Never depend on your job for your livelihood. Depend on your network. Make sure your skills are in sync with the wider market. Keep your resume up to date and your “career document”. Always be interview ready.
Of course, save and invest money and live in a position of f%%% you.
> Suffering in order to maximize income is, for me, a bad deal. You can enjoy life and make very good money even if it's not technically the most money you can possibly make.
You know, if you put it like this, it sounds pretty alarming. Thanks for the perspective.
> you're setting yourself up for a career disaster later on.
> E.g. someone loses their job: "see, I told you it would have been better to work 2-3 jobs. You relied too much on your only job."
It is a bad idea to rely too much on your job. You should have investments and multiple streams of income as soon as possible if you want anything resembling security.
> 3) Prepare to hunker down at your current job for awhile (lose the job hopping mindset for the time being if you have it)
I just got a pretty good offer and I don't know what to do - I am a bit worried I will be the first to be downsized if things go south. The company seems to be doing well and has IPO'ed so there's that.
On the other hand no one can guarantee that my current startup won't struggle in the coming year or two.
> Alternatively you can always decide to work on something outside of work that can help sharpen your skills.
I do, a lot. It's all garbage, though, and no one really looks at it.
Don't get trapped into work you don't want, but perhaps don't quit your job yet, either. Don't wait. You don't want to be a near-40 year old loser like me before this hits you.
> But if you’ve never ever held a single job for more than 2 years, it really makes me question whether you’re looking to jump to a better opportunity as soon as things get hard.
So a company expects me to stay loyal to them through the worst of times and not jump ship to better opportunities, but when money is tight for them or the founder just wants a new yacht, they'll gladly downsize/sell/merge and lay off hundreds in a heartbeat.
> Oh you will. It'll be that time you passed on an early job at a company that went on to IPO, or the project that went sour despite your best efforts.
I’m only a bit further into my career than the person you’re responding to, but this sounds truly depressing and (personally) incredibly unlikely. I’ve been in the situation where I was offered a spot at a company which later got acquired for a few billion dollars. I barely ever think about it, and when I do it’s simply as a “huh! Life is weird!” kinda thing. It’s not something that weighs on me and never has been. I really can’t emphasize enough how little of a regret it is.
Maybe I’d feel differently if I was worried about becoming fabulously wealthy, but that’s always seemed like a fool’s errand to me. It’s much easier to be happy if you just aspire to have enough money to take care of yourself, your family, and at hopefully contribute to your community a bit.
> I really was looking for a stable job, just to get more experience, save some money and eventually become an entrepreneur and create my own company.
I agree what others have written so I'll just add this. In my experience, you'll be happier following your own path rather than waking up one day and realising you've been following someone else's path. If that's what you're really looking for, then that should be a strong indication of what to do.
> traveled and lived in different countries, had 2 failed startups, and have about $500k in savings
You've had a rich life experience, and you have a very strong personal financial situation. Congratuations. Everyone has ups and downs, you'll find your next goals soon
> Am I silly walking away from a job in this economy?
The economy writ large matters less than how easily you tend to land jobs. Do you have a deep network, are you used to juggling offers? Then fuck em.
If you decide that it's feasible for you to walk — like if this opportunity blows up, it'll be okay — then I'd recommend playing hardball back and seeing how they take it. Tell them this is a deal breaker for you.
> You pretty much have to resign yourself to the fact that you'll work at 50% of the salary as your peers or have to make your own future by starting your own companies and projects.
Fuck that. If you're going to resign yourself to something, resign yourself to the fact that you will have to work 150% as hard as your peers to make as much money. I know this is saying almost the same thing, but it's saying it in a more positive way.
I do like your comment "or have to make your own future by starting your own companies and projects". They say success is the best revenge. If this motivates you (like it did me), milk it.
> If you are young and healthy without crushing debt. Don’t go looking for a job. Go find an adventure.
I am looking exactly for adventure. I was in a consulting company where I was solving such problems. Now I am in a large product company where the bureaucracy is becoming unbearable. It is also more about where you are presently to get opportunities. I am in a country where the scope is limited.
What kind of expectations did these companies have when they interviewed you? Did they expect you to have experience in the domain or samples of previous work etc?
That's a good way of putting it. I've let it happen to me in the past, and I've seen it happen many times.
Your comment is solid advice.
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