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I think it's important to cultivate a skillset that makes you valuable in the market, not just to rely on the security of your current position.
by delluminatus 12y ago
I think it's important to cultivate a skillset that makes you valuable in the market, not just to rely on the security of your current position.
- sp332 12y agoYeah, it would probably bother me less if it were possible to find a job in a reasonable amount of time. Everyone I know who lost a job recently couldn't find work for months. Any reliable trade I can think of takes years to learn if you're apprenticed full-time, so how could I pick that up on the side? It doesn't help that, even though I went to a pretty nice college, the "career center" encourages resume-spamming as a good way to find a job. And they have completely ass-backwards advice for what to put on a resume - they're very buzzword-focused. I'd like to think I have marketable skills but I never learned how to market them effectively. I've been working on it but how do I know it will work until I really need a new job? And what if the economy gets worse before then? For that matter, how do I know what skills are in demand right now?
- delluminatus 12y agoWell, you could just get a degree in CS :) In all seriousness, I don't really have any advice about it, except to say, skills pay the bills. Marketing yourself is great but IMO you are better off taking the time gathering expertise in your field. There's a book on this topic called "So Good they Can't Ignore You" that I highly recommend.
- sp332 12y agoI have a degree in CS. I also had 3 years experience as a professional programmer when I was laid off. Let me be clear: resume spamming does not work. I was on unemployment which requires documentation, so I know that for 9 months, I applied to a minimum of one job per week. In that time I got only 3 calls back and one interview. Fortunately I interview very well :)