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Tell me if this doesn't make sense: In the jobs I've had, if you stick around long enough, I always see an arc, from the heady growth days where I inevitably ge

Tell me if this doesn't make sense: In the jobs I've had, if you stick around long enough, I always see an arc, from the heady growth days where I inevitably get hired, where there is lots of enthusiasm and investment, and you get to do cool stuff and not worry about money. To the belt tightening and demanding results and "welcome to the real world". Personally, I think there is an upside in staying on the leading edge of this, and going where there is optimism and investment. (A second interesting area I know little about would be coming in as a fixed after things go bad). So all that to say, being a nice-to-have, if you can consistently find places where you are nice to have, might still be better than being essential somewhere. And so likewise with products, potentially, better to be a shiny object than a commodity, if you can remain shiny

ilteris 4y ago
It does make sense. Except economic cycles are almost never local especially with globalization. So timing could be an issue.
cableshaft 4y ago
Makes total sense to me. I was a 'must have' at my previous job, I was the only developer left who understood all the phone systems that were the backbone of our department (we built software supporting a health payer call center). They never laid me off despite several layoff rounds, and I got to just inherit more and more responsibilities and stress while my salary and title was frozen, and they kept taking away more and more benefits to save money. Eventually when my personal life got a little less chaotic, I finally bounced for a significant raise (about 60% increase) at a company that's was growing fast and there was lots of enthusiasm and investment. Boss's boss tried desperately to convince me to stay, but I was done and his corporate bosses didn't give him enough budget to let him match the raise I got, let alone the 100%+ raise it would have taken me to stay in the place I was sick of even longer. Now a couple years later and things are starting to slow down a bit at my current job, they're starting to raise alarm bells about upcoming recessions, probably prepping people for a layoff but not yet. So it may be time to try to find a place that's still growing (although that might be a bit harder right now, seems like most places are currently axing people... maybe time to switch to A.I. since that's got a lot of excitement (and trepidation) behind its advances recently?

ilteris 4y ago

It does make sense. Except economic cycles are almost never local especially with globalization. So timing could be an issue.

cableshaft 4y ago

Makes total sense to me. I was a 'must have' at my previous job, I was the only developer left who understood all the phone systems that were the backbone of our department (we built software supporting a health payer call center). They never laid me off despite several layoff rounds, and I got to just inherit more and more responsibilities and stress while my salary and title was frozen, and they kept taking away more and more benefits to save money. Eventually when my personal life got a little less chaotic, I finally bounced for a significant raise (about 60% increase) at a company that's was growing fast and there was lots of enthusiasm and investment. Boss's boss tried desperately to convince me to stay, but I was done and his corporate bosses didn't give him enough budget to let him match the raise I got, let alone the 100%+ raise it would have taken me to stay in the place I was sick of even longer. Now a couple years later and things are starting to slow down a bit at my current job, they're starting to raise alarm bells about upcoming recessions, probably prepping people for a layoff but not yet. So it may be time to try to find a place that's still growing (although that might be a bit harder right now, seems like most places are currently axing people... maybe time to switch to A.I. since that's got a lot of excitement (and trepidation) behind its advances recently?