What made your career take off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you willing to work like a 31 year old and hustle? That’s what it would take. You lost time when you stayed at home so to make up for the lost ground you’re going to need to work to get noticed work to take on the extra project work to travel more than anyone else work to volunteer for stuff work for long dinner events - which I did when I was in my 30s. By the time I was in my early 40s I noticed I was slowing down and starting to burn out. By my late 40s I was deciding my exit ramps. Maybe you have an energy because it’s still new to you having re entered the workforce in which case go for it.

But you have way more energy if you goofed off like she did at a later age. Like her I kinda chilled till around 38. At that point I kicked work into high gear, hustling 50 hour work weeks, lots of travel, taking clients out to drinkgs. By 45 I was on top.

If I did that hustle 21-28 no one would have noticed. Better to goof off 21-35 as no one cares about you anyhow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to find the right patron, who will encourage and champion you. That is in part luck.

Jeffery is dead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to find the right patron, who will encourage and champion you. That is in part luck.

+1

There was a study that showed that new employees randomly assigned to higher profile projects benefited long-term.

Also: getting the opportunity to supervise and oversee budgeting. This is a difficult leap otherwise as many positions want you to already have experience.

[Anonymous]

For me, things had sort of stalled out in late 30s/early 40s. I was always high potential but never a good fit to move up. I decided to go PT for my family. But I got a new manager around then who understood how I could be valuable and gave me a lot of opportunities including promoting me if I came back FT.

Maybe even luckier, he left the company a bit after it was becoming apparent there was not a lot more he could do for me there. I probably would have stayed a lot longer out of loyalty and habit. But that forced me to look, and I ended with a huge step up in a new company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly - correcting the C-suite when they were making incorrect assumptions that were leading to poorly prioritized decisions on things just because they were further away from the work being done.

We'd be in All Hands or other team meetings and the CEO would join for example and he'd be giving recaps of xyz and the direction he wants to go. I noticed if some of his recap was incorrect or out of context, everyone would just remain silent and let him continue talking. When it happened in a big enough capacity I thought it was going to throw off some of our company wide goals, I spoke up an corrected him. He called me after the meeting, thanked me, and asked my opinions. Over the last 2 years that has evolved into him, our CRO, and our COO randomly calling me to verify their understanding of things or act as a sounding board.

That year, I went from $85k to $130k in the company. I'm still here and I (F) currently make $45k more than my male counterpart I strongly believe for that reason. He is a heads down work person. I've really pushed myself to be a speak up and make sure all teams are aligned person.

I just found out there's a promotion opening for me towards the end of the year too that will bump me another 18%

At my work, I got PIP'd for correcting a couple minor things that made my male manager feel not smart (bc he did not know the right thing to do/ask).

In my company, the people who get promoted know how to fix issues "offline" without embarrassing anyone.

[Anonymous]

What made me get ahead was realizing I wasn't given the chance to advance in many corporate roles as often leaders were chosen because of their background or how friendly they were with those in charge. I didn't have the right pedigree or social currency.

I started my own business and nothing is holding me back now, I am in demand and doing well. And I am glad I took that leap and had that confidence to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Luck is often less about chance and more about connection. Being in the right place at the right time, surrounded by the right people, can open doors that dramatically accelerate your career trajectory.

You just defined luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What made me get ahead was realizing I wasn't given the chance to advance in many corporate roles as often leaders were chosen because of their background or how friendly they were with those in charge. I didn't have the right pedigree or social currency.

I started my own business and nothing is holding me back now, I am in demand and doing well. And I am glad I took that leap and had that confidence to do it.

Congratulations. For me, I realized that I suck at corporate political games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of luck is involved. Yes it helps to be competent, good to work with, hardworking, etc. But luck is a bigger deal than many people let on.

it is no luck other than having your health. It is just 99 percent of people wont or cant do this.

When I graduated college mid 1980s it was very apparant you want to make money back, this had to happen.
1) Work on Wall Street in New York City
2) Get an MBA
3) Grind and Grind and network

Later around mid 1990s became
1) go to counsulting or Big 4 in a major City
2) get MBA/CPA etc.
3) work on Y2K, getting companies ready for IPO, IT consulting as in run up to internet bubble the late 1990s Consulting, IT consulting was making bank

Later around mid 2000s it became
1) get a job at a FAANG on West Coast
2) learn IT,
3) get RSUs stock options and ride the wave

Then around mid 2010s became
1) join a hot start up in anything
2) work 80 hours a week
3) become a mulimillion with IPO

Now around mid 2020s
1) get a job Fintech or AI
2) work 80 hours a week
3)become a multimllionaire with IPO

Your perspective is virtually ancient.

is it?

in each decade above I tried to do exactly what I listed. Except my FAANGM dreams died a sudden death in 2004 when I got a big job at GOOGLE verbally after completed interview process and agreed on start date and salary and HR before I could get final offer they offered it to someone else in a mix up, it sucked. I though they were faking but they had the job at NYC and. California and recruiting both roles. The NYC guy signed asap but ther california guy had not signed yet and I was his back up and dude did sign. Tried again at one or two others but 2008 crash came and by time it ended I was just too damm old to get one of those jobs.

I worked at two starts ups. One I quit (stupid) is now worth 100 Billion. My co-workers who toughed it out now all have FU money. But I did stay long enought to get a few hundred grand in stock and I get to say I worked there. My daughter is in a start up and she is thriving as she stuck it out when they gave stock instead of raises or cash bonuses or a 401k match. Now as IPO nears she has a good amount of stock and should be a millionaire by 28

How on earth do you not see the luck (both good and bad) involved in all of these scenarios.

[Anonymous]

Connection. My life has been pretty easy to be blunt. I don't know if I ever had to fight for anything.