Working (as a skill)

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2011.10.28 - Kalzumeus - Don't Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice
- 90% of programming jobs are in creating Line of Business software
- Engineers are hired to create business value, not to program things
  - You really want to be attached to Profit Centers because it will bring you higher wages, more respect, and greater opportunities for everything of value to you.
- Don’t call yourself a programmer
- You are not defined by your chosen software stack
- Co-workers and bosses are not usually your friends
- You radically overestimate the average skill of the competition because of the crowd you hang around with
- “Read ad. Send in resume. Go to job interview. Receive offer.” is the exception, not the typical case, for getting employment
- Networking: it isn’t just for TCP packets
  - Networking just means a) meeting people who at some point can do things for you (or vice versa) and b) making a favorable impression on them.
- Academia is not like the real world
- "How much money do engineers make?" is the wrong question.
  - People who are skilled in negotiation make more than those who are not.
- How do I become better at negotiation?
- Equity is generally worthless.
  - You radically overestimate the likelihood that your startup will succeed and radically overestimate the portion of the pie that will be allocated to you if the startup succeeds
- Are startups great for your career as a fresh graduate?
- So would you recommend working at a startup?
- Your most important professional skill is communication
- You will often be called to do Enterprise Sales and other stuff you got into engineering to avoid
- Modesty is not a career-enhancing character trait
- All business decisions are ultimately made by one or a handful of multi-cellular organisms closely related to chimpanzees, not by rules or by algorithms
- At the end of the day, your life happiness will not be dominated by your career