Office LifeNov 24, 2019
MicrosoftKiritoツ

To the Amazon guy with the humiliating experience

You didnt have to delete that post. A coworker who openly humiliated you in front of the entire open floor environment due to some supposed inferior skill set is a shitty deal to be sure. But I want to leave a word of encouragement here which I hope others find should you think your situation is hopeless. Nothing we say here is going to help with the psychological side with any real permanence. All I can tell you is what I know to be true from my own experience and express my confidence that this is likely true universally. Never, ever, let your current environment, peers, or management set the terms of your worth or potential. I have worked in shit environments where opportunities were cut short or limited, or where management treated subordinates as inferior stock. I stayed at these jobs as long as i could use their live business environment as sort of my training ground, while building up my skill set. But most of the work has to be done separately from your duties. Sacrifice off-time to start researching, training, building your own lab, and your library of personal notes, ebooks, and references. Build your personal knowledge base as though you were preparing to present to your future employer a plan to execute on a project. Research industry standards, and vendor pricing. I've gotten to the point where I was pretty sure I knew my shit. But had no idea how far advanced I was in the industry. I found myself in a toxic work environment (an auto lending company) where management was biased to one team, and I wasn't on that team. That meant I got shit support for my project (last priority) which meant the lowest bonus/raises/recognition, etc. Then I got an offer for a remote work six-month contract at $250/hr, which I silently did and crushed it. Within six months after that contract finished, I was hired to relocate and work at Microsoft, in a highly visible and senior position. It's so far been the pinnacle of my career. And all those former coworkers who thought I was shit now reach out to me on Linkedin... even people I never really worked with. A senior leader and manager at that company invited me to dinner before I moved away, trying to convince me that the new role wasn't all it's cracked up to be. I work alongside world-class industry recognized experts who consider me a peer... and every day I wonder how the f*ck did I wind up here? The answer: you duck your head down and ignore everything else but your own self-enrichment. Concentrate on becoming the best damn expert for yourself, in your team... then your department...then the company.. and then the city/region. What i'm saying is, personalities can be toxic as can be the work environment. Often you will have to crawl through shit before your passion and dedication yields to clear impact. Your biggest advocate here will be market demand, which is unbiased, and doesn't give two shits about anything your coworker thinks. All that matters is your dedication and the talent that inevitably will come with it as a byproduct. Watch "The Shawshank Redemption" if you haven't already.

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Sanofi VVRI77 Nov 24, 2019

Time for you to be on TedTalk. Excellent motivational post!!!

Cisco Bnjdjd Nov 24, 2019

❤️❤️

Google Suzumiya Nov 24, 2019

All of this is fair and doable as long as: 1. The job is not causing mental and physical health issues due to stress and burnout 2. One has the energy and time to prepare for another job outside of work hours 3. If not, then at least the content of the job allows for technical growth, rather than stagnation of skills into irrelevancy over years' time (I was trapped into all 3 problems simultaneously before and quit a previous role while on temporary visa, which was a difficult decision.)

Wayfair _wayfair_ Nov 24, 2019

How long did you have between your two jobs (to prepare)?

Google Suzumiya Nov 24, 2019

Around 2-3 months, and it was the most productive interview prep time of my life

Uber rTjq20 Nov 24, 2019

♥️

Kaiser Permanente Elho50 Nov 24, 2019

I don’t read posts this long normally but this was worth it

Google Suzumiya Nov 24, 2019

I found it to be a surprisingly fast read because the writing flowed smoothly and easily.

Activision Blizzard FkdCompany Nov 24, 2019

Great post, kirito! Very true to life. 👏

Airbnb IwWM35 Nov 24, 2019

was your remote gig w2 or corp to corp?

Microsoft Kiritoツ OP Nov 24, 2019

Yes. I had to figure out quickly how to set that up... LLC/Insurance...

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tyDb37 Nov 24, 2019

Well said!

Google nahdude Nov 24, 2019

Come here patches!

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farial Nov 24, 2019

I have nt read the amazon guy post but thank you. I desperately needed this motivation. I