Career Chat V: the Common Ruin of the Contending Classes

[Iskaral Pust]

11 hours ago, Starkess said:

Yeah this is definitely the logical answer and I know it. It's just hard to face being so miserable for another year. Sigh.

I refer you to the works of Marcus Aurelius.  You can compartmentalize and adopt a detached perspective.  This isn’t some long term prison for you, you can choose to leave any time, you’re just choosing to stay temporarily while it’s valuable to show you can grit through the challenge.  Not unlike the first time you run long distance without knowing that you’ll eventually run marathons.  If you are really miserable then pull the plug, but only once you are sure you won’t second guess yourself later for giving up too early. 

[Starkess]

Welp I have an interview for a new job...we'll see. Even if I did get the offer, not sure if I would accept or not, but it feels good to at least be giving myself options!

[Datepalm]

I'm on the academic job market and it is by far the most time consuming part of my schedule for the past 2 months, and the season is far from done. I was in a fairly productive groove writing up and getting projects out of the door, and honestly I resent that this has killed that completely. Work on a new project has stalled a bit, partially because I don't have bandwidth to put the pressure needed on it, but also because of, well, ebola. So I'm taking a break over Christmas to try and finish my actual dissertation and make it my committee's problem for a while, but so far drowning in applications instead.

On the plus side, there's a few jobs going at least, compared to COVID years. Very few so far, however, that are the legendary strong fit - a lot in specializations I'm adjacent to and can make a case for, but nothing right in my niche(s). Flip side, nothing that I'm terribly excited by, in terms of location/department/type of job either. I've put in a bunch of applications to geography jobs, but I'd rather stay in a planning (or even ideally, policy) program, since I think it will be more of an uphill battle to follow the kind of funding I want from geography (which leans more theoretical and qualitative in the US.) I also have no clue whatsoever whether I stack up well at all for a given job or cycle as a whole right now, so I don't mind treating this year as a test balloon and spending another year developing post-PhD projects from the current institution while holding off on filing. OTOH, damn do I want to leave the Bay Area, and a real salary would not go amiss, though I'm still doing a string of external consulting gigs at the Very Large Organization that ameliorate that a bit.

[Starkess]

It really is crazy how much productivity is lost by the academic job hunt. I have friends going through it and everyone just basically writes off like 3 months for not getting any actual work done. Good luck with your search!!

[Datepalm]

On 12/9/2022 at 3:24 AM, Starkess said:

It really is crazy how much productivity is lost by the academic job hunt. I have friends going through it and everyone just basically writes off like 3 months for not getting any actual work done. Good luck with your search!!

Right!? I'm not usually a fan of the economists, but they do at least have a sort of centralized system for this. My field? Every damn post seems like some sort of dating app profile - here's what we're looking for, how quirky are we? Blergh.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

So, I think I have reached peak corporate.  A corner office has been bestowed unto me.  

[Zorral]

But in These Times, isn't the ultimate to have a corner office and not to be in it? For All the Reasons? 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

But in These Times, isn't the ultimate to have a corner office and not to be in it? For All the Reasons? 

Well, I get to move a floor away from the sort of passive aggressive quasi head of my group.  But, T,W,Th,* by order of our glorious politburo, I will have my butt in my chair 42 floors above the street, questioning my life choices but enjoying the view.  And bonus, the cafeteria is on that floor, so easy access to snacks?

 

*Absent client demands, illness, or other good reasons, in that order.

[Zorral]

12 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Well, I get to move a floor away from the sort of passive aggressive quasi head of my group.  But, T,W,Th,* by order of our glorious politburo, I will have my butt in my chair 42 floors above the street, questioning my life choices but enjoying the view.  And bonus, the cafeteria is on that floor, so easy access to snacks?

 

*Absent client demands, illness, or other good reasons, in that order.

 

[JGP]

17 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said:

So, I think I have reached peak corporate.  A corner office has been bestowed unto me.  

Congratulations all around, Mlle.

No doubt it's well deserved. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Congrats @Mlle. Zabzie.  Enjoy the better view and saturation of natural light.

I miss my corner offices.  I’ve had a few over the years but shifting real estate design was one disruptor, and now my short tenure at my current firm has kept me in an interior office instead.

OTOH, my comp review was fantastic, so I’m swamped with feel-good neurotransmitters anyway.

[BigFatCoward]

My office window is literally 4 inches wide and 2 ft high (a balistraria basically) and doesn't even open. And I'm considered quite lucky having an office. 

[Iskaral Pust]

23 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

My office window is literally 4 inches wide and 2 ft high (a balistraria basically) and doesn't even open. And I'm considered quite lucky having an office. 

I know Europe has a plethora of medieval castles — and I grew up around lots myself — but I didn’t realize they were used as police stations in London.  Are you posted at the Tower, or something?

[dog-days]

Also, do you have a crossbow, and do any of the following ever walk past:

• Suella Braverman 
• Boris Johnson 
• Michael Gove
• Priti Patel 
• Nigel Farage
• Brendan Clarke-Smith?

[Madame deVenoge]

On 1/5/2023 at 7:25 PM, Mlle. Zabzie said:

So, I think I have reached peak corporate.  A corner office has been bestowed unto me.  

Many congratulations!!!! I am quite excited for you!!!

[Kalnestk Oblast]

Layoffs announced today at my work. As a new manager who got reorged into a different org entirely, has two directs and works remotely I'm not liking my chances. I hate this part of just waiting for news.

[Madame deVenoge]

11 hours ago, Kalnestk Oblast said:

Layoffs announced today at my work. As a new manager who got reorged into a different org entirely, has two directs and works remotely I'm not liking my chances. I hate this part of just waiting for news.

Sorry to hear of this. I had indeed heard that particular layoff and was concerned for you.

There have been layoffs in the…operating company structure space in the area in which I work. Imagine, uh, mortgage brokers getting laid off - not shocking. Thank goodness that most people with whom I socialize understand that the actual company for which I work is not a mortgage originator. And also they could not file anything with the SEC without costing them even more than my salary (Midtown Manhattan niche attorneys be expensive, yo. I’m the cheap solution!!) 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

On 1/18/2023 at 8:51 PM, Chataya de Fleury said:

Sorry to hear of this. I had indeed heard that particular layoff and was concerned for you.

There have been layoffs in the…operating company structure space in the area in which I work. Imagine, uh, mortgage brokers getting laid off - not shocking. Thank goodness that most people with whom I socialize understand that the actual company for which I work is not a mortgage originator. And also they could not file anything with the SEC without costing them even more than my salary (Midtown Manhattan niche attorneys be expensive, yo. I’m the cheap solution!!) 

1.  @Kalnestk Oblast pulling for you.  Hope you get over the heavy ground lightly on this one.

2.  Yes, yes they are.  I even blanched at our latest round of rate increases (inflation yo). But man an hour of my time will COST you.  I do think the billable hour is dying; slowly, but still dying. Chats, you should try to negotiate some fixed fee stuff for the ongoing stuff you need.  

[Kalnestk Oblast]

Thanks, folks. So far I still have a job, and there have been no more announced layoffs past the ones taken care of on Wednesday. The main groups hit that I know of were Hololens, some of the game studios, and some other smaller groups that were not core areas of the world. My org specifically said that we were not impacted. But it's not clear if we're done yet or if there is more to go. A few of my friends were directly impacted and I'm working with them to help, so if y'all know any positions open in dev roles, especially in the NY area or fully remote, please message me. Thanks!

[Underfoot]

On the topic of layoffs - my company abruptly and seemingly randomly cut thousands today too, which is terrifying. No notice, you just wake up locked out and unemployed.

I'm very fortunate to not be affected, but it makes me very nervous. What are the types of things to think about doing to be prepped for a sudden layoff, aside from the baseline of having enough money to survive unemployment for 3-12 months. Thinking of, what types of records should I keep hard copies of, how to prep my 401k, etc.