What do you do?
I have a bachelor's degree in psychology. No engineering degree, business degree, degree in medicine, law, or any other advanced degree. Perhaps that is the problem with me. But I am so incompatible with education systems that I see little other choice than to try to go out and work.
I've tried doing independent consulting work, and I've thought about starting my own business (I haven't come up with any ideas good enough to get started). Neither of those self-starter ideas seem to be able to consistently pay the bills. Neither seem like realistic ways to make a living.
Just 2 weeks ago I started working at the entry level for a small consulting firm (that just got bought out by a larger 2nd-tier consulting firm, but the assimilation is a slow and unsure process). With about 30 total employees, I was excited at the opportunity to have a large direct impact on the company, its clients, and how things are operated. I've only been working for 2 weeks, but I can already feel my goals slowly fading out of sight.
It seems as if positions in companies that call for thinking and innovation require advanced degrees, or years and years of time with the company, learning its processes, specific operations, and other such details that may not be applicable anywhere else. Experience is still more highly valued than ability. That really annoys me.
I would like to ask everyone that reads this post to please respond. Please tell me that I am incorrect, and that I am devoting my energies improperly. That there is something practical and decent out there for those of us that have a measly undergraduate degree and like to think, solve, and innovate. Please tell any story that connects you to great work. I desperately need some ideas.
I've tried doing independent consulting work, and I've thought about starting my own business (I haven't come up with any ideas good enough to get started). Neither of those self-starter ideas seem to be able to consistently pay the bills. Neither seem like realistic ways to make a living.
Just 2 weeks ago I started working at the entry level for a small consulting firm (that just got bought out by a larger 2nd-tier consulting firm, but the assimilation is a slow and unsure process). With about 30 total employees, I was excited at the opportunity to have a large direct impact on the company, its clients, and how things are operated. I've only been working for 2 weeks, but I can already feel my goals slowly fading out of sight.
It seems as if positions in companies that call for thinking and innovation require advanced degrees, or years and years of time with the company, learning its processes, specific operations, and other such details that may not be applicable anywhere else. Experience is still more highly valued than ability. That really annoys me.
I would like to ask everyone that reads this post to please respond. Please tell me that I am incorrect, and that I am devoting my energies improperly. That there is something practical and decent out there for those of us that have a measly undergraduate degree and like to think, solve, and innovate. Please tell any story that connects you to great work. I desperately need some ideas.
posted by Ted Miin at 5/21/2007 09:37:00 PM
6 Comments:
Happily (and sadly) enough the only solution is to...do it yourself.
What are your business ideas? And what types of ideas are they? And if that is the case where should you work now to meet the people and learn the skills to be able to execute those ideas in say 2-3 years?
Oh, and also...you should write up your ideas and send them to me cuz i'd be curious.
Awesome.
good thoughts of you in my corner,
db
Happily (and sadly) enough the only solution is to...do it yourself.
What are your business ideas? And what types of ideas are they? And if that is the case where should you work now to meet the people and learn the skills to be able to execute those ideas in say 2-3 years?
Oh, and also...you should write up your ideas and send them to me cuz i'd be curious.
Awesome.
good thoughts of you in my corner,
db
Put an intelligent, hard working, & innovative person in a small business and they will work wonders. Put them in a large business and they will work wonders. Put them on their own and they will work wonders.
If you only do what's expected of you, you will progress slowly like everyone else. If you proactively demand greatness of yourself, your impact is assured, along with the demand for your expertise.
Thanks for the responses.
DB: Yeah, I've been working harder to do something myself. Researching plausibility, etc. It's pretty difficult, but I kind of like the whole challenge. I'll let you know as my ideas crystallize.
Anuzis: I totally agree. I guess my problem is whether the kinds of wonders that can be worked are actually interesting to me. How quickly I progress isn't as big of a concern to me as doing interesting, highly beneficial, highly impactual work. And highly impactual work requires the cooperation of others, and sometimes the guys at the top that're in charge.
I am an idea person; I like to think about process, workplace relationships, software, all sorts of important workplace components. And one of the problems that I've noticed is that great ideas are not inherently viral, not in the ways that I had hoped, especially in the corporate world. I've already made the mistake of stepping on others' toes when proposing new ideas. However inefficient or poor a system, policy, or methodology, someone had designed it, others have used it for some period of time, and ties have been developed. People get comfortable(if stagnant) with the status quo.
It appears change in the workplace is 1% idea and 99% convincing others to implement it. I'm really working to develop that skill. But I can already see implementation problems for which there is no easy solution. When the people in the positions that make the big decisions are old and resistant to change, things are difficult.
the politics of a workplace can definitely detract from the productivity (which, in turn, should be accomplished by good ideas, efficient processes, etc.). politics exist in any workplace and i think that what is one of the most difficult aspects of any job is learning and adjusting to the politics in the workplace. it is particularly harder for you, as it seems like this is your first foray into the corporate world.
if you can identify and push aside politics (pushing aside can mean playing them as well, obviously without compromising your personal integrity), and at the right place, you should be able to find a job where you can actively make a difference, and apply your ideas and processes. you have to temper that with patience as well, becuase those above you, measuring your ability and therefore the usefulness of your ideas need time to assess your competence (in their eyes).
it may take a little while, but regardless of where you are and how much experience you have, you need to establish credibility at your new job before you can expect people to listen to you. there are obviously outside factors that can help establish your credibility faster (i.e. an advanced degree, where you went to undergrad, experience, stuff you mentioned), but at the end of the day, credibility takes time to gain.
while this may not be an acceptable answer to you, unfortunately, i believe this is how the corporate world behaves. you seem to have the spirit of an entrepreneur - i would say that you should keep your eyes and ears open in every situation (jobs, friends, relationships with random people) and be attuned to likely partners and ideas. i mean, stories like steve jobs don't really mean that you should drop out of college and start a computer company in your parents' garage - it is more a lesson of taking every situation and turning it into an opportunity - and having the foresight to be able to recognize and react to information you have, in the present. regret is born when analysis of information happens at a later time - and too late.
Thanks for the response. I understand and fully agree with the need to establish credibility. Somehow I had thought that good ideas would be well-received regardless of the reputation of the provider, but that's just not how it works it seems.
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