this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2024
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Bullshitting my way onto a high salary career track and just learning shit as i go.
I think I surprising amount of people are likely just "faking it". I hope one day we can collectively cut the BS and all admit we don't know what we're doing.
I think the main problem is that requiring and checking if someone can learn a skill you need is a lot harder than just making the skill a requirement for the job right out of the bat.
Determining if someone can actually learn certain things on the job is pretty difficult in an interview setting, it’s way easier to just do a technical interview.
The alternative is probably something like a probationary period where you work with no guarantee of continuing but that’s a massive waste of time for everyone involved and not fair to the candidate.
In my experience, if you go with the candidate that seems the most well rounded, you’ll have the most success. Going with someone that’s a technical genius with no people skills makes it harder to fit them in a spot where they’ll shine - at least in a smaller company
The first paragraph was easy for my previous employer. At the start of the interview, my interviewer pointed out the wallpaper of his brand new grandson. During the interview he noticed that I kept looking at his monitor. When he asked why I was doing that I asked why he had it on the lowest resolution. We switched places and I changed the resolution. The wallpaper disappeared and my heart felt like it had stopped.
Thinking quickly, I said that if the picture was on the hard drive that it would have reloaded and it obviously hadn't been downloaded so it must have been in an email. He smiled and said that I was right and I spent the rest of the interview in his chair and I got a call that day asking if I could come in that day.
I think it's fair considering companies want 4 plus years for an entry position.
I honestly can’t deal with all the theatrics of securing a job (interview and first months/year included). This was a setback at first since when people asked me stuff I didn’t know I’d just say “I don’t know” or at most “I heard this and that but never worked with it”.
Thankfully I ended up at a place that appreciated that frankness and that gives me room (and incentive) to learn new stuff. Every year so far I end up in a new project with different technologies to use and learn. My ADHD brain is extremely satisfied.
I would love to hear your story if you're willing to share.
Briefly: phd at Super Prestigious Institution. Fuck it, left science because didn’t want to languish making like $50K/year as a postdoc for like 6-8 years, with no guaranteed path forward. Pivoted toward money & people management. At every step up the ladder, I didn’t know shit. So what? I figured it out. Not that hard. Real talk: I benefitted substantially from elitism. I’m mid forties, salary about $220K, should hit $250K/year in the next 2-5 years.
Thanks for sharing.