I distinctly remember the tribulations my father went through in his career. He worked hard to achieve an MBA from a prestigious business school. The degree opened up many opportunities for him, but I don't think he ever found exactly what he was looking for. We moved throughout my childhood, travelling from job to job, never staying in one place for more than a year or so. I'm not sure he ever found work that satisfied him, even to this day. Copies of What Color is Your Parachute were staples in our household.
I’ve changed 3 jobs during last 1.5 year, after my retirement from Military Forces to do software development with pleasure.
Here, in Ukraine, there is only outsourcing and outstaffing.
It is very hard, to find fun in the “out*”.
But I try. I try.
Most often people settle for what they have. The job itself doesn’t matter as long as they don’t have to worry about it and they get their paycheck. I think that’s the general idea and that’s why it’s still so hard to do things the way you like rather than doing things the way that’s financially more benefitical.
And how, exactly, do we find these kinds of jobs? In my 28 years experience, it has always been hit-or-miss. Do you have any suggestions for how to find employers like this?
I think there is a small minority that actually enjoy their work. Another group that hate their jobs. And the largest group is satisfied enough with their job. It doesn’t have to be the best job. But it does allow them to enjoy their life outside of work. I came from a single parent house and life wasn’t a lot of fun. You do what you have to do. But now I have my own family and while I love my job I enjoy being able to take care of my family even more.
It’s not the bad old days for me, where I used to work crazy hours for little pay just to prove myself worthy. I’ve proved myself. And the one thing I learned is I’m not wasting anytime in doing the things I want.
Any suggestions for a third year (of bachelor) for computer engineering student from a tech school?
I’m thinking more of an apprentice/internship type thing, to learn the ropes and get experiance with working with a team.
I’m dedicated, disciplined, determined, and diligent. Very bright, top of the class material with a decent gpa and working knowlege of linux programing, plus experiance with many languages and paradigms. Good communication skills, lots of hardware knowlege and a very holistic view of modern computers (asembly and up, sysadmin, webdesign etc).
I’d love to get into something to do with computer games, but anything interesting would be good, and I’m interested in almost everything.
Wow what a great place you work in! I’m a Java guy though!
Unfortunately here in Italy it seems that most industries which make software make it by accident and consider it a cost; thus they mostly get the 9-5 workers plus a little coding lovers who simply have nowhere else to go
But I’m happy to hear that such places as yours exist somewhere in the universe
I don’t want to work with people who can’t look past what I would consider such a superficial and non-indicative trait.
While a lot can be said about spelling, and how it has a bearing on why people think certain ways about other people; I find far too many statistics are blind to the anomalies that lie outside of the expected range. Just because most people who can’t spell are lacking something, doesn’t mean ALL of them lack that something.
There ARE brilliant people who simply can’t spell, their brains not wired up to process words in the same way as others. It is a reoccurring problem in my own life, but in a strange way it also is a solution. I can read quite fast, upside down, and backwards without problem, sacrificing handwriting and spelling as a result of the skewed way my brain processes things.
Is it a sin to not be able to spell well? If my thoughts can come across clearly, with full sentences and without misunderstanding, are they any less valid due to it being a few letters off? Because I can’t spell one or more complicated words, I am instantly discounted, discredited, and cast off as easily as a babbling idiot… aT LeST I aiNT WRiTeN LieK DiS! fur reals.
Is there some reliable metric, some percentage of misspelled words that so finely correlates to one’s abilities, that we, as a culture, instantly jump to such harsh conclusions?
Just because someone is tone-deaf doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t make good music. Mozart was deaf, but he is considered one of the greatest classical composers. Just because someone lacks in spelling, doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t make good thoughts.
Wow. This article came to me at the tail end of one those life-altering decisions when I came to the realization that I was either going to have to sell my home or leave this low-paying code-monkey job for a higher-paying one that I’ll probably not enjoy nearly as much.
I’m faced with the prospect of EITHER selling a home I love or leaving a job I love, because I just can’t make ends meet, anymore.
but my first thought when I read the title was, “He’s going to Microsoft.”
It is unlikely that I would ever work for Microsoft. I respect the mothership, but I also like to keep my distance and perspective.
Do you have any suggestions for how to find employers like this?
What’s your favorite software? What companies make hardware products that you use? Whose blogs / websites / books do you read? Who were your greatest influences? These are sources for great places to work. You might also try looking up a directory of software companies in your area, and then checking out the websites for each company to get a sense of their corporate style and sensibilities.
Researching and selecting a company you want to work for is definitely more work than picking a number from a menu that some headhunter lays out in front of you. But it’s also a hundred times more rewarding.
In the worst case scenario, you’ll have to do what Joel did: start your own software company.
