[qntty]

This is all bad advice for this kid IMO. He's 19 and working as a research assistant, presumably part-time. I did that in college too. The people were nice and there was never a need to be at all guarded. The best thing he can do is get used to working on a schedule and try to figure out what interests him.

[momokoko]

I couldn’t agree more.

The original post is a great example of why it’s dangerous to ask for advice on the internet. It often(not always) trends towards heavy handed and extreme views. But in real life, extreme views and stances are rarely the right course of action.

[hliyan]

I agree. The advice is good for some environments, but too cynical for someone starting his career. Six out of those seven are about guarding against bad actors. I'm sure the author is trying to spare the person asking the question from some of the experiences that they went through, but default mistrust is not a good way to start a career (or any relationship for that matter).

[learnstats2]

Has the parent post been edited? Because I don't see what bad advice you are referring to here.

If you are working among people you trust, then this is all the better for learning an effective communication style, including saying 'no' or standing your ground. It's a safer environment than you will encounter later.

In my experience, 'nice' and 'not guarded' people in modern academia might only be like that because they are confident that they have enough power to get their way if you hit a point of disagreement. So, it's not always a good thing for you.

[qntty]

Unless the stakes are so high that you can't afford to mess up, the best way to "learn a communication style" is to do whatever comes naturally and wait to see what kinds of problems come up. Since the stakes are as low as they can be, I think a 19 year old's energy would be better spent on the sorts of things that will naturally draw their attention, namely the challenges of doing knowledge work on demand and the learning associated with the job itself.

This is just my take. I can say for sure that trying to learn about office politics would have been a terrible way for me to spend my time at 19. YMMV.

[pdm55]

Agree. The key skillset I needed to learn was to get along with people. Being nerds, we think we are always right. Hello! The truth is that there is often no one true answer. Learn to bite one's tongue. Still hard for me to do - but I look at my easy-going my friends and see that they have had a smoother journey through life, maintaining their jobs for much longer than me.