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Three considerations for job searching

August 12, 2020 by rememberlenny

Over the past 10 years, I have formed opinions on the pros and cons of working at companies and organizations of varying sizes. While there are plenty of guides to the broad qualities of startups or big corporations, I think there is value in capturing these in personal anecdotes. The following is meant to be a reference point for those who are interested in finding a job in the near future. I am undoubtedly a unique person with particular personality, but nevertheless my experience is relatable.

To start, when picking the size of a company, there is on factor that I have found to be the most important: is this company growing, and will its ability to make money continue into the future. This seems obvious, but surprisingly many companies are not growing and their mainstay for making money is often eroding. This is especially true for larger companies, but obviously also true for smaller companies.

Secondly, an important aspect when considering work is whether or not you can see yourself learning. While getting paid exorbitant amounts of money seem fun, and having clout associated to recognizable brands is nice, it all amounts to unbearable boredom if you are not learning. At least for me, this also means I am bound to find other ways to occupy my time, and either decline in my work performance or find something entirely else to do.

Thirdly, make sure you are either getting paid enough to keep you uninterested in looking for another job or considering a offer from another company. When landing on a rate of pay for a job, my largest consideration is whether or not the amount I am being paid will give me confidence that I can stay in one place for at least a year, and possibly two. I have yet to stay in one place for three or more years, so I wont try to lie and say that I would consider otherwise.

With the three points, knowing the chosen company is growing, learning is a constant, and pay is enough to make you take your job seriously, you may wonder what kind of place you should consider. Perhaps its not obvious that the points that I have mentioned above do not write off the options of working at a non-profit, startup, family owned business, or any other businesses that may implicitly be associated to slow growth and limited pay. In fact, the total opposite can be true. 

Also to note, I did not mention above that it is important to be passionate about the work you are doing. I can confidently say that if you are passionate about some topics that your work is centered on, you may also be a very boring person. I don’t mean the problems as a whole that your company solve are boring, but it would quite odd if you are excited about spreadsheets, times of day to post on social media, or unending paperwork. There are more important things in life. Seriousness is a necessity, but passion no. If you do get excited by the aforementioned points, I encourage you to read more novels. Particularly pick up some good sci-fi.

One additional point while I am slightly off topic is a very nice to have: a great manager. This is synonymous more with learning than anything. Having a great manager who you like and stands up for what you need, while also keeping an eye on what is necessary for the company is invaluable. The experiences of working under someone who has your back is the difference between wondering whether or not you have job stability and being able to freely explore new ideas.

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Work Tagged With: employment

Two weeks after my 25th birthday, I give you a list all my paid jobs

September 6, 2014 by rememberlenny

My father has held a number of jobs through his life, but he has a knack for sales. My mother moved to the US when she was 19 years old, after saving an amount of money that I have yet to be able to save myself (at 25).

Inspired by blog posts from Jason Shen and Rick Webb, I decided to list the paid jobs I remember having to date.

At 25 years old, I count 35.

including internships.

  • busboy at a Cazadero music camp (first 40 hour a week job at 14)
  • house painter
  • roof and gutter cleaner
  • retail associate / cashier at Michaels Arts and Crafts
  • retail associate / cashier at Target
  • film producer at Santa Rosa high school (won first monetary prize for creative work)
  • bank teller at a Exchange Bank (private Sonoma county chain)
  • sales representative for Cutco knife distributor (first cold call sales job)
  • ebay seller (through buying broken xboxs to repair and resell)
  • it staff at Soka University of America IT department (first official tech job)
  • printed clothing producer with LKBG (my first invoicing company-produced all the printed clothing gear for clubs and residential services at college. established ein number to get wholesale prices and found cheapest printers)
  • respite care worker for the Institute for Applied Behavior Analysis (home care service for families with autistic children)
  • office intern at medical service NGO (this is where I learned how much I hate busy work)
  • graveyard shift retail associate / cashier at CVS pharmacy (this job sucked)
  • street canvaser for Green Peace (first job in L.A., walking up to people in the street and convincing them to give you money)
  • telefundraiser for Obama campaign
  • retail associate / cashier at college bookstore
  • waiter at sushi bar (first job where my tips were more than my wage)
  • marketing intern for Laguna Canyon Foundation (produced films to be used for PSA’s on public cable TV)
  • graphic designer for college bookstore products (first time I saw something my design produced in bulk)
  • construction work for a summer, remodeling a professor’s home
  • attorney general in university student government (not paid – learned to navigate bureaucracy)
  • web developer for freelance clients (got paid to learn how to code)
  • concert hall staff (first employee for newly opened Performing Arts Center)
  • outsourced web developer over oDesk (made 20$ an hour from Americans, while living and traveling in China)
  • art gallery intern at stage候台BACK (first and last art gallery related job)
  • bartender at Franck Shanghai (first bar-tending job)
  • startup event organizer with Techyizu (not paid – hosted and fund-raised for lean startup machine, hackathon, and barcamp events)
  • web developer for italki (first startup job – in Shanghai.)
  • digital marketer for Kenas Home
  • ux developer for converse asia pacific(first corporate job)
  • recruiter technology trainer at Vitamin T (taught 60 recruiters the basics of web development)
  • front-end web development temp worker at Acquinity Interactive (first job in New York and later found they were shutdown by FCC)
  • consultant with A Triangle inc, my first registered corporation (first major contracts with universities (Columbia Medical School, New York University, and Pace University) and media publications (Bullett Magazine, CableVision) – fulfilled contracts traveling to Europe and Latin America)
  • senior software engineer at Conde Nast (longest job to date – started as lead developer of [W Magazine (90k MAU)](http://wmagazine.com, followed by lead develop at Bon Appetit (5m MAU), and currently on the New Yorker (12m MAU))

Filed Under: education, Work Tagged With: employment, jason shen, jobs, looking back, rick webb

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