does anyone still read LJ these days?
anyway, i have a confession to make. it's a public entry. i dunno if it's appropriate or not though. i'm in my 30s now. and i'm facing a career crisis in a way. It's a damn long (life) story. I hope you guys have the patience to read it and help advise or something.
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since young, I never knew of the importance of money. I never asked to be paid for any work done. My elder sister was asked by my mum to tutor me for schoolwork and the first thing she asked was “will she get paid?”. But it never meant anything to me at all. After i grad from poly, someone asked me to write a software for him. I did not know i should be paid for the work done, even if the software did not make it in the end. Fast forward, i somehow looked at the world differently. A degree is certainly worth more than a certificate. But there was one time, when chatting with a friend, i insisted that a certificate should get me a good pay.
I have a diploma in IT and got my first programming job (companyA, perm role) with it. Before that, I have been working in helpdesks (notice the plurality). Soon, I earned a degree and moved on to companyB for a perm role. I got a fresh grad salary with the degree. I did not realise it's a fresh grad pay until my sister told me about it. I only knew I got more money this time. But my attitude in the job was not good. As I reflected now on my behaviour back then, I can say I behaved as though the company belonged to my family. I did not perhaps have any commitment to the job. A year later, a colleague moved on. It then spurred me to move on too, as I thought, what's stopping me from doing so? 1 fine day, I passed my letter to the project lead who was shocked by this sudden move. I did not expect she will get so worked up. When I moved from companyA, there was no hassle.
Then in companyC (new company, contract role), I was used to my antics and took Mcs frequently. I was not focused during meetings and almost dozed off even. But it was only in this company that I met a friend who I lost touch with. He was financially savvy and told me about rainy day funds, which made me saw the hard truth and started to “pay myself”. Before that, I had been wondering, how did I ever spend my salary as my bank account always dropped to 0 near payday. Then 1 day, my project lead spoke to me about my Mcs taken so far. I felt pretty shocked by it. In a way, I felt wronged (perhaps I saw MC as another entitlement to us) and I did not want to take it lying down. It somehow sent me on another job hunt. The search was pretty long this time. But I still managed to get 1 offer (companyD, contract role).
Every move, be it a contract or perm role, gave me more monthly income. But I did not know I had to factor in bonuses to do a proper comparison. I based it on the monthly figure.
In companyD, I had loads of fun and enjoyed every day of work. I even thought to myself, this will gonna be my last job ever. I got a bonus from this job and spent a part in getting a new bed! But 1 year later, I was transferred to another project. The project lead got too bossy for me. I disliked it big time and even argued with the HR on some issues I had with the project lead. In the end, the lead decided I could tender any time and leave on the spot. Previously, I found jobs pretty easily and expected my next search to be pretty alright too. But this time, it got real bad and I did not feel good. Reason? I never bothered brushing up my technical skills.
Fortunately, 4 months later, I found a job (companyE, perm role in a bank) but left weeks later to join companyF for a contract role which paid well. But weeks later again, I left it to join companyG (perm role). I was excited to join them, as they used pretty new technology which impressed me! But months later, I did not get used to it and the boss pressured me too. I had asked to change to sales instead but he rejected it a few days later. At this point, a friend encouraged me to join insurance. I had read a book on personal financial planning and it glamorized insurance a lot. I was overwhelmed by it and felt tasked to spread my newfound knowledge on insurance that I resigned again.
Unfortunately, I gradually realized it was not that noble a profession after all and had to leave. I then joined companyH (contract role). It offered me very high pay too. I was sooo happy! I was prepared to slog for them but I was not assigned much work. 6 months later, I got bored and thought of leaving. But I worried that my technical skills had gotten rusty so I decided to still stay on. Then, a long time friend told me to try testing. It seemed interesting to me. I then asked for testing assignments and woah, I did very well in it! Then suddenly, I was asked to do coding again. I felt I was thrown back into a dark tunnel when I faced a weird UI issue. By chance, I fixed it. With the good experience from testing, I left the job once my contract ended and I got 3 months bonus in total!
After leaving, I went for a testing role, taking a 25% pay cut. Unfortunately, the role was very different from what I did in companyH. In the end, I was devastated. My boss was very nice to me, offering to let me be idle in office while I job-hunt. But I really wanted a break and quitted the job.
A month later, which is now, I sent out my resume and got an interview. When they asked what I see myself in 3-10 years time, I actually did not know what to say. I could only tell them what the role can likely do for me.
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since young, I never knew of the importance of money. I never asked to be paid for any work done. My elder sister was asked by my mum to tutor me for schoolwork and the first thing she asked was “will she get paid?”. But it never meant anything to me at all. After i grad from poly, someone asked me to write a software for him. I did not know i should be paid for the work done, even if the software did not make it in the end. Fast forward, i somehow looked at the world differently. A degree is certainly worth more than a certificate. But there was one time, when chatting with a friend, i insisted that a certificate should get me a good pay.
I have a diploma in IT and got my first programming job (companyA, perm role) with it. Before that, I have been working in helpdesks (notice the plurality). Soon, I earned a degree and moved on to companyB for a perm role. I got a fresh grad salary with the degree. I did not realise it's a fresh grad pay until my sister told me about it. I only knew I got more money this time. But my attitude in the job was not good. As I reflected now on my behaviour back then, I can say I behaved as though the company belonged to my family. I did not perhaps have any commitment to the job. A year later, a colleague moved on. It then spurred me to move on too, as I thought, what's stopping me from doing so? 1 fine day, I passed my letter to the project lead who was shocked by this sudden move. I did not expect she will get so worked up. When I moved from companyA, there was no hassle.
Then in companyC (new company, contract role), I was used to my antics and took Mcs frequently. I was not focused during meetings and almost dozed off even. But it was only in this company that I met a friend who I lost touch with. He was financially savvy and told me about rainy day funds, which made me saw the hard truth and started to “pay myself”. Before that, I had been wondering, how did I ever spend my salary as my bank account always dropped to 0 near payday. Then 1 day, my project lead spoke to me about my Mcs taken so far. I felt pretty shocked by it. In a way, I felt wronged (perhaps I saw MC as another entitlement to us) and I did not want to take it lying down. It somehow sent me on another job hunt. The search was pretty long this time. But I still managed to get 1 offer (companyD, contract role).
Every move, be it a contract or perm role, gave me more monthly income. But I did not know I had to factor in bonuses to do a proper comparison. I based it on the monthly figure.
In companyD, I had loads of fun and enjoyed every day of work. I even thought to myself, this will gonna be my last job ever. I got a bonus from this job and spent a part in getting a new bed! But 1 year later, I was transferred to another project. The project lead got too bossy for me. I disliked it big time and even argued with the HR on some issues I had with the project lead. In the end, the lead decided I could tender any time and leave on the spot. Previously, I found jobs pretty easily and expected my next search to be pretty alright too. But this time, it got real bad and I did not feel good. Reason? I never bothered brushing up my technical skills.
Fortunately, 4 months later, I found a job (companyE, perm role in a bank) but left weeks later to join companyF for a contract role which paid well. But weeks later again, I left it to join companyG (perm role). I was excited to join them, as they used pretty new technology which impressed me! But months later, I did not get used to it and the boss pressured me too. I had asked to change to sales instead but he rejected it a few days later. At this point, a friend encouraged me to join insurance. I had read a book on personal financial planning and it glamorized insurance a lot. I was overwhelmed by it and felt tasked to spread my newfound knowledge on insurance that I resigned again.
Unfortunately, I gradually realized it was not that noble a profession after all and had to leave. I then joined companyH (contract role). It offered me very high pay too. I was sooo happy! I was prepared to slog for them but I was not assigned much work. 6 months later, I got bored and thought of leaving. But I worried that my technical skills had gotten rusty so I decided to still stay on. Then, a long time friend told me to try testing. It seemed interesting to me. I then asked for testing assignments and woah, I did very well in it! Then suddenly, I was asked to do coding again. I felt I was thrown back into a dark tunnel when I faced a weird UI issue. By chance, I fixed it. With the good experience from testing, I left the job once my contract ended and I got 3 months bonus in total!
After leaving, I went for a testing role, taking a 25% pay cut. Unfortunately, the role was very different from what I did in companyH. In the end, I was devastated. My boss was very nice to me, offering to let me be idle in office while I job-hunt. But I really wanted a break and quitted the job.
A month later, which is now, I sent out my resume and got an interview. When they asked what I see myself in 3-10 years time, I actually did not know what to say. I could only tell them what the role can likely do for me.