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What Advice Would You Give Your Friends and Family From your Career Experiences?
A friend had a very trying day at work and posted some advice based on what she had seen. I got to thinking about it, and while my professions and careers are hardly matters of life and death, I realized that I had similar advice for people. I am sure we all do, whatever our profession or job. I am not seeking the level of information in some of our posts like Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Concrete* (But Were Afraid To Ask). It’s simply a request for pithy advice from the front lines of working.
I used to program computers, and when I started my first consulting firm I offered some computer-related services. Advice I rapidly found had to be given was, “Don’t go on the Internet if you don’t have anti-virus software.”
As a process management guy, my advice is, “Don’t bother documenting them if you don’t know how you’re going to use that documentation to change things.” Also, “Don’t expect most of your people to have any idea what those diagrams mean unless they are engineers and you have given a class in reading them.”
So, what do you have, Ricochet?
Published in General
My advice- if you have the choice, do not hire a contractor on the basis of lowest cost. Do not depend on drawings and specifications and inspections alone to get the job done correctly; you can have a set of specifications a foot thick and it will not cover everything, and you do not want to be in the position of trying to enforce it if it were not followed. A relationship of mutual trust and a good track record are far better predictors of success. The concept applies to consultants, doctors, lawyers, etc. also.
As a general contractor my advice is…
Pay your vendors and subcontractors promptly. They totally love that.
This is great. Do I have to wear a tie though?
Naw. The less the better. :-0
Avoid using reply all.
This reminds me of another piece of advice: tip well. People in service positions will definitely respond with excellent service if you are known as a good tipper. Generally a good tip does not cost you that much, but it makes a big difference to the other person.
Stay out of dark alleys at night.
Do you think there are lots of entrepreneurial whores? I don’t.
Not to mention having your back to a wall in restaurants where you can see everyone who comes in.
Major in math – your pocketbook will thank me later.
Does that include pure math?
If you want more money, ask for it. Don’t assume doing a good job will get you a raise.
And if you are going to ask for more money, you better be able to show your boss how you helped the company make more money. Don’t talk about what you did. Talk about how the things you did helped the bottom line (include real numbers).
I just want to say one word to you. One word. Are you listening?….
Plastics.
Absolutely – you’d be shocked how badly everyone in finance wants math majors of any kind.
I don’t either.
Hmmm. This advice plants some doubt about your judgment……might stick with the tie :)
Amen!
And don’t get on your contractor’s bad side or they will build to specification – and you will get what you deserve.
Yes, even most well-meaning and competent bosses will simply not notice and value your commitment and success to the degree you imagine it to be obvious for anyone who wants to look. Toot away, modestly.
Yes, tie performance to bottom line, but don’t refrain from asking just because you can’t point to a 2% decrease in costs or a 1.5% increase in revenue. Not all positions have that kind of direct or easily quantifiable impact.
Avoid assignments where responsibility does not come with the requisite authority. If you don’t have the authority to fulfill your responsibility, then “responsibility” is not the right word and it’s a recipe for disaster for you. Either seek the authority or find a way to ditch the responsibility.
Let’s not get caught up in the metaphor too much. Casey’s point has merit: we’re selling our talent and effort for money, let’s not make more of it than what it is. If you are one of the lucky ones where this transaction lines up with and supports other life goals/interests then good on you, but my experience is that this favored group is pretty small.
Surprising advice to hear from a conservative. I’m not saying it’s a bad surprise. I just expect more “no pain, no gain”, “in this world, we must suffer for what we earn”, and so on. More of the tough-guy stuff and less focus on stuff like enjoyment – or heaven help us, that dirty word “fulfillment”.
Don’t expect keen negotiation of contract terms to prevent a broken customer/vendor relationship. If those contract terms are needed to compel performance, the relationship is already broken.
That depends on whether or not the crappy job has a bigger payoff within a reasonable timeframe. If not, then move on right quick. However, if the pain is truly a springboard then go ahead and stick it out.
Interestingly, most of this stuff I learned not in my professional career, but back in my college years, working summers at an amusement park. In terms of preparing me for my career, that experience was much more valuable to me than either of my college degrees.
I don’t mean to be impertinent here – because I agree with your advice. But how does one manage writing what one secretly suspects is often just “noise pollution” day after day without shame?
Who says it is without shame? A hack is a hack, but a well-fed hack is better than a starving artist. It is a trade-off.
For me the training ground was working summers at Boy Scout summer camp.