Ask HN: What was the most important investment in your career?

1 points by yeaman1231 4 years ago | 5 comments

I am currently at a career crossroad with multiple offers and sort of lost on where to go. Would like to hear what people who were in my position did. Anonymized because people I interviewed with may be reading this

Me: BS in CS. 4-5 years experience in Field A, very hot field these days.

Currently have 3 offers

Company A - very safe bet financially, stocks more than doubled in this decade. Joining a team that does work in an Area I have no experience in doing work I have no experience in (would be a total career pivot, not as hot as Field A)

Company B - Safest bet financially, very big name, Couldn't exactly tell what they work on as they are very secretive about everything. Role will be more software/implementation based but still exposed to state of the art in Field A.

Company C - Not a safe bet at all, industry had a boom and bust and so did the company. Company went through restructuring to get rid of old C-levels. New investments are in but no guarantee on success. Will be doing the research and implementation in Field A alongside some PhDs, wearing many hats and touching a lot of different and interesting areas.

I am sure 50,000 of you have been where I am now, would like to hear your thoughts on how you look back at your decision.

antasvara 4 years ago |

What's your goal here? For a lot of people, work isn't their passion and a safe financial bet is the best possible outcome. Some people are passionate about their work, but have family/monetary obligations or goals that require them to make the high salary choice. Others are early enough in their career that it's totally acceptable to take a risk for something that could pan out super well.

The choice you make is impacted by your life goals.

yeaman1231 4 years ago | |

I feel like this is the source of the tensions I am having, having a good career and a fulfilling family life are both very important to me, I am worried about WLB making it so its harder to achieve the latter, I am single and early in my career. Previous job's WLB was a big reason my previous relationship didn't pan out

antasvara 4 years ago | | |

I think you have to figure out what a "good career" is before you can decide what's better for you. The answer to your question relies entirely on how you weigh financial security, career enjoyment, and work life balance against each other.

howmayiannoyyou 4 years ago |

Putting fatherhood ahead of my career. Looking back I can see the difference it made for my kids and although my net worth isn't close to where I'd like it to be, this was the right decision for them and ultimately for me. As a divorced father, doubly so.

yeaman1231 4 years ago | |

I am glad you made a difference in your kids life and sorry to hear that it has affected your career negatively.