September 1, 2014 at 8:33 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Advice for Steve Jones
September 2, 2014 at 1:52 am
I would prefer not to give the younger me any advice. Not because I have had a perfect career, or even life, but because I made choices based on what I knew and had experienced and no one had the right of credit nor the burden of responsibility for what I chose. Only I did!!! (Mrs V takes some credit too for Best Supporting Spouse role ;-))
There is plenty of advice given on a daily basis and I think that life, and therefore careers, are about looking at a lot of information and distilling it until it is your own.
So I guess, if pushed, the advice I would offer the younger me would be to not ignore advice but consider it and only take it onboard if you want to as you are the only person who lives with it but then again you know that already, don't you?
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 2, 2014 at 4:41 am
I especially like #3...of course, the job is important and performing well and ensuring that we produce quality results is important, but it is not life-saving work...most of the time. 🙂
September 2, 2014 at 5:25 am
Spot on. I learned it all the hard way doing desktop and field support. You burn out way too fast if you don't pay attention.
In a roundabout way, however, my business DOES save babies - we're a biorepository supporting cancer research (among other diseases). Notwithstanding, the advice still applies. As long as the samples are not in danger - we have some going back decades that are literally irreplacable - we can breathe normally.
____________
Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.
September 2, 2014 at 5:40 am
Whilst we may or may not be saving lives we certainly can be the cause of losing them. I should imagine that if we are overworking individuals and their output as a result becomes poor then there is a danger that the system is being relied upon by someone who is or is not able to be out saving lives due to it.
A bit dramatic but is amazing what variety of systems and software everyone uses nowadays.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 2, 2014 at 9:51 am
I liked what Steve and Aunt Kathi wrote. I would add one more thing: Your integrity is the most important thing you have. I have made many costly decisions to keep my integrity/values and looking back even though I gave up big bucks I feel I made the right choices and am happy because of it.
September 2, 2014 at 10:15 am
All good advice. I like the first one (there is no plan), and the part about being true to yourself. It was only after about 20 years of doing many different things (work and non-work both) that I started to realize 'hey, wait a minute! How did I end up so deep in xyz? I don't even LIKE xyz, and it wasn't my idea to begin with!'
It may sound cynical to say 'there is no plan', but when I honestly look at my life it is clear that a plan can only be fabricated in hindsight. In other words there was no plan at the time. Occasionally I get some insights into senior management 'planning' and it is obvious that that is no different. In order for businesses to have a plan, to be different from me and my life, it would mean that the people running the business would all have to be different from me. And they clearly aren't.
September 2, 2014 at 10:18 am
DavidL (9/2/2014)
All good advice. I like the first one (there is no plan), and the part about being true to yourself. It was only after about 20 years of doing many different things (work and non-work both) that I started to realize 'hey, wait a minute! How did I end up so deep in xyz? I don't even LIKE xyz, and it wasn't my idea to begin with!'It may sound cynical to say 'there is no plan', but when I honestly look at my life it is clear that a plan can only be fabricated in hindsight. In other words there was no plan at the time. Occasionally I get some insights into senior management 'planning' and it is obvious that that is no different. In order for businesses to have a plan, to be different from me and my life, it would mean that the people running the business would all have to be different from me. And they clearly aren't.
It's tough in business, and in life, but I'd recommend you think about a personal plan of some sort. Try to direct your career rather than falling from job to job.
September 2, 2014 at 11:11 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (9/2/2014)
DavidL (9/2/2014)
All good advice. I like the first one (there is no plan), and the part about being true to yourself. It was only after about 20 years of doing many different things (work and non-work both) that I started to realize 'hey, wait a minute! How did I end up so deep in xyz? I don't even LIKE xyz, and it wasn't my idea to begin with!'It may sound cynical to say 'there is no plan', but when I honestly look at my life it is clear that a plan can only be fabricated in hindsight. In other words there was no plan at the time. Occasionally I get some insights into senior management 'planning' and it is obvious that that is no different. In order for businesses to have a plan, to be different from me and my life, it would mean that the people running the business would all have to be different from me. And they clearly aren't.
It's tough in business, and in life, but I'd recommend you think about a personal plan of some sort. Try to direct your career rather than falling from job to job.
I give a lot of thought to 'what next?', try to keep current, etc. etc., and as best I can I do 'plan'. BUT, and this is a very big but, I have found that plans are comforting, but they tend to quietly morph, such that I don't get too stressed out when something doesn't seem to be going to plan. Maybe the best way to phrase it is sometimes the world simply doesn't cooperate with my plan, and when that happens I look for a new one. For example, at one point I wanted to be in charge of production at our company (I studied hard for the degree that would normally permit that), but many factors, most of them completely out of my control, conspired to make that not possible. So my choice was either change companies (different plan) or keep the same company and change goals (again, different plan). This is what I mean when I say plans are only possible in hindsight.
Of course there are exceptions, and some people may insist they've mapped out everything that has ever happened to them, their careers, families, etc. But I doubt it, personally.
As I was writing this I remembered an editorial from some time ago where this issue was touched on by another poster -- I tracked it down to FunkyDexter (if you're still around, this one stuck in my memory -- thanks). It describes very well what I can discern in my own life, and I think it is true for everyone. The link is http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic588156-263-5.aspx and the comment is some ways down on the page.
September 2, 2014 at 12:15 pm
I tend to think it is best to have a set of goals and a set of aims which are regularly revised.
Goals are relatively short term and must be clearly achievable whereas aims are more qualitative and are not always achievable.
Gaz
-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!
September 10, 2014 at 2:23 am
Thank you for the post it is much appreciated, it resonates with me at the moment.
I have been going over this in my head for a bit.
It is all spot on. I agree but one thing comes to mind on "There is no Plan", yes there is a plan but its yours so keep to it.
One man's plan is another man's mess to sort out 😀
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