Finding a Job

What is a job?

According to the Internet, a job is:

• a piece of work, esp. a specific task done as part of the routine of one's occupation or for an agreed price.
• a suffix that can be added to nearly any body part to create a sexual connotation.
• a book of the Old Testament between Esther and Psalms.

There are good jobs, bad jobs, and jobs in between. My first job was working as a stable boy, shovelling horse shit 8 hours/day in 100 degree heat for minimum wage. I actually liked the job, as it gave me a chance to think, hang out with the horses, and made me really strong over the course of the summer. My worst job was working as a waiter for an extremely angry Italian owner who would yell and break things in the kitchen - I didn't work there long. My software engineering jobs have been good for many reasons, but I have had a tendency to burn myself out by working too many hours and placing extremely high expectations on myself.

Here are some things that good jobs seem to have in common for me:

• I look forward to waking up and going to them in the morning.
• They allow me to be creative and build things that I am proud of.
• They provide me tools I need and help me set reasonable expectations for myself.
• They surround me with competent people who I enjoy working with.
• They challenge me and help me improve myself.

Bad jobs have many of the opposite characteristics:

• They grind my efficiency to a halt for various reasons that they don't let me control - inadequate tools, constant meetings, a ridiculously long build process, or by giving me poorly designed and buggy software to build on top of.
• They set unclear expectations and provide me with little feedback showing the value of my work.
• They bore me by making me do endless repetitive tasks.
• They surround me with incompetent or paranoid people.
• They ask me to work on ideas or projects that I disagree with.

I got asked three questions today in an email from a prospective boss.

• What are the top 3 things you would like to accomplish in life?
• What would you like your career to look like in 4 years - what does the dream job look like then?
• What are the 3 most important criteria of your next job?

These are good questions, and I am impressed that he asked them, as they show some savvy on his part, both because he seems to care about my goals and because he will get some insight into convincing me to work for him. If you are reading this, you should try answering those questions for yourself.

Here are my attempts at answers:

What are the top 3 things you would like to accomplish in life?

I'm not sure there is anything specific I need to accomplish to be happy. It is probably more important how I live my life and interact with others than what I accomplish. But if I had to choose 3 things to accomplish they might be the following:

• I'd like to build something that effects many people and makes their lives better.
• I'd like to find a spouse I love, have kids with her, and raise them well.
• I'd like to create a means by which to teach others about my passions - specifically technology and the outdoors. I might do this by creating software, starting a summer camp, writing a book, or even becoming a teacher.

What would you like your career to look like in 4 years - what does the dream job look like then?

In four years I'd like to be able to say a couple things about my career:

• I have a resume that will allow me to work for nearly any software company I'd like to in the world.
• I have the skills, contacts, and personality to find, lead, and motivate other talented engineers to accomplish something that I believe in doing.

I'm not sure there is a specific dream job as there are many jobs I might like. I would love to be somewhere where I got to spend my days solving problems, where people liked working with each other, and where I am working on a product which I think is important and that many people will use including myself.

What are the 3 most important criteria of your next job?

• I want to work somewhere where I will learn as much as possible.
• I want to like the people I'll be working with.
• I want to like the products I'm building and be able see a practical path towards their successful widespread adoption.

Napolean Dynamite said "Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills." He must have gotten companies and girls confused, but that's understandable. It's nice to have skills either way.