Re: Career Advice? Your assistance is graciously appreciated!
From: David (FlyLikeAnEagle_at_United.Com)
Date: 10/13/04
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Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 01:28:49 GMT
Hello GMZ,
On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 20:41:26 UTC, "GMZ" <blah@bah.net> wrote:
> Ok,
> I started working for the programming dept. of this company not too long
> ago. My boss is terrific, really great. I'm an entry-level programmer
> as I only have an associates degree in CS from a local technical school and
> this is my first non-fast-food job. My job assignments thus far have been
> basically mundane SQL work, and running already existing processes. Lately
> I've been flouting alot of protocol and made a couple simple--but
> big--mistakes.
You're learning that some rules are there to protect the group. Don't
make the same mistakes again if you can help it. It greatly helps to keep
contact with the boss and understand that you want to improve. We all
start out near the same place. I can understand the preasure of keeping
and surviving in your current employment.
> While this is the most comfortable, highest-paying (still working class
> hourly pay though)
> job I've ever had, the reality is that I don't truly *enjoy* it. And I think
> that my
> mistakes of late are growing evidence of this.
Not everything needs to be enjoyed about a job, though it helps to have
that attitude -- whether or not it is really true. There are any number
of places/positions/roles that you can transition to from where you are.
Besides being in the first responsibilities of a position, you are learning
the rules of working for this organization. I'm sure its much different
than a fast-food position. Only you can decide if the enjoyment/pain
of your position warrants a need to change what you are doing. Given that
you need the job, I'd try to get a handle on responsibility and see if
you can work through your problems, whatever they are.
> I'm very creative, very imaginative, very intelligent, excellent with the
> written word, technology-savvy, but not terribly detail-oriented, I'm
> heuristic, big-picture, definitely
> not small-focus, guy in the trench. I'd be a great speaker, but I stutter
> periodically, so my eloquence tends to come out in writing instead.
These can make for a good programmer. A lack of detail might be a problem
though. Your role still sounds spoon fed though. That is, your work is
doled out in rather small, possibly unchallenging, amounts. Don't make them
a challenge, just do the work and try to do more when asked.
My initial gut feeling is that you might eventually find computers useful
but that programming/development isn't your forte. Perhaps project design
or documentation or sales would suit you better. There is plenty of time
for you to mature.
> My questions to the group mind:
> 1. How do you make your work enjoyable? Now don't give me the old saw about
> 'you-just-have-to-love-your-job,' I'm certain you've all been tossed
> assignments at one time or
> another that you've hated. How do you get through the doldrums? How do you
> stay focused?
What are your problems? What distracts you or is a bit harder to
accomplish
than other tasks you feel comfortable doing?
Perhaps you can adjust your workload to make things better. If you hate
spending a couple hours 'documenting' the 'improvements' you've been asked
to make, perhaps alternating between tasks can help minimize the affects
of prolonged doldrums. Please substitute whatever words or terms make
sense in the above statement.
> 2. Does anyone know of any IT related jobs/fields/career paths (or non-IT if
> there are any) that you believe would suit me, given my self-description
> above? My plan is to use my current position to branch out into a more
> intellectually-palatable job over time.
You're in the first stages of "the computer field". That can lead
anywhere.
That includes non-computer work. Does the business your employer is in
interest you? What other positions might eventually open up to you?
> Points to keep in mind: I come from a poor background. Real poor. I'm only
> the third-person-in-my-family-known-to-graduate-from-high-school-poor.
> Further, I'm mid-20's with a child. Going back to school is something I
> intend to do, but it's tempered by the
> fact that I can basically only take one class a semester and do my best. I
> have only myself to rely on, in short, so it's not as if I can run back to
> some mythical family home and go to school full-time, so please, no elitist
> "don't do the job if you don't love it" foolishness. I have to do this job
> for some time.
You seem to have survived getting a minimal degree. That is a start.
While
school helps, it is ultimately what you learn and become useful to others
that
actually matters. That doesn't take money. It more of talent and effort.
Learn what you are good at and fill in the gaps where you can.
If school is something you need to move up in the world, your employer
and boss may be able to help. After all, the more you can do, the more you
are
worth to them.
Try and minimize unwise decisions. I understand there are already demands
on your wages. It is easy for the well-to-do to be just as poor when they
find their credit limits reached and their bad habits difficult to break.
If you feel the recent problems at work need to be addressed, and it sounds
like they do (even if only for your own peace of mind) talk with your boss
or those you have affected to see how to help and not repeat the mistakes
again.
> Please help. It's appreciated. Thanks!
I wish you and your family well,
David
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