/** Thoughts on work/career (with ongoing evaluation/evolution of these beliefs).
I barely know anything and aim to iterate this sphere of beliefs over time, either through further confirmation, or conversely challenging, of current beliefs.
(note: I wrote this in March 2023. Some of these beliefs have already evolved!)
Work/career is probably determined by, in no particular order (Probably cannot be ordered accurately and reliably):
What of these do you control? I think one has:
Reasoning?
a - One needs to, with enough preparation, find high-quality people to work with, be able to join those teams through conventional and unconventional means, but you are taking a bet that those who seem good to work with are actually good to work with. I’ve heard stories of people hearing X about someone, trying very hard to join that person’s team, and then having a much different (and less positive) experience. Also, I do not know if this is overall easier (because of increased connectedness/ability to reach people/internet era) OR harder (because of increased population, competition, accessibility of information).
b - no control, completely random. I’m talking about true luck and randomness, not the “make your own luck” motto. That has value in itself for what it tries to convey (i.e., a lot of effort has more chances to be lucky than little effort), but I am not talking about that.
c - you can prepare as little/as much as you want and seek resources to aid preparation (especially in a global internet era; read previous blog post “Making Your Career More Deterministic” for important context).
d - right place, right time is something you can try your very best to engineer but still, it is very random and luck-based. I didn’t bundle it in “luck” because I treat them as two separate things. You can have one and be on the right path. Both is killer.
e - you have no control over what unfair advantages you have, but you have control over whether you recognize them, embrace them, and utilize them. Unfair advantages could include being born in a first-world country, being born with a strong/resistant immune system, having inherent talent to play instruments (but you need to practice to actualize this…though you may find that you improve in skill 2-3x faster than average peers hence positive feedback supports this advantage actualizing).
A fun random story to illustrate/expand on this point!
I think this is confusing so I’ll provide a fun example that highlights why it is MORE DIFFICULT nowadays and not always easier. This is obvious but fun for me to describe and is a thought experiment for myself to see if I can poke any holes in my belief.
Say you are 18 in 1996 (arbitrary) and you want to work in vitamin manufacturing (arbitrary).
Your guidance counselor has no idea what this is, your friends as well. You came across it from reading the last page in a random magazine in your haircut salon the year before. Since then, you have been analyzing the differences between brands of Zinc and learn passively about different inactive ingredients and that some bottles come with cotton balls inside and others don’t, and so on.
You find some esoteric website or catalog (or your friend’s father has a childhood friend who works at a firm and after learning this, you get in touch with that person (including this for sake of illustration but the world is more than nepotism)) and through whatever medium, motivated by your drive/curiosity, you find the top 5 vitamin manufacturing companies and some employee names. You see they actually have a corporate office 3hrs drive from you, so you trek over, go inside, and try to talk to someone. The secretary turns you away, so you use your savings to get a motel, and go in the next day. Fortunately, you see an employee walking in, and you offer the same proposal. This person happens to be the regional branch manager, and while they are very busy, they are willing to have lunch with you in two days. You drive home and come back to have lunch with him.
You learn that a) no one knows how many benefits exist in this career. Great WLB, many intricacies to explore, and well-compensated. You also learn that only people who major in engineering (or go to trade school) hear about this niche industry, and it is through word-of-mouth for hiring (with some ads sent in the newspaper which get poor reception).
You leverage this connection to get in touch with another branch closer to your home, and through preparation/luck you are able to get an internship, and your prior knowledge allows you to convert that to a full-time role.
Why am I telling you this? Because now look.
Say you are 18 in 2026 (30 years later) and you want to work in vitamin manufacturing.
You open Google, Youtube, Reddit, and Tiktok and search “vitamin manufacturing.” You watch the top 3 videos (sorry, the top 3 shorts) on Youtube titled “So you want to work in vitamin manufacturing?”, “Day in the life as a vitamin manufacturing analyst,” and “What is vitamin manufacturing?”. You find the top 5 firms who manufacture vitamins and their job posting sections and team member section, and use a Chrome extension to get their emails and use AI to pre-write and send cold emails through your Outlook plug-in. You read Reddit threads about people’s detailed day-to-day role as different types of vitamin manufacturers and how people became vitamin manufacturers. All of this is found on Tiktok as well in a different medium, you actually find an employee whistle-blowing on video about their prior firm and so you know not to apply there given what the employee said in the video (i.e., toxic work environment, OSHA violations, etc.). You bring this up to friends/family and you learn that your friend’s friend is two years into their role as a vitamin manufacturer and so you ask them about their experience so far.
You have 10x as much information than 1996 for 1/10th of the effort.
But so do other people. The edge has been competed away. You are competing in a bigger ring now. In other words, the backdoor approach is much more difficult. You have to go in the front door now (become a “template” applicant). Interestingly, the person hired in 1996 may as well have been a better worker because their intentions are already vetted! You can ensure that guy is INTERESTED and PASSIONATE about vitamin manufacturing vs. in 2026, people may apply for roles with other intentions. The guy in 1996 had less information as well! (though this may be because the environment did not have accessible information either so it’s a moot point).
One might say “well that is a function of the evolution of work” and “well this creates more equal opportunity” and yes I agree! But note that in my story, this character’s success is not at all predicated on any type of family connection, nepotism, or unpopular unfair advantage. They got there through perseverance, curiosity, willingness to be different, and risk.
Thought this was an interesting exercise to run through.
tl;dr It’s a short enough post to flip through in my view and the story is cool to read! Hopefully?
Cheers,
Vish
Published on May 29, 2023.