My Career Adventure

On April 24, 2012, in English, My work, by Kok mING

I posted a comment in friend’s facebook’s status which inspire myself to write this. I wrote in Chinese but I translate it into English for this blog post.

“What you sow is what you reap is a poorman living style, applying what you learn in academy to earn a living is already outdated”

I never discourage anyone to stand on our own feet and use our very unique skillset to earn for our living. By doing so, it is not enough to be outstanding… It is becuase everyone is doing the same. All people graduated from university, some even with higher qualification than you are doing the exactly same thing as you are doing. So, do you think by studying more or gaining more certifications will help to boost your career? In some extend, yes, I have to agree. If you are double degree or master holder, I can assure you have the competitive advantage during job interview. If you want to find my view on further study, you can refer to this.

Now, let’s get back to the real topic – My career adventure.

Let’s check my stats!

For 11 years, I worked for 9 companies, 12 job roles, longest serving company is 4 years. Not very impressive, I know. But do leave me a comment what is your first impression when you see this stats. How to relate my stats with the comment I posted on my friend’s facebook update?

When people look into my profile. The first thing that emphasize is my tenure period for each job. Without a single doubts, they start to comment that I am an employee with no loyalty. A few years ago, I still debate with them about what is “loyalty”… is it measurable by years of service? Or your professionalism and enthusiasm towards the jobs/company/boss? Frankly, none give me any answer. Obviously, everyone carrying different dictionary which wrote different meaning for “loyalty”. If you still want to comment further then the answer will be “If loyalty is a must, hire a dog, please…”. Nuff said.

Second, people tends to focus on the pay scale (rise) on each job change. I am not sure what is the point of looking into what other companies used to offer me. It is more important for the employer to judge how much I worth and how much they are willing to pay as in now. As long as within market price and budget allocated, everything is negotiatable. I dislike company to relate salary with age, it is truly unreasonable and unfair.

You may question me, how come you changes so many companies and still able to get a job?! A job hopper like you, will not be hire for sure…

Ok. If you are an average employer, you definitely do not see what I am going to share in the next paragraph.

For 11 years, I moved into many companies. I gained relationship and knowledges across different industry with different job roles I hold. My path exposed me to different type of environment and dealing with different people. With the exposure to different company, systems and technologies, my expertise is one of my sure-kill weapon in any job hunting. For the recent jobs, I didn’t apply it. I keep my options open and got headhunted. The market needs talented people, I know this is too “thick-face” but I am not shy to admit 🙂

So, do you still think 11 years of adventure bring no gain to me except higher pay?

During the adventure, I gain valuable experiences. I understand that some times, what you sow will be reaped by others. For example, you work so hard but someone claim the credits. You may not get to do what they like to do, but that doesn’t mean you are not given any chances to perform your best! We need to stay dynamic and flexible, if anyone cannot advance further then he/she will be obsoleted. These are so called working experiences, if someone claims my credits, I gotta learn on how to not letting it to happen next time. If do not understand what is dynamic and flexible, then start exploring, don’t just sit still by saying no one teach this. We are paid to work and our boss will not donate to us any sympathy points during appraisal.

Most people see I am doing so good… Please do not judge me as in what I am now. Do consider what I have gone through to craft myself into this shape. School never teach you anything about work, you go to school and follow what is written on textbook, so what if the textbook is wrong and no longer applicable? Then where to find answer? School teach you how to find an answer? Google give you answers most of the time, but it will still need you to put in a search term to generate the result. Everything start with your action, your adventure started and have you gain anything by yourself?

Hope you enjoy the reading and share me some comments.

Until the next post, see you!

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RSS
Follow by Email
%d bloggers like this: