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Well I don't match with your experience almost at all (20 years under the belt, but I don't count 5 years at university studying software engineering so almost same range as author). Self-assessments of your own success are frankly... looking for polite word as non-native speaker... not advised, since ego creeps in, such as in your case. I don't see a single mention about private life, which is where real long term satisfaction from life comes from, career is just an unimpressive optional cherry on the top. I don't see words like balanced, happy and so on. I never had any goals, just went with the flow. I moved when I felt like it, stayed when I preferred it. Listened to my intuition with mix of cold rationality, always. Increased my income cca 30x over those 20 years, for exactly same work (100% permie), but obviously at different companies and even countries. That tells nothing about 'success in life', at least to person like me. Having tons of personal passions like extreme mountain sports, learning 4 foreign languages and using them continuously, having healthy lifestyle, seeing the world as a backpacker for what it truly is, choosing a good wife, trying to raise 2 kids well (thus playing the game on life on hard difficulty, more challenging but also more rewarding just like say in computer games). Career success? Meh, thats not what life is about, not to me. |
I'm sorry if this comes out a bit strong but i really find this discourse kind of gross. "Yeah I have a ton of money but it doesn't matter to me. My real happiness is that I can go scuba diving in fun places 3 times a year. That's real success for me."
Like you I consider that my success in life is tied to my family more than my career, but I won't bury my head and pretend that one doesn't enable the other.