Friday, June 19, 2015

Career Advice From Phil Greenspun

I've mentioned Greenspun a couple times [1,2]. Here he is on employment:

"Unless you are confident that your skills are very far above average, don’t take a career path that subjects you to the employment market once you’re over 50 (and/or make sure that by age 50 you’ve saved enough for a retirement that begins at age 50 or 55 and during which you won’t have employer-provided health insurance for up to a 15-year gap between age 50 and Medicare age)."
His blog is on my roll.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm a divorce lawyer so I get to look at people's real financial situations. 50+ men who used to be successful but are now perpetually unemployed are very common. Corporate america likes to have a lot of young warm bodies for jobs that don't require truly special skills. Corporate america wants those warm bodies to be in their 30s and 40s.

whydibuy said...

For guys who are willing to work, there are plenty of jobs. Guys over 50 may not get the plum jobs but if they have a solid work ethic, they will get reasonable jobs.
The place I work at has a 7 point system for tardiness and absences. 7 points is termination. And they have a sub category of 3 in 30 meaning if a employee gets 3 points in 30 day period, its automatic termination. Guess who gets tripped up the most in the 3 in 30 policy?? Yep, its the young crowd that cannot discipline themselves to show up at a job. This company has a majority of over 50 employees and they are reliable and trustworthy. And this place has no reservations about getting older workers. The last hire is 61 and he normally works 56 hr weeks. And this company has hired numerous younger people only to have them quit ( I want to party on the weekend so I can't work Saturdays)or get canned for poor attendance or intoxication.
As for the divorce lawyer, yes, divorces destroy guys financially. Many there have been creamed in divorce courts. And none are willing or interested in getting married ever again.

James said...

The place I work at has a 7 point system for tardiness and absences. 7 points is termination. And they have a sub category of 3 in 30 meaning if a employee gets 3 points in 30 day period, its automatic termination.

Why on earth would you-- or anyone else, for that matter-- work at a company that treats its employees like this? This kind of system shouts "We have no respect for you, and we consider you our serf." I can't imagine a job like that pays well, but even if it does, no amount of money is worth forfeiting your self-respect and accepting that kind of treatment.

James said...

As for divorce, the system is really fucked up and Greenspun is doing a great service by writing about it. Unfortunately I don't think it's going to make any difference, because people instinctively see divorced men as losers and feel contempt for them, so no one is going to care about how unjust the system is unless it hurts them personally.

whydibuy said...

What are you babbling about James??
Even UAW union companies have point systems for hourly employees. And I think the salary people too. Do you really think companies could function with employees wandering in when they felt like it or no call, no showing whenever they pleased?
I don't know what you consider being respectful is but it sure isn't doing a no call no show to your employer who is paying your wages or salary. And even then the lowlifes get at least 3 points of cushion before getting canned.
Your comment shows you are clueless to the workings of business and what are normal terms of employment for nearly all people. Maybe you are a trust fund beach bum but most people are not. And to get that paycheck they don't get to do whatever they want whenever they want.

AK said...

whydibuy, you're off base here. A great many software companies do precisely this. Employees come and go as they please, and huge volumes of quality work still get done. Of course, this is only possible when hiring from the right tail of the intelligence distribution. The lower the calibre of employee, the greater the degree of regimentation required--and most people are little better than pack animals.

Anonymous said...

whydibuy, I don't know what company you work for but I can't imagine anywhere other than a manufacturing operation that treats skilled workers like that. Sounds like a perfect way to ensure all of your talent leaves and you fill your ranks with medicore talent that 40 hours and not a second more and can't get a job anywhere else. I work for a large medical device maker and only manufacturing and help desk staff have strict hours.

whydibuy said...

I don't know what kind of jobs are so loose with attendance. School teachers, law office folks and medical field people are all on the clock and are required to be at their places of employment at the designated time. If you do have some kind of come & go job then you are the exception, not the rule.

Anonymous said...

You just named a handful of jobs that require care for others or are appointment based, and a lot of lawyers I know work irregular schedules depending on what they have going on that week. This is at best mixed, and a "point" system that you describe is juvenile and would chase away many good employees. Flexibility works both ways - if I don't have a meeting, I don't expect to be harassed if I show up at 9:30, in return, I'm still doing work at 9PM and will be getting up Thursday at 4AM to catch a 6AM flight to Boston for an all day meeting in Needham (saving the company a hotel night and an extra day of car rental by doing so.)