[scarface_74]

> If the manager wants to develop my talent, then they need to get off their over-priced rear ends and do so.

You are responsible for your own career. When (hypothetical) you get ready to look for another job, do you really want to only be able to say that you were a ticket taker or do you want to be able to say you led initiatives?

Even if you don’t really care about getting ahead, you still have to be able to stand out from other applicants

[sillysaurusx]

One way to stand out is to be nice, funny, and make a genuine personal connection with whoever the decision makers are. It sounds cheesy but it’s worked for me back when I didn’t particularly stand out.

I was competent though, which is always a requirement; this won’t work for smooth talkers only.

[scarface_74]

First you got to get through the HR process.

Now when I interview you, I’m not going to ask you to reverse a btree on the whiteboard. I’m going to ask you questions to see if you can “handle ambiguity” and work at the scope I need you to work at.

I’ve spent the last decade mostly as one of the early technical hires for a major new initiative and then leading cloud consulting projects (3.5 years at Amazon and now at a third party company both full time). I need to know I can throw a vague set of business requirements at you and you can take the ball and run with it.

I actually did a thumbs down to a very smart guy who had been laid off from the AWS EC2 service team because when I asked him behavioral questions, I didn’t get a sense that he could handle the type of green field initiatives I was going to throw at him.

[sillysaurusx]

> First you got to get through the HR process.

You don’t, actually. People love to be flattered, and the trick is to go find whoever is making the decisions and to flatter them.

You’re not immune to this either. No one is. Again, competence is a requirement, but flattery plus competence is a very powerful way to distinguish yourself.

[scarface_74]

I am very immune to flattery at 50 years old. While like I said I don’t do coding interviews, I am asking behavioral questions to assess whether you are “smart and gets things done”.

I don’t hire ticket takers for the most part.

[dartos]

This one crazy hack is the secret to countless numbers of fruitful careers.

[allo37]

My main motivation for impactfulness is just making my job more pleasant: Nothing is more soul-sucking than fixing the same kinds of issues over and over because the powers that be are convinced they're doing it right, and you're the one stuck fixing the issues they create.

[scarface_74]

My main motivation is for my resume to look good for my n+1 job. I don’t always know when I’m going to be looking or whether it’s by force or by choice. But I always want to be prepared

[0xEF]

I never said anything about not being responsible for my own career. There was a previous implication that we need to help the boss look good, which is BS. If I want to develop myself because I want to explore different options or expand my skill set, I am free to and generally opt to do so. If a manager wants to develop my skills, then that is their responsibility.

Again, let's not shift all the accountability to the guys lower on the ladder. It's a team effort.

Perhaps I just don't understand your mindset because I do not define myself by my career. Work is just how I exchange some of my time and effort for money so I can focus my life on the things I actually matter to me, so the "weight" of my career is perhaps different than yours. Which is fine, btw. I don't really have any issues if someone wants to make their career their life, but I'll never align with that, especially not at this late in my adult life.

[scarface_74]

I don’t define myself by my career. But I do make damn sure I stay competitive. I’ve had 10 jobs in 28 years and 8 since 2008. I stay prepared to look for another job at a moments notice.

The “team” doesn’t care about you being competitive when you are looking for your next job.

[sillysaurusx]

I’m super curious how old you are. I’m about to hit 37, so 40 is marching closer.

Love your email by the way.

[0xEF]

Mid-40's, and many lessons learned by paying attention to those who paved the way ahead of me. Don't get me wrong, I'm a hard worker with a reputation for keeping my promises in an industry that is infamous for the opposite (manufacturing, without getting too deep into my role in that sector for the sake of keeping this brief), so I can't really complain about my wages or the recognition I have gotten in the past. But it's still just a job. My real life is my family, my hobbies and my adventures. When strangers ask me what I "do," I generally like to reply with those things rather than talking about work.

As for the email, it was part of a now-dead idea that grew out of boredom one evening while chatting with some old computer friends, and definitely involved different sounding farts. Never really got past a few lines of code, but I have been thinking about using the domain for a cranky old git blog or something.