Tags: work, blogs May 24, 2008    

In this entry I state my view on work and summarize a couple of blog posts on the subject.

First, my personal opinion about work:

Find a job that you like and that pays you competitively. A job that you like must have two components, interesting work and a healthy atmosphere. Make sure those two exist! Getting competitive pay requires interviewing at multiple places and asking your friends what they make.

For actual work, concentrate on what is most important to your company and the people in it, including you. Keep reasonable hours (at most 40 hours per week), be respectful, continuously learn, think, and work well. If there are any conflicts between any of the above, you're working at the wrong place. Hopefully you get compensated enough for that.

Why do I think working long hours or not having interesting work is bad? Because I value my time more than I value the money I could earn being unhappy at work.

Second, what others have said:

One of the best reads on the subject is How much might I love this gig?

That is definitely worth a read. The basic idea is that your career is important, there are a few small moments that have a large impact on your career, and that one of these moments is getting a new job.

Therefore it is important to find a job you like, that has a good salary, a good title, and good future potential.

The following are some tips on getting a good salary. You need to act like you don't care whether you will be hired or not (although you should seem enthusiastic about the possibility - a fine balance to achieve), otherwise you will receive a low offer. Also, you need to compute all of your benefits and compensation. Salary should be based on location, industry, and what your friends say, and should be at least 10% above your current salary. Salary sites are not very useful for this information.

Your job title should be bigger than your last one.

All counter offers need to seem as if they are based on good data. Also, if you are offered a salary that is too low and the company says it is very high for the job title, you are probably looking for the wrong job.

Bonuses are meaningless. Stock is almost meaningless, except for those who like risk because stock is hard to value.

If something is not good about the offer, you may ask for and get other benefits.

In the end though you need to make sure you like the job.

Regarding interviews, an interesting read is Three tips for job hunting, and one good book. The tips are to be positive even if the questions assume a negative bias, be enthusiastic from the beginning by thinking that you want the job, and be aware that you will not receive feedback.

I don't know much about interviews, although these tips sound good. My thoughts are to know your stuff, be respectful, and make sure to get all your questions answered.

Copyright © 2008 Borys Bradel. All rights reserved. This post is only my possibly incorrect opinion.