I'm quitting my job

[Ex-User (14663)]

So 4 weeks ago I moved to a new country and started a new job – actually my first "regular" job ever (I had a job before, but it was in a startup company and it was some completely crazy shit which didn't resemble a regular job in any way). This new job is kinda intellectually stimulating, but not really. I'm a so-called data scientist, but I work with a bunch of people who have zero clue about data science, and I have disagreed with them on just about every idea about how to do things since I started. Even worse, the job has fixed working hours, fixed lunch times where you have to do small-talk with your colleagues, all that bullshit. This stuff is seriously like torture to me. So I'm thinking – instead of being that boiling frog, I'm jumping out. You're saying all jobs are like that? They are not – we have 2 cool options; academia and startups. That's a way to live – this other stuff is a way to become dumb and depressed.

 

[Polaris]

I quit my "normal" job that provided a lucrative income for less than half the weekly hours to go back to university. I have studied and worked part-time to complete the degree, which has been a very rewarding, but also extremely challenging process as I had to support myself with less than half the income and twice the weekly effort - add study hours to that and you have a life devoid of luxury, holidays and social time.

However, compared to the soul-sucking that was the nature of my previous career, this has been far more rewarding, and the stress and difficulties were the sort of things I could deal with as it did not involve being a puppet for some assholes with zero interest in anything other than money and prescribed Wednesday golf and the mindless yada yada of the "successful" clones.

I have lived on the border of poverty at times, but I refused to go back to that role. I would rather be intellectually stimulated and poor, than be dead inside a living, wealthy shell.

I don't make much money at the moment, but the opportunities that have opened up are promising as I have worked hard on networking and getting good academic results. I have received a government grant for my research, and I combine this research with a part-time regular job, which is not too bad as my colleagues are similarly-minded free spirits with similar interests and backgrounds.

So while I have yet to land a position in academia, I'm not actually doing too bad as I can write articles and keep my mind busy theorising when I'm not making dollars. I have plenty of academic and industry contacts that are working in the background to help me out, because they have realised I am serious in my research efforts.

I think it is just a matter of being patient and making sure you are doing something interesting while you are earning a living. However, I think the most important factor is that internal motivation and drive. You have to be dead serious about what you want to achieve, and willing to sacrifice a hell of a lot of comforts...and sometimes your sanity.

I feel much more fulfilled now as I am able to use my brain for the things that interest me, and ultimately give my life meaning. The work is all mine, and I have no debts to pay off. Since I have gone down this path, it is almost as if I have attracted the right kind of people, and everything has fallen into place without me actually having to do much in terms of final steps.

I think it is easy to stay in that comfort zone as most of us are scared of being poor, or perhaps worried about not being competent or intelligent enough for this kind of change. However, I know people who are far more intelligent and capable than me, who are stuck in a rut. What is stopping them is obviously not ability or potential, but a fear of the unknown. They don't have internal motivation because they are too scared of taking risks, and they listen to other people too much when making decisions. I am not saying one shouldn't take an educated approach, but some risk must be factored in as nothing is set in stone.

Some people may have a lot more to lose in terms of commitments, etc. I understand it is not easy to rip up in that case. I had nothing to lose, but then again, I have always lived in such a way that commitments were not going to stop me if I did decide to rip up. That is the price you pay for freedom.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Polaris, that was a damn good read. Thank you for taking the time to write that.

 

[Reluctantly]

Isn't academia filled with politics? And I heard startups typically require more than a 40 hour work week and may not pay as much as an established company, not to mention they may decide to fire you if they make it big in order to rake in more profits (apparently a lot of software development can fall into this).

 

[Pyropyro]

Isn't academia filled with politics?

Oh yes, very much so. However, it is actually tolerable since only the big boys play with politics and the average researcher usually doesn't care about said politics.

And I heard startups typically require more than a 40 hour work week and may not pay as much as an established company, not to mention they may decide to fire you if they make it big in order to rake in more profits (apparently a lot of software development can fall into this).

Not to mention 90% of start-ups fail. My job dictates that I encourage people to make start-ups but I also think that they should have some sort of safety net in case the venture fails.

Both are still cool options though but let's not get overly romantic about them. They are still hard work, low pay (compared to other career paths unless you get lucky) and Intellectual stimulation is not an everyday occurrence.

 

[redbaron]

Everything is filled with politics but at least academia is interesting.

Plus politics are much less painful to deal with in a field that mostly has people of above average intelligence compared to various other job areas full of dumb people and boring work and even more dumb and boring politics.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

They are still hard work, low pay (compared to other career paths unless you get lucky) and Intellectual stimulation is not an everyday occurrence.

There is absolutely no point in comparing working at startups with regular jobs. I work 40 hours a week now and feel like I want to kill myself because of all the regular hours, preset times for lunch etc. At the startup I worked close to 100 hours a week, yet had a blast 100% of time and didn't really feel like I worked at all. I felt everything I did was my own decision. I showed up whenever I wanted to, worked with whatever project I thought was best for the company, etc. So its "hard work", but when you're driven by organic inspiration, it's like being on cocaine.

 

[Pyropyro]

There is absolutely no point in comparing working at startups with regular jobs. I work 40 hours a week now and feel like I want to kill myself because of all the regular hours, preset times for lunch etc. At the startup I worked close to 100 hours a week, yet had a blast 100% of time and didn't really feel like I worked at all. I felt everything I did was my own decision. I showed up whenever I wanted to, worked with whatever project I thought was best for the company, etc. So its "hard work", but when you're driven by organic inspiration, it's like being on cocaine.

Sounds like you worked with a young start-up. Was it able to grow bigger?

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Sounds like you worked with a young start-up. Was it able to grow bigger?

Nope. I would definitely do it again though – it was a really cool experience. Worked there for 1 year and have never learned so much in such a short period of time.

 

[Intolerable]

Organizations of any large number are going to have all the things INTP despise. So I suggest to any INTP keep it small. That means either work for a small organization, a small autonomous department or freelance.

Work hours are not an issue for INTP. Being alone is not an issue for INTP. If you do the math here you realize where INTP belong. Lots of jobs can be intellectually stimulating and liberating.

Unfortunately if you read my subjects on IT and software development you know my view on it for INTP. It's a shit field and only getting worse for us as the years go on. Big money = big organizations = big politics and rigid structure. INTP can tune their brains onto literally any complicated subject. So go for something less caked with copy / paste drones diluting the wage pool.

 

[jon1234]

It's a shit field and only getting worse for us as the years go on.

After almost 15 years in IT I would tend to agree with the direction IT is going. Think indian call centre.

My current role is supporting some very niche software so I get to work from home and pretty much pursue my hobbies, but it can't last.. theyre nipping at my heels.

I've had many jobs and I never have regretting quitting a single one of them. Not that my roles have gotten better and better but a change is really as good as a rest.

 

[QuickTwist]

Everything is filled with politics but at least academia is interesting.

Plus politics are much less painful to deal with in a field that mostly has people of above average intelligence compared to various other job areas full of dumb people and boring work and even more dumb and boring politics.

Good post. I agree, its why I am hesitant to get a job - because the jobs I know I can get are shitty jobs that I know I will burn out on damn quick. I don't have a degree that can get me in a lot of places even if its not my field so I'm kinda dependent on SSI atm.

 

[Reluctantly]

I disagree that politics in academia is the same as anywhere else. At a normal job usually you just need to make your boss happy and/or do what corporate wants, whatever that may be.

But much of academia is geared towards diploma mills and pushing students through their programs. Your responsibility to the school is to pass a certain amount of students, not necessarily to teach them well or do research. And you will spend a lot of time grading work and having students argue that you're not fairly grading them and their myriad of life problems (like an accident or illness) that you'll have to take into account. And if you don't have tenure, you may be let go in any given semester no matter how good a teacher you are.

And add on the fact that some schools might have a liberal or republican agenda and you have to be careful what you say. For example, you could argue as a scientist that global warming has no hard evidence and be let go for saying that if the school strongly believes in it.

Of course, if you can get tenure and you get to do research, then I'm sure it's great, but that's not the norm.

 

[Intolerable]

After almost 15 years in IT I would tend to agree with the direction IT is going. Think indian call centre.

My current role is supporting some very niche software so I get to work from home and pretty much pursue my hobbies, but it can't last.. theyre nipping at my heels.

The industry shot itself in the foot with all these "self-help" websites like StackOverflow. Any other trade has well guarded secrets and trade methods that aren't simply paraded around all over the internet and for good reason. I can't tell you the number of times I'd roll out a custom, brand new CSS doodad or class for the dev teams to use and have someone on the dev team come to me and ask where I got it. As if everything has to be found code on StackOverflow.

I've grown to hate that website as I know how people use it. Copy and paste code you barely understand and can't apply anywhere else. This goes on every day and people are actually being replaced on the strength of it. What a mess. A giant promise that brand new devs can replace difficult but productive senior devs. It's a mask they wear until a new problem comes up and the whole illusion comes crashing down. That's another thing that kills me. Sitting with a senior dev in a sprint making 30k+ more a year than me and needs to lean on me to refactor his/her own code to get our team through. Or the "architect" who throws a fit over you changing their usage of regular expressions to be less inefficient and grammatically correct. The industry is full of tits with more pride than sense. That's only getting worse year over year.

The H1B visa thing is interesting to me. I personally don't like it. I think it pushes the wage market and on-site demands in a negative direction for laborers. It takes bargaining power right out of the hands of US citizens. Diluting the labor pool is a crony Capitalist wet dream. It's exactly the wrong kind of free market because it introduces an external variable that isn't freedom. Legions of doctor or engineer types coming out of India who have zero interest in the field squat in those chairs. It's altogether an ugly affair. Nothing like getting grilled on a technical phone call by an Indian guy through a cell connection.

Ok, ok. Rant off.

I've had many jobs and I never have regretting quitting a single one of them. Not that my roles have gotten better and better but a change is really as good as a rest.

I'm the same way. I'm a zero regrets kind of person. In situations that would cripple some people emotionally I am a rock. All things happen for a reason perhaps not obvious to us. We're shaped by the world and so my path is to not resist it.

 

[Pyropyro]

Nope. I would definitely do it again though – it was a really cool experience. Worked there for 1 year and have never learned so much in such a short period of time.

I see. Well I'm glad you left before you get to the ugly part where start-ups get torn to bits by venture capitalists and their control wrested from the founders by the board of investors.

I think your attitude is more suited for serial entrepreneurs. They're good team members that can get startups that extra oomph to grow.

 

[TheManBeyond]

Don't think twice, if u can survive and have basic stuff then so be it
We as young people need to stop all progress. Live with state helps and parental help.
We need to stop getting old. Or taking responsibility for being part of the machinery. You can be useful to society in many ways that don't Imply hours of burning crap work.
Refuse. Resist.

 

[Reluctantly]

The industry shot itself in the foot with all these "self-help" websites like StackOverflow. Any other trade has well guarded secrets and trade methods that aren't simply paraded around all over the internet and for good reason. I can't tell you the number of times I'd roll out a custom, brand new CSS doodad or class for the dev teams to use and have someone on the dev team come to me and ask where I got it. As if everything has to be found code on StackOverflow.

I've grown to hate that website as I know how people use it. Copy and paste code you barely understand and can't apply anywhere else. This goes on every day and people are actually being replaced on the strength of it. What a mess. A giant promise that brand new devs can replace difficult but productive senior devs. It's a mask they wear until a new problem comes up and the whole illusion comes crashing down. That's another thing that kills me. Sitting with a senior dev in a sprint making 30k+ more a year than me and needs to lean on me to refactor his/her own code to get our team through. Or the "architect" who throws a fit over you changing their usage of regular expressions to be less inefficient and grammatically correct. The industry is full of tits with more pride than sense. That's only getting worse year over year.

The H1B visa thing is interesting to me. I personally don't like it. I think it pushes the wage market and on-site demands in a negative direction for laborers. It takes bargaining power right out of the hands of US citizens. Diluting the labor pool is a crony Capitalist wet dream. It's exactly the wrong kind of free market because it introduces an external variable that isn't freedom. Legions of doctor or engineer types coming out of India who have zero interest in the field squat in those chairs. It's altogether an ugly affair. Nothing like getting grilled on a technical phone call by an Indian guy through a cell connection.

This is EXACTLY why I won't do software development. And I have a CS degree, but I just hate this shit so much. They want people that can churn out code as fast as they can and nothing else. Usually this means using a very high level UI or coding language that dumbs everything down. I just don't see the appeal, especially given the ridiculous hours spent in front of a computer screen writing code and debugging it to begin with, not even to mention trying to debug something you copy/pasted or don't fully understand. Lame.

 

[OmoInisa]

This is EXACTLY why I won't do software development. And I have a CS degree, but I just hate this shit so much. They want people that can churn out code as fast as they can and nothing else. Usually this means using a very high level UI or coding language that dumbs everything down. I just don't see the appeal, especially given the ridiculous hours spent in front of a computer screen writing code and debugging it to begin with, not even to mention trying to debug something you copy/pasted or don't fully understand. Lame.

Actually, the dumbing Down you speak of is an advance, not a regression. The purpose of the engineering field is to create useful things, not to have a playground for the satisfaction of esoteric interests.
That should be done as a side hobby if one desires.
In order to maximise our ability to build complex architectures, it is necessary to minimise complication as much as possible. That means abstracting away low level detail. The greater the abstraction we can achieve, the greater the scale we can achieve.

This abstraction is happening at breakneck speed all around us in all sorts of fields, and the eye it all turns around is of course the tech field.
This new reality is something that should actually be a source of pleasure for INTPs. The world is coming towards us. We're better equipped to flourish in this new reality than past ones.

We're architects by disposition, not mechanics or artisans, hence our fulfilment is in the creation of great complex but simple systems that follow logical laws. It is not in the creation or maintenance of arcane and ugly monstrosities that can't be easily understood, extended or adapted.

What frustrates me about much in the current tech world seems actually the opposite of what troubles you. I get the feeling that much of it has bashed together by ISTPs rather than by INTPs.
An ISTP primarily wants cool toys to play with, and the products he creates are typically high on complication, since the immediate effect achievable is the focus. Scalability and sustainability don't figure as highly.

In terms of the organisational straightjacket, that is the result of organisations being the product of TJs.
It is actually a good thing that this is the case. Of course its excesses manifest themselves often. But the excess of the Te tyranny is exaggerated by us, since it runs contrary to our nature. A healthy dose of Te is actually necessary to prevent the world around us from descending into chaos.

All the cognitive dispositions have a vital role to play in the human condition. The trick is to try to carve a path for oneself that treads the terrain of comfort (one's valued functions) as much as is possible, while acknowledging the beauty of and allowing the landscape around us (the unvalued functions) to add to our enjoyment of life.

SDx should empower INTPs immensely.

 

[Intolerable]

Actually, the dumbing Down you speak of is an advance, not a regression. The purpose of the engineering field is to create useful things, not to have a playground for the satisfaction of esoteric interests.
That should be done as a side hobby if one desires.
In order to maximise our ability to build complex architectures, it is necessary to minimise complication as much as possible. That means abstracting away low level detail. The greater the abstraction we can achieve, the greater the scale we can achieve.

I don't think creating boilerplate code is a bad thing. Whatever reduces code footprint, improves code reuse and eliminates potential resource hogging / leaking is good.

The problem isn't in any of that. That's something we agree on. The problem is actually in the way we help one another anonymously via the internet. I'm not a fan of this. As stated I think it gets abused. It encourages the wrong kind of learning and dilutes the labor force with people who are confident copy / paste drones. At that point I don't care if they dress better or are better social animals or they show up everyday. They suck at their job. It's just a matter of time before you see it.

There are unfortunately too many bad things about the office environment and the on-site or die mentality of employers today. This unquestionably has to do with how easy the job has become for copy/paste drones to infiltrate. With such a large labor pool wages stagnate, demands of employers grow more confident and quality of life for the developer goes down.

H1B visas have only made this situation worse. The industry is already loaded to the gills with disinterested people chasing big money and status who aren't intellectually equipped for the job. Importing more people on the promise of big money is not helping that. It's just all for the wrong reasons. Yes, I do think a passionate and liberated developer is the best developer money can buy. I don't think weighing down the market with more people is going to encourage the right people to step in.

Dumbing down of code can be a good and bad thing. Usually it does more harm than good. Of all the things I've seen software do, the absolute worst of them is abstracting for the sake of abstracting. In other words trading vertical complexity for horizontal complexity. It's like tabs vs spaces. It's a matter of preference that gets thrown around like dogma by dipshits. Today as a consequence we have dozens of ways to hammer a nail for lack of a better metaphor. It's only making the industry worse for the sake of getting a wider labor pool. It's dumb (no pun intended).

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Actually, the dumbing Down you speak of is an advance, not a regression. The purpose of the engineering field is to create useful things, not to have a playground for the satisfaction of esoteric interests.
That should be done as a side hobby if one desires.
In order to maximise our ability to build complex architectures, it is necessary to minimise complication as much as possible. That means abstracting away low level detail. The greater the abstraction we can achieve, the greater the scale we can achieve.

This abstraction is happening at breakneck speed all around us in all sorts of fields, and the eye it all turns around is of course the tech field.
This new reality is something that should actually be a source of pleasure for INTPs. The world is coming towards us. We're better equipped to flourish in this new reality than past ones.

We're architects by disposition, not mechanics or artisans, hence our fulfilment is in the creation of great complex but simple systems that follow logical laws. It is not in the creation or maintenance of arcane and ugly monstrosities that can't be easily understood, extended or adapted.

What frustrates me about much in the current tech world seems actually the opposite of what troubles you. I get the feeling that much of it has bashed together by ISTPs rather than by INTPs.
An ISTP primarily wants cool toys to play with, and the products he creates are typically high on complication, since the immediate effect achievable is the focus. Scalability and sustainability don't figure as highly.

In terms of the organisational straightjacket, that is the result of organisations being the product of TJs.
It is actually a good thing that this is the case. Of course its excesses manifest themselves often. But the excess of the Te tyranny is exaggerated by us, since it runs contrary to our nature. A healthy dose of Te is actually necessary to prevent the world around us from descending into chaos.

All the cognitive dispositions have a vital role to play in the human condition. The trick is to try to carve a path for oneself that treads the terrain of comfort (one's valued functions) as much as is possible, while acknowledging the beauty of and allowing the landscape around us (the unvalued functions) to add to our enjoyment of life.

SDx should empower INTPs immensely.

It's an "advance" only in terms of business. Large businesses want replaceable people. That's why for example Java is so popular in development. Java coders are easy to replace. Packaging complicated systems into easy-to-use interfaces facilitates the replaceability. Businesses in general are not interested in clever shit, even if it works better than the simpler stuff. This has been one of the painful aspects of my current job. They are not interested in the actual scientific soundness of things, they are interested in stuff that looks good in the short term. There is nothing appealing about that.

That phenomenon seems to be particularly pervasive at the moment. If a company tells you they "use the latest technology within super-sophisticated machine-learning algorithms etc etc" you can be pretty sure they just use some pre-packaged shit and they barely know what this stuff even is.

 

[OmoInisa]

I don't think creating boilerplate code is a bad thing. Whatever reduces code footprint, improves code reuse and eliminates potential resource hogging / leaking is good.

The problem isn't in any of that. That's something we agree on. The problem is actually in the way we help one another anonymously via the internet. I'm not a fan of this. As stated I think it gets abused. It encourages the wrong kind of learning and dilutes the labor force with people who are confident copy / paste drones. At that point I don't care if they dress better or are better social animals or they show up everyday. They suck at their job. It's just a matter of time before you see it.

There are unfortunately too many bad things about the office environment and the on-site or die mentality of employers today. This unquestionably has to do with how easy the job has become for copy/paste drones to infiltrate. With such a large labor pool wages stagnate, demands of employers grow more confident and quality of life for the developer goes down.

H1B visas have only made this situation worse. The industry is already loaded to the gills with disinterested people chasing big money and status who aren't intellectually equipped for the job. Importing more people on the promise of big money is not helping that. It's just all for the wrong reasons. Yes, I do think a passionate and liberated developer is the best developer money can buy. I don't think weighing down the market with more people is going to encourage the right people to step in.

Dumbing down of code can be a good and bad thing. Usually it does more harm than good. Of all the things I've seen software do, the absolute worst of them is abstracting for the sake of abstracting. In other words trading vertical complexity for horizontal complexity. It's like tabs vs spaces. It's a matter of preference that gets thrown around like dogma by dipshits. Today as a consequence we have dozens of ways to hammer a nail for lack of a better metaphor. It's only making the industry worse for the sake of getting a wider labor pool. It's dumb (no pun intended).

I agree. The thin barrier to access to the IT field is profoundly destabilising, even while resulting in incredible progress.
It's simply the issue of labour mobility and knowledge democratisation that exists in most sectors. But once again, IT is at the heart of the vortex.

Talented but otherwise geographically or socially excluded individuals now have access, but at the same time all sorts of hopeless chancers and charlatans are polluting the water.

 

[Reluctantly]

case in point:

Someone I know hired a company to make a website for them. They used wordpress and it was shit because wordpress limits you by templates and this company could not adjust the site to what he wanted and he was very unhappy.

So I built a very good functional website for him that even had a PHP interface so anyone could log in to the website and EASILY make changes to pages, preview those changes, and then save them. You just had to know a little html, GOD FORBID.

So what's happening now is nobody wants to be bothered to learn a little coding and they want the website in wordpress. But putting it in wordpress will limit what they can do and actually make some aspects of developing it cumbersome, which for them was why it was avoided.

In other words, they want me to make a good customizable website, but also make it so people that don't know shit about making websites can also develop the website. It's asinine, an oxymoron, especially when I've made it really easy for them and all it requires is a small time investment to learn how html tags work...




So no, it's not advancement. It's a huge step back. And that's how software development works. You're not writing software to accomplish something for someone or optimizing applications for a specific purpose. You are writing software so that some idiot that can't be bothered to learn anything remotely complex can replace your coding. It's obnoxious.

 

[Intolerable]

case in point:

Someone I know hired a company to make a website for them. They used wordpress and it was shit because wordpress limits you by templates and this company could not adjust the site to what he wanted and he was very unhappy.

So I built a very good functional website for him that even had a PHP interface so anyone could log in to the website and EASILY make changes to pages, preview those changes, and then save them. You just had to know a little html, GOD FORBID.

So what's happening now is nobody wants to be bothered to learn a little coding and they want the website in wordpress. But putting it in wordpress will limit what they can do and actually make some aspects of developing it cumbersome, which for them was why it was avoided.

In other words, they want me to make a good customizable website, but also make it so people that don't know shit about making websites can also develop the website. It's asinine, an oxymoron, especially when I've made it really easy for them and all it requires is a small time investment to learn how html tags work...




So no, it's not advancement. It's a huge step back. And that's how software development works. You're not writing software to accomplish something for someone or optimizing applications for a specific purpose. You are writing software so that some idiot that can't be bothered to learn anything remotely complex can replace your coding. It's obnoxious.

To this extent it has become an arms race between brilliant developers who brought the industry together and the financial vampires looking to seize it.

Ultimately it falls upon us to realize we're not helping just the copy / paste drone but also the financial vampire looking to eliminate our dues. The latter is the real beneficiary to our generosity.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

Don't think twice, if u can survive and have basic stuff then so be it
We as young people need to stop all progress. Live with state helps and parental help.
We need to stop getting old. Or taking responsibility for being part of the machinery. You can be useful to society in many ways that don't Imply hours of burning crap work.
Refuse. Resist.

Exactly, dude. We need to have courage to do exactly what we want to do, and don't get distracted by all the bullshit goals imposed on us from the rest of world.

I can only commend (and slightly envy) the people who understood this from a young age.

I want to be the artist that starves and dies for his art rather than being that well-fed middle class dupe with a reasonably nice car and a sizable mortgage.

 

[Intolerable]

I agree. The thin barrier to access to the IT field is profoundly destabilising, even while resulting in incredible progress.
It's simply the issue of labour mobility and knowledge democratisation that exists in most sectors. But once again, IT is at the heart of the vortex.

Talented but otherwise geographically or socially excluded individuals now have access, but at the same time all sorts of hopeless chancers and charlatans are polluting the water.

Yeah I've thought about it and I don't think other trades deal with it. That is to say they don't respond kindly to it. Construction is one such trade that you can't copy/paste your way into. Obviously other trades like electrical and even the Arts are the same. Copy / paste in those fields can get you sued or worse thrown in prison.

The state of our information sharing is insane to me. It's to the extent you would need to spend hours in the day every day to strobe the internet for sensitive data to see if someone has exposed you through their copy / paste efforts. No other industry really deals with this. At least not regularly.

 

[Ex-User (14663)]

There is no intermediate state between ice and water but there is one between life and death: employment.

I used to understand this, but somehow got caught in the stream, got blindsided.

Also, there is an important heuristic to follow in that context: never take advice from someone who has had a long history of having been employed (unless they tell you to avoid becoming employed).