years ago, I took any job I could find. That job started out as just a paycheck and turned into a career. That happened because of several things. 1) I was incredibly lucky and had a mentor. 2) Moving up through the ranks paid more. 3) I found I actually liked it.
That was my first career. I started my second career because it paid way more than what I could make sticking just with my first career path. And again, I got that opportunity because of a friend that I had worked with before.
My third career was the only one I actually chose for myself and I got my first paying opportunity because of a contact I had made previously -- that turned into an 8-year gig and after I left there, I ended up at teh bestest place ever. This is a job -- nothing more. What I was sold as the position and opportunity when I interviewed and was hired was utter bullshit. It’s a paycheck and that’s it. That doesn’t mean that I don’t do my job to the best of my ability, but I’m under no illusions that it means anything other than employment. And don’t get me wrong -- I’m very grateful to have a job, but I’ve come full circle back to 1983 when it was just about the $.
What drove me to work? Necessity -- I needed the money. What made me “successful”? Friends, contacts, and a willingness to work hard on the job and going back to school at night to increase my marketability.
OK, enough of the trip down memory lane -- don’t know if any of what I wrote was useful. I did one time find my “dream job” and it turned out to be not so good.