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Biggest Career Goofs

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by slappymcnasty 1 view

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I recently switched jobs. After three months, I am thinking that it may have been a mistake.

Looking back on my career, I decided that getting out of ABAP coding back in 1995 was probably my biggest career mistake or at least biggest mistake financially. I left for an overseas gig and when I came back my buddy was pulling in $200-$300 an hour as a contract ABAP coder.

We'll see if the job switch tops that one.

What big mistakes have the rest of you have made?

55 replies

by houston_og

Learn to use grammar.

Although several companies have made the mistake of not offering me a job.

by nkqx57a

My biggest mistake was after more than 20 years as a hands-on DBA, I was given an opportunity to manage DBAs & DAs. Should have stayed in the hands-on, for my last three manager positions I was caught up in downsizing moves and now find myself working as a sales associate earning 25% of what I was earning in IT. These last 5 and half years have been the most difficult and frustrating of my life.

by codebubba

Thanks. I hate that you had that happen (moving out of hands-on into management) but that just confirms for me that I don't want to do that. I've been writing code for 30 years now and am content doing that. The company keeps wanting to push me "up" into some kind of management role and I've been resisting that move. I think I'll keep resisting it. Managers are a dime-a-dozen.

-CB :)

by nkqx57a

Yes, managers are a dime a dozen; however, good managers are difficult to find and harder to keep. I believe I was one the good managers, I initially inherited a good team and made it better; then built new teams with new employers. But being a good people and technical manager isn?t worth anything when downsizing comes; you?re out the door, and in every case my manager took over and I found myself looking for another manager?s position. However, I would love to get back into the hands-on world again. I actually missed the day-to-day grind of hands-on Database and Data Administration work and putting out all the fires that would crop up, especially those at 3 AM and the beeper going off in the middle of a young daughter?s recital. I really miss the good old days?

by fonegirl

Moving for more money (and it was closer to home)...but the company was not a good fit. Doesn't matter how much money you make, if you come in with your stomach in knots and go home in tears...its not worth it.

by zeppo9191

I'm thinking more along the lines of 10-12k/year.

To me, personal satisfaction and pride in your contribution are - by far - the most important aspects of any job.

Of course, that doesn't mean you should be willing to accept less than what your work is worth, but don't ever settle for the tradeoff of headaches for higher pay.

by dnsb

Reminds me of one of the people I went through a course with. He moved to a new company for the higher pay (~18K/year) and ended up with an ulcer and on stress leave after 6 months. He switched back to a lesser paying job but better job environment and he and his family are a lot happier now.

by locolobo

On an exam I got a 5% and my buddy got 95%. We compared notes (we studied together) and our answers were almost the same. My buddy told me, "All he (the professor) wants is for you to go in and beg. That's what I did and he gave me a makeup assignment." Before he told me that I was set to go in and ask the professor about it. After that my pride was involved. I got a "C" in the class. In Graduate School that is flunking.

That meant I was out of financial aid. I was determined to make it through on my own. Four years later I realized I wasn't making it and started all over in a different career path.

Looking back on this after many years I think I should have either
a) Swallowed my pride and kissed the professor's a$$ as my friend suggested. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was his due respect?
b) Swallowed my pride and applied at a different university. With the previous year's experience I would have done better. Stubbornness can be a good quality, but it is wise to know when to move on and start over.

Paul

by maevinn

Take both exams to the Dean and demand justification for the disparity in grading. Teachers are accountable for behavior that clearly crosses the line.

For me...Not being more motivated in finishing my degree sooner, and not taking a few more certs when I was in a good position to do so.

by underdog_2

It just ends up putting the professor in a spot at that time -> he most likely wiggles out by offering some excuse -> bad blood between you and professor (boss) -> he gets even some other way.

by locolobo

I would need my buddies exam to prove my case. My buddy didn't want to get caught up in the issue. His suggestion was to beg for a passing grade, take the extra credit assignment. I probably should have. There's nothing wrong with doing extra work. But comparing the 2 tests and seeing the discrepancy in scores just really burned me up.

by dr_zinj

You go in with a copy of your paper, and your buddies paper and you show the professor where his bias is showing. If he doesn't immediately upgrade your paper, you start up the food chain.

Take it to the dean. If that doesn't work, you take it to the Board of Trustees of the college. Then to the organizations that accredit that college (usually at that point you go public to the press too.)

Then you do option B.

by jmgarvin

You should have forced your buddy into bringing this up with the prof. Sure there were egos invovled, but that is wrong.

I know that as a teacher, I can sometimes be hard on my students. I don't mean to grade other students harder than others, but sometimes I'll find myself saying "I KNOW he's smarter than that," and grading that student harder than the others.

I'll regroup and check myself.

I have had students come to me and ask about their grade, and I've always been very honest. If I screw up (eg grading a test harder than another), then I am more than willing to work things out. However, if I think the answers aren't as robust or they were lacking in some way, I will usually give the students another chance with various assignments/quizzes/etc.

by locolobo

That's what I should have done. With other teachers I had done exactly that and we discussed the problems. Other grad students told me the same thing my buddy did, "Take my exam to him. He will up my grade to a C, and assign me make up work so I can get an A or B in the class. He just wants his ego stroked." Instead I let my anger and pride get in my way.

After the semester my plan was to get a job, take a grad class, get my grades up, and reapply for an assistanceship. Perhaps that was foolish pride also. But it takes wisdom to know when to pack it up and start over again. In the end after a few years of "experience" I did restart my career.

As far as grading goes, it is hard. As a student I always thought grading was a perfectly objective exercise. My first experience grading, I found to be difficult. When a grading session started, I was grading papers fairly hard, by the end I had loosened up on them. Now I had to go back and compare the early papers and grades to the later ones. You have my respect. It isn't as easy as it looks.

by motherhen

As a grad student and an occasional adjunct instructor I grade each question (or page of questions) on all the exams before grading the next question (or page of questions). It helps to keep grading consistent, uncover common misinterpretations of the questions, and not incidentally, uncover cheating.

Most instructors I've known think that they are fair and competent graders. I like to include myself in this category, but every once in a while errors are made and we try to correct or compensate for them.

by jwilks

Back in late 1990, a friend of a friend of mine that was working for Microsoft brought me an employment application. I never finished filling it out and ended up leaving the Seattle area (and my then husband) within a couple of months.

Getting out of that relationship was by far the smartest move I ever made, but I sometimes wonder what might have happened if I had actually returned that application.

by dr dij

have been a millionare if picked up their stock while working there

or

you might be burned out from working 12-14 hour days they are infamous for

by ashby

Could I have made a shedload more money if I'd chosen a different path? Yes.

Could I have climbed further up the corporate ladder if I'd put up with the misery of first line management for longer? Yes.

Were these goofs? I don't think so - following the "Job Interest Path" I chose led to greater personal satifaction and happiness.

I count myself lucky that, apart from a couple of weeks when I agonised about leaving my first company, I can't remember a day when I got up in the morning and wished I didn't have to go to work.

My advice to anyone is to take job satisfaction over the alternatives, providing, of course, that meets your financial needs. To quote a former managing director: "When it stops being fun, stop doing it!".

by codebubba

>> My advice to anyone is to take job satisfaction over the alternatives, providing, of course, that meets your financial needs. To quote a former managing director: "When it stops being fun, stop doing it!" <<

Absolutely. My manager has told me a few times that I'm reaching the top of my earnings ability unless I move up into some kind of management. To Hell with that. I can trade away the priviledge I've earned to work on what I want to at the rate-of-speed I'm comfortable with for the crap associated with management for a little more $$? No thanks. I guess I'll just have to settle for being the senior developer that has the answers instead of a manager that has to get someone else get 'em.

I want to get into the ass-kissing management game - NOT!

-CB :)

by slappymcnasty

A goof doesn't have to be about money, power or how many people you could have reporting to you.

No one, at least i would be surprised if they existed, can look at their entire career and say "I did everything perfectly, I wouldn't change a thing."

For example, another large goof for me wasn't not mentoring a couple employees don't the right path. Doesn't affect my pay, my position or anything else about me. But it is something I look back on and think, "I could have and should have done it better"

by roykendrick

When I was called to return to a job 60 miles away (at a substantial increase in salary)I should have taken it. Former boss (at a CBS-TV affiliate) even drove to my new home (brought his wife along) to persuade me but I was struggling at making a new business succeed (it failed a year later)and wanted to prove myself in a new location and position. I had quit that former job over a salary dispute and they were now offering considerably more than I would have asked for, but I was being stubborn. Should have "swallowed my pride" and returned. I'd been senior film editor there with 9 years experience.

by zeppo9191

That's worth far more than anything the padded grade would have delivered.

You have my deep respect.

by rob_o

About 6 years back (post-Y2K panic) I applied for 2 jobs, and with Murphy's Law operating overtime landed both. One was with a large international IT consultancy, the other with a much smaller player who operated state-wide. The work was similar, and the salary was identical ? in the sense that the smaller player agreed to match the salary on offer from the large consultancy.

After consideration I chose the big consultancy with rationale like better training, more opportunity, international exposure and so on. In reality they abused me as big consultancies do to most of their consultants ? long hours, travel away from home for extended periods (I had a young family at the time). A friend who ended up with the smaller company had a ball ? they really looked after their ?family of employees? and the opportunities he actually had were better in the end then the ?potential? opportunities I had.

I left them after less then 12 months ? the split was quite bitter ? and since then I have always tried to aim at the small to medium company when possible.

by hurryharry

I was in a huge organization with lots of opps. But the pay packet was not so good. Growth was good. Now, I have joined a smaller company with a bigger pay packet but I am not satisfied. My growth is stunted right now. 10% of the population (incl me) have ideas of making it big but I am facing a constant drag. People have asked me to go slow. If I go slow anymore, I have to go in reverse only. Attitude towards the job here is more conventional and to do their job, I need to push everyday. If I do not push ?? The job does not get done at all. A job which takes about 3 hours in my prev company takes 5 days here and I am still not satisfied in terms of quality !! When questioned, they said "This is the best I can do!!! I am not . Why don't you get me the best?" It is his job to employ them and his attitude is not helping either. Checking the company for attitude outside helps. This is good and bad job. On the lopside, I am paid almost twice for accomplishing 50% of what I used to do.

by rob_o

Yes I suppose big doesn't automatically mean bad, and neither does smaller ensure better. I do still think that smaller companies as a rule look after their employees better though.

And moving for a big paycheck is often a mistake - no free lunches out there!

by codebubba

Hmm ... interesting. I've found pretty much the same situation. Most of the larger companies I've tried to work for have been real bombs - either the work was boring or too restrictive.

The company I'm at now was a "mom & pop" operation when I started here (almost 8 years ago). We have been absorbed by a huge company recently (about 3 years ago). Fortunately the big company recognized that our company had a culture that works and has not messed with it very much. They have infused cash into the operation and increased our staffing levels a BUNCH - but they're not "assimilating" us quite as deeply as I thought they might; we still operate pretty autonimously.

I don't know if I would try to enter this operation now - as a new person; but as one of the senior "original" staff I find that my seniority level (with the organization and product) puts me in a really good position. I don't get involved in management decisions at all ... I simply continue to implement the core technologies that make our product work. Pretty nice position to be in, actually.

The company keeps trying to entice me into some kind of management role - but I just can't see going there. I have fairly good control over my situation right here. Small company "environment" with big company backing.

-CB :)

by mumpsguy

I left a good company to go with one that promised everything from interesting projects to covered parking. Once getting there I discovered that it was mostly marketing, about the only thing promised that I received was the covered parking.

The manager hired good people only to spend his entire time beating them down. It was his way or the highway. I was there three years and watched him hire/fire many people. The entire IT department turned over in a little over three years.

Biggest regret was not getting out of there the week after arriving.

by sparkling ninja

My biggest mistake was being complacent in a job that was not challenging and provided me no growth opportunity whatsoever. I settled for simply going into work, putting in my hours and bringing home my paycheck. Because of this, I lost quite a few years of being in a position where I could grow, learn and even love my job. If I had left earlier, I would be much farther ahead now than I am.

I may have been paid well, but staying in that job cost me more than I ever knew at the time.

by jim s.

I'm in the same boat as you, been at the same company for over 13 years, and looking back on it, I should have tried to get out sooner.

by hurryharry

I have worked in small companies before moving into corporates. I know for sure that on 2 separate occassions that 1 person in each company was "let go" since he became a burden to the company. He had worked hard for the company, I really liked that guy and I went and fought for his employment. The reply I got was "Let him go". He has cancer, he cannot work constantly as he did! I was very angry and did fight with my practice head - aka CEO to bring him back. Where is the support and attitude ?? How can a company let down a person in need ? One who has sacrified a lot for this company.

I let go the small concern soon after.

In a big company, the same situation was handled much better. The person with cancer was allowed to serve for over 6 years until she passed away. The organisation helped as well as every one of her superiors. Some were even willing to give her their shares, for her chemo / bone marrow treatment. She passed away before using any, but the company and ppl were with her.

by rob_o

I don't want to get into a whole "yes they do, no they don't" thing here. But as a summary, perhaps what we are saying - and not just this particular thread but several other threads related to this topic as well - is there are good companies to work for and bad ones. Companies that value employees and those that don't.

And if you chose to stick with one of the bad ones, you will blame yourself down the track for losing out on some challenge/ fun/ job satisfaction etc.

by sagerian

I was with a farly good size company for about 6 years and had some ups and downs while the company was going through some growing pains and as a result I was passed over on promotions because we didnt have the money to hire in staff or to give decent raises. I had myself convinced that this was the best I could do without having the wall filled with certifications so I stayed there and did my job the best I could. I was curious what was out there and placed my resume on one of the job finder sites and within 24 hours I had over 20 replies asking if I would interview with them. It turned out I got an interview and was hired within a week with a rapidly growing company with room for advancement and could not be happier. Moral of the story is dont sell yourself short. Sometimes the grass is greener.

by adeal

For the first time in 20 years. RAID failed (with some help from the vendor) and the backup was corrupt. Paid for drive recovery and thankful I wasn't sued.

by sysadmn62

This summer I turned down a great job opportunity. The offer was with a well-known red-hot tech company, and was very lucrative. It included options, stock grant, signing bonus... Unfortunately, it required that I move cross country, and that wasn't the right thing for my family at this time. Since then, the stock has gone up $100/share... But it was still the right "mistake" to make.

by tor24

Around 1993, a co-worker and I were looking at a Savings and Loan building that had been closed for a long time, and wondered how such a big time S&L good go belly up. It was a really nice building, and we were trying to one-up each other with the "great idea" that could justify picking up the lease for the building on the cheap.

My co-worker thought a big coffee shop with comfortable chairs, and selling books and magazines and stuff would be easy money. I said that people would just sit around and get crap all over the books and wouldn't buy anything. We might make a few cents on the coffee and muffins and go broke on the rest of it.

My friend was trying to sell this workout machine and I said, "Wouldn't it be great if there was a computer-based brokerage that could advertise and sell the thing for a piece of the action." We could run the thing in that building.

"They have this World Wide Web thing, and I think you can put pictures in it and stuff." We started working on the thing, we slid an HTTP server onto the company's Unix server, made some pages. We putzed around, showed our little secret project to some folks. They thought it was stupid, and possibly criminal using the company's equipment for "testing" and wanted no part in it.

This is a hell of a lot of work for what-- 10% 15%. Few people heard of "web". We thought, "I guess this sure is stupid, nobody is going to see it, find it, buy it. "This web thing is a bust".

My co-worker got us a side gig teaching WordPerfect, for $25/hour and that was sweet. Real work, real money. Get rid of those get- rich "easy" schemes.

It goes without saying that the stupid "web" took off, and that brokerage thing eventually gained traction. We torture each other when we hear about "eBay" in the news. When we hear something that says eBay is having problems, we tell each other, "Boy, I'm glad we didn't do that, we'd be in court or something." "We'd have so much money, it would keep us awake at night worrying about it."

My friend and I are still wage slaves, and that S&L building now houses a major bookstore with a major coffee vendor inside, who's not going to get any free advertising from me, since they are able to do a brisk business with people sitting around drinking coffee and eating muffins.

by jim s.

I think I would have to say my biggest goof was and still is... Staying with the same company for over 13 years.

by g-man_863

At my previous employer, I was drafted into IT work. Since the franchisor had a Help Desk and sent people on-site for major issues, my job was twofold: Routine stuff (backups, training, etc.) and coordinating new store setups prior to the franchisor's IT staff showing up.

On a new store setup back in April/May, I began getting a gut instinct that the IT guy assigned from the corporate office was clueless - since he had a Masters Degree, A+ and many other accolades; however, I followed his advice and direction without question.

Cutting to the chase, there were major snafus that required attention after the store's Grand Opening - issues I had questioned but was told not to worry about by the "expert" from home office. Naturally, to save his own skin, he threw me under the bus by falsly claiming I had failed to follow his instructions. Even though I had an e-mail trail that proved otherwise, I was demoted and the franchise owner eventually decided to let me go (even though three other store managers in the district came to my defense - based both on my sales performance and quality of my IT work).

The irony is that the corporate clown who ruined my career with the franchisee was fired by the home office two weeks later. Sources tell me he f***ed up the IT setup of the newest store in the franchisee's group ten times worse than the setup I went down for (at this store, the servers and POS terminals were down for almost a week during Grand Opening!). Needless to say, I have received neither an offer of reemployment nor even a simple apology.

The moral: Save e-mails. Document everything. Trust your gut...and, if all else fails, set up an escape plan through personal networking in the event a firing breaks out.

by snak

....the reality is that if you're willing to forego $12k for some satisfaction, you should be looking for a different job. A job, after all, is just a job.

I'd settle for $4K less each year if I enjoyed it, but no more. If I valued myself at $12K more than I'm getting - I'm buying Sits Vac papers.

by realvannewkirk

I was management, but I lost my job to a sale of the business. I now work installing satellite dishes for a living and have never been happier. It was a major jump, but I was used to working ridiculous hours anyway. Sometimes getting away from a desk and seeing the rest of the world first-hand is beneficial. I wouldn't trade what I do now for the endless hours I used to spend in the same place every day. It is hard to climb through attics and such, but when it is all said and done, it's just TV! Kill the stress, get an outdoor job and expand your lifespan :)

by jonsaint

I was making a good living as an SAP Basis consultant. In late 2000 the market kinda hiccupped and I jumped to e-Business thinking with all that IBM advertising money it was going to be hot. In the first six months of 2001 e-Business dropped like a rock and eventually SAP came back stonger than ever.

But I didn't. 8+(

by jterry

When I enlisted in the US Navy way back in 1957 the Navy wanted me to take Aviation Electronics. I insisted I wanted to be a Jet Engine Mechanic. Just because I was an idiot didn't mean they had to listen to me but they did.

by neon samurai

I had a friend who went to Royal Military Colledge to become a fighter pilot but was "re-deployed" to the aerospace engineering. I don't belive he had issue with it being that there was more challenge in engineering and he was tall enough that he'd have lost his legs if ever needing to eject.

by d.i.y.

I was an avionicsman in the Corps in the nineties. Went to NAS Millington for training. If you had gone down that path, and stayed in the industry, you would probably be an avionicsman on aircraft or a test equipment calibrator. I took a pass on both. Maybe you dodged a bullet?

by neon samurai

Stick with me a moment here.

At the end of secondary school I was for a value added reseller and presence provider. My work day entailed verying combinations of database design, website design, domain administration, systems assembly and onsite installation. We had five staff in the local area with three remote staff supporting our users in another market area. This has become the benchmark against which my jobs are measured against due to the mix of things I got to do in a day, exposure to the latest tech and (the beloved) wholesale prices from our vendors for personal hardware.

My bigest mistake was getting to the end of secondary school and assuming I needed a degree to continue in the industry. Now located in Toronto with 25 years of experience (started with a brand new Colleco Adam), a degree's worth of education in management to put ontop of my preexisting and furthered IT knowledge and no job offerings above analyst.

Had I forgone the degree, I'd likely be still developing enterprise solutions for businesses be it at a much higher pay than those pre-university days.

Wasn't a degree supposed to increase my income and improve my job prospects? Fucking Toronto job market sucks.

by jamesrl

I've been in the Toronto IT market since 1985.

I didn't have a degree in IT, I went to university but didn't finish.

Today, I am a manager in a technical group at a software company.

The market has changed, and degrees are definately an asset in today's market. When I was job hunting a few years back, I found it difficult to find something, even though I had years of project management and management experience, because I didn't have a degree in IT.

What is wrong with an analyst job? Get your foot in the door, and work your way up. When I was unemployed, I jumped at the chance to do analyst work to stay off Employment insurance, to stay sharp and to make contacts. My references from one contract sealed the deal with my current employer.

There is nothing stopping you from looking for a similar position to what you had.

James

by neon samurai

What can I say, at the time my experience was entirely hands on with whatever I could get infront of to play with. I thought I needed the degree to progress and didn't really understand what these professional certification things where. In hind site, I should have been banging away at ComTIA tests alternatively or during university.

By Analyst, I mean business analyst; Excel and PDF writer are my money making tools. My personal time continues to be spent how it's been spent since that Adam computer finally wore out completely; hackity, hackity, hackity.. (not to be confused with Cracking; the criminal and lower form of life that constantly get's our label in the mass media.)

I only offer my percieved biggest mistake to add to the conversation since all any of us have is our current possition and future potential.. no use playing shoulda, woulda, coulda but there is some frustraiting to be derived from knowing your only using 5% of your skill and knowledge.

by dspeacock

I did the opposite...did grade 13 on the installment plan (2 years) got fed up, quit school and transferred from the militia to the regular forces. Did 7+ years, and wouldn't change a minute of it.

What I would change is the not going to university after high school. After I got out of the CF, it took 10 years before I finally read the writing on the wall that a high school diploma, and being able to reign death and destruction on people with various weapons at long ranges ...... just weren't going to get me anywhere. I used my savings, went to college, graduated in 2 years and have been relatively happy since.

by duckboxxer

We've all goofed. But the more interesting question (especially to interviewers) is how did you fix it? Not just screwing up data or kissing clients goodbye, but what did you do afterwards?

No I'm not some manager interviewing candidates. I'm just a business/ programing/ whatever analyst.

My biggest goof, as of late, is just not speaking up about project chaos to anyone till a QA pro was brought in and started doing contract overall assessments. It did push me into reading lots about project management though.

by d.i.y.

I made the mistake of overestimating my employability in an IT job market that I had not researched (Tulsa, OK). I quit a job in Los Angeles to move back to Tulsa (family and such) without having done any research or a job waiting for me. It turned out that there really weren't that many IT positions out there at the time, as many companies had just left, leaving their IT people behind. I was competing with guys with all sorts of IT certs and degrees for desktop support positions. I worked contract work for two years. My savings dried up pretty quickly. A month here, a month there, no real decent pay, before I landed a permanent job. In Columbus, OH.

by balthor

Code seems to be all over the place.Maybe ABAP coding is even bigger in 2007 than it was in 1995.Can't say as I've ever goofed that big though---

by d-cat

Yep. It was a small company, and I managed to script my own position away. Since I saved enough time that one person could now do the job of three, and there was no room to grow, I was one in the tech room in an "agonizing decision" to be let go.

Gave me the opportunity to do one of my childhood dream jobs (sort of) maintaining electronic equipment and driving a rail car for a rail testing company. Too bad that didn't last long.

Now I work for myself. I'm not rich, but I'm happier this way. :)

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