c/career-advice

2

the_fiona•1d ago

Unpopular opinion: Those "soft skills" workshops are actually a waste of time

I sat through a 2 hour session last week on "active listening" at my office in Chicago. Felt like pure corporate fluff. But then I tried one trick during a meeting with my project manager and it actually stopped a huge misunderstanding about deadlines. I still think most of that stuff is useless though. Has anyone found a single soft skills tip that actually helped them at work?

16

the_rowan•2d ago

Thinking back on how I used to job hop every 18 months...

I remember back in 2013 when I left a solid gig in Denver just because I thought the next one would be better. Now I see coworkers who stay put for 5 or 6 years and they end up with way more stability and better raises than I ever got jumping around. I guess the real lesson is that loyalty at one place can actually pay off, but I'm still not sure if that's true for everyone. Has anyone else seen the same thing happen where they work?

25

dylan_brown30•3d ago

A moment of panic when my presentation file got corrupted right before a client meeting

I was sitting in the conference room at a small marketing firm in Austin about 20 minutes before a big pitch. The file just stopped opening. I tried everything, restarting the laptop, checking the cloud backup, nothing worked. I ended up rebuilding the whole thing from scratch using only my speaking notes and some screenshots I had on my phone. The client actually said they liked the simpler version better. Has anyone else had a tech failure turn into a positive outcome like that?

10

caseythompson•4d ago

Warning: That $500 certification course I bought was a total waste

I spent $500 on a project management cert from some online academy. Thought it would look good on my resume. Two months later I applied for 15 jobs and nobody even mentioned it in interviews. Meanwhile my friend spent $200 on a local workshop that came with a referral network and got hired in 3 weeks. So which is it - do certs actually help or are they just cash grabs? Anyone else have a cert that either paid off or did nothing?

21

gavin228•7d ago

PSA: A senior dev told me my code comments were useless, here is what I changed

I used to write comments like "this function does X" which just repeated the code. He told me comments should explain why the code exists, not what it does. Anybody else get feedback like that and realize they were doing it wrong for years?

24

smith.nancy•7d ago

Tried the 'quiet quitting' approach for 3 months and it backfired hard

Honestly, everyone online keeps saying quiet quitting is the way to go for avoiding burnout. I tried it at my data entry job in Phoenix for 3 months, doing just the minimum and leaving at 5 sharp. It made me feel worse because my coworker Sarah got promoted over me, and my manager started watching my every move. Has anyone else found that being upfront with your boss about boundaries worked better than this passive stuff?

22

kaigibson•7d ago

Overheard my boss say "loyalty doesn't matter" during a Zoom call yesterday

He was talking to his buddy about how he keeps people around just long enough to train their replacement, and now I'm wondering if I should update my resume or just wait it out and see if he was joking.

8

christopherw34•8d ago

Back when I started, nobody talked about imposter syndrome

I was at a conference last month in Austin and a young guy asked me how I dealt with feeling like a fraud. I told him 15 years ago we just suffered in silence and figured it out. Three years ago I finally told my boss about it and he laughed and said he still feels it sometimes. Has anyone else noticed this shift where people actually talk openly about their doubts now?

11

charles640•12d ago

Warning: That LinkedIn course I bought for $200 was a complete waste

I was at a coffee shop in Austin last week and overheard a recruiter saying they skip over profiles with too many certifications listed - realized I'd spent 3 hours on a course that probably hurt my chances more than helped. Has anyone else found that certain types of online courses actually make you look worse to hiring managers?

21

karenb97•13d ago

Warning: My resume software mangled half my job dates

I used this app to format my resume last week. It auto-adjusted all my employment dates. Put a 3 year gap where there was none. Nearly sent it out like that to a job in Austin. Double check everything before you hit submit. Has anyone else had a tool mess up their application?

27

sanchez.mary•13d ago

Vent: I used to think networking was just handing out business cards like candy

For like 5 years I'd go to every career mixer and just push my card on anyone who'd take it. I thought that was the whole game - collect contacts, get a job. Then last summer I talked to this older guy at a conference in Austin who said he never took a card unless he had a real conversation first. He told me 'cards are clutter, memories are connections.' That stuck with me. Now I focus on asking 2-3 good questions per person and only swap info if we actually clicked. My follow up rate went from like 10% to 70% after I switched. Has anyone else found a better way to actually build real connections at these things?

19

logan525•15d ago

Got burned by a fake certification test in Austin

I paid $300 for a 'pro-level' IT cert prep course and the practice exam questions were copy-pasted from free blog posts. Has anyone else wasted money on those shady bootcamp ads that promise guaranteed job placement?

29

the_brian•16d ago

Pro tip: Quitting without a new job is underrated if you have 6 months of savings

I see people staying in toxic jobs for years because they think they need a lined up offer, but I walked out of a corporate marketing gig in Austin last March with 8 months of buffer and landed a better role in 5 weeks. Has anyone else found that having no backup actually forces you to network harder?

12

willowg88•1mo ago

That online career coaching package was a complete waste of $800

I signed up for a 6 week career coaching program promising to land me a better job, but all they did was give me generic tips I could have found on Google. Has anyone else gotten burned by those expensive career services that sound too good to be true?

20

pat781•1mo ago

I used to apply to every job I saw online. Now I target maybe 3 a month.

Back in 2021, I was sending out 20 resumes a week through Indeed and never heard back from most. After talking to a recruiter friend in Austin, she told me to focus on networking instead and pick companies that actually fit my skills. Now I spend time on LinkedIn connecting with people at 3 firms a month and tailoring one application to each. Has anyone else found that quality over quantity works better for landing interviews?

11

murray.cora•1mo ago

That Tuesday I bombed a pitch and it actually helped

Last month I had a sales meeting in Burbank where I totally forgot my main talking point halfway through. I stumbled through the rest but the client's VP actually said he liked my honesty and it made him trust me more. The deal closed two weeks later and it taught me that fumbling can sometimes work better than being smooth. Has anyone else had a bad meeting end up going okay?

3

jamie_adams•1mo ago

Compared job boards for 2 weeks and LinkedIn won over Indeed for my field.

I was getting mostly warehouse gigs on Indeed, but LinkedIn actually had management trainee postings from local companies. Any of you see big differences depending on your industry?

12

pat781•1mo ago

Question about switching from QuickBooks to something simpler for my coffee shop

I ran a small coffee shop in Portland for 5 years using QuickBooks and it always felt like overkill. Last month I finally switched to a plain spreadsheet and a cash register app that cost me $15 a month. My books are actually cleaner and it takes me 30 minutes a week instead of 3 hours. Has anyone else found that simpler tools work better for a small business or am I missing something important by ditching QuickBooks?

30

marydavis•1mo ago

Warning: Don't skip the safety briefing at a new job site

I was at a warehouse in Newark last week, first day on a loading dock gig, and the foreman rushed us past the safety talk... two guys nearly got crushed by a falling pallet jack because nobody checked the racking. Has anyone else seen shortcuts like this cause close calls?

23

diana_kim66•1mo ago

Stopped cold emailing 500 people a week and started sending 10 personalized ones instead after my open rate tanked to 2% in Portland last spring

How do you decide who to reach out to when you're starting from scratch with no network in a new city?

4

jadej50•1mo ago

Tried cold emailing 50 people for a junior dev role and got zero replies

I spent a whole weekend writing personalized emails to 50 small tech companies in Portland, asking about junior developer openings. Not a single person even wrote back to say no. I learned that cold emails might work for sales people but for tech jobs, they just ignore you. Has anyone actually gotten a job this way or am I just doing it wrong?

28

claire872•1mo ago

Overheard my boss say 'lazy workers are the ones who ask too many questions' and it stuck with me

I was grabbing coffee in the break room last week and my manager was talking to another supervisor about a new hire. He said lazy people always ask a ton of questions to avoid doing real work. Now I'm wondering if I should stop double-checking things with him before I mess up a big order lol has anyone else run into this kind of weird mindset at work?

13

jana881•1mo ago

Paid $200 for a resume rewrite service and got a worse version of what I already had

I was stuck applying to jobs for 3 months with nothing. So I dropped $200 on one of those fancy resume rewrite places online. They sent back something that sounded like a robot wrote it. Full of buzzwords like "synergy" and "optimization" that I never use in real life. I got zero interviews from that version. Has anyone else wasted money on a resume service that actually made things worse?

12

the_susan•1mo ago

Appreciation post: That one talk with the old electrician who rewired my brain

I was swapping breakers at a supply house last Thursday and this retired electrician named Frank started chatting me up. He said something like 'you're not fixing wires, you're fixing people's peace of mind' and it hit me hard because I've been running my shop like it's just about code and voltage drops. Been a month since and I'm actually listening to customers now instead of just billing them for the panel swap. Has anyone else had a random conversation that totally shifted how you see your job?

14

martin.riley•1mo ago

Went from hating LinkedIn to landing a job through it in 6 months

I used to think LinkedIn was just a place for fake humble brags and recruiters who never reply. But after I actually started posting about my auto shop projects and commenting on other people's posts, I got a call from a parts distributor in Phoenix who saw my work. They offered me a management job at 55k a year. So which is it - is LinkedIn mostly useless noise or is the real problem that people just don't use it right? What made the difference for you?