c/career-advice

I was sure I wanted to be a manager until my project in Denver fell apart

I was leading a team of four on a client audit in Denver, and the whole thing went sideways when our main software, AuditPro, crashed and we lost two days of work. I spent the whole time putting out fires and doing damage control instead of the actual analysis I enjoy. It made me realize I get way more satisfaction from the detailed number work than from managing people and problems. Has anyone else stepped back from a management path after a bad experience?

PSA: I think the 'always negotiate your first offer' advice is costing people jobs

I've seen three friends in Chicago lose entry-level roles this year because they pushed back on a fair starting salary. The hiring manager at my old firm told me they rescind about 10% of offers when candidates counter without leverage. If the pay is at market rate and you have zero experience, a counter can signal you're difficult. I got my first job by accepting the initial offer, proving my value, and getting a raise in 6 months. Has anyone else seen a good offer get pulled for trying to follow the standard negotiation script?

Had to pick between a higher paying job with a long commute or staying put for less money.

I chose the shorter commute, and it saved me about 15 hours a week that I now use for a certification course. Anyone else faced a similar trade-off between salary and personal time?

Vent: My resume formatting took a full afternoon to fix after a software update

The margins and fonts got completely scrambled when I switched from Google Docs to Word, and it took me about four hours to get it back to a clean, one-page layout. Has anyone else found a simpler way to keep formatting consistent across different programs?

I turned down a steady job offer to keep doing freelance work

About six months ago, I got a full-time job offer from a marketing firm in Chicago. It was a good deal, with a salary of $75,000 and benefits. But it meant I had to stop all my freelance clients, which I've been building for three years. I spent a whole weekend just thinking it over, looking at my bank account and my calendar. I picked the freelance path, even though it felt risky. It's been up and down, but last month I finally made more than that job would have paid. The freedom is great, but some weeks are really slow and stressful. For people who have done both, how do you handle the dry spells when you're on your own?

Serious question, did anyone else get a bad feeling from that recruiter at the Austin tech meetup last week?

He was from a big staffing firm and promised a 20% salary jump for a role that sounded too good. I gave him my resume and he ghosted me after three days, no reply to emails. Now I'm worried he just wanted to collect contacts. How do you spot recruiters who aren't really there to help?

Spent $150 on a resume writer and it actually got me an interview

My old resume was just a list of my trucking jobs and it never got a call back. Paid a guy online who works with blue collar fields to redo it, focusing on my safety record and on-time stats. Has anyone else had luck with a pro writer for a non-office job?

Showerthought: I finally stopped saying 'just' in my emails after a weird moment at a coffee shop

I was at a place called The Daily Grind in Omaha, trying to work on my laptop between hauls. This woman at the next table was on a video call, and I heard her say, 'I'm just following up,' and then she paused and said, 'Actually, scratch that. I *am* following up.' It was like a light went off. I looked at an email I was about to send to a new broker, and I had written 'just checking in' and 'just wanted to see.' I deleted every 'just' right there. It made my questions sound more direct and less like I was bothering them. I've been doing it for about two months now, and I swear the response rate to my cold emails is better. It's a tiny thing, but it changed how I talk about my own work. Has anyone else picked up a small habit like that from a random place?

Showerthought: I asked for a $5,000 raise and my boss said yes after I showed him a list of my extra projects.

I wrote down every single thing I did outside my normal job, like training two new hires and fixing the monthly report system, and brought it to our talk. He looked it over and just agreed to the raise on the spot. Has anyone else had a simple list work that well?

Just read a report saying 60% of managers feel their team meetings are a waste of time.

Found this in a Harvard Business Review article my boss sent out. It was a survey of over 1,000 managers. Everyone at work says meetings are key for teamwork. But the data shows most leaders think they're pointless. Makes you wonder why we still have three a week. Has your company tried cutting meetings to see if work gets better?

My boss in Phoenix told me to 'just network more' for a promotion, but that's not the real problem.

People focus on meeting new contacts instead of proving value to the three people who actually decide their next move. How do you show your current team you're ready for more without seeming pushy?

I used to think networking was just for sales people until a conference in Denver

I was at a tech meetup last month in Denver, and this guy from a small startup just started talking to me about his project. We ended up chatting for like 30 minutes about a coding problem I was stuck on. He didn't have a job for me, but he gave me the name of a tool his team uses, and it solved my issue in a day. I always thought networking was just handing out business cards and felt fake. Now I see it's just talking to people who do the same stuff. Has anyone else had a simple chat at an event lead to a real work fix?

I started blocking off two hours on my calendar every Tuesday morning just for deep work, and it's been a game changer.

Vent: Went to a tech meetup in Austin and the speaker's advice made me mad

I was at a panel talk in Austin last week, and this one speaker kept telling everyone to just 'work for free to get experience.' He said it like it was the only way to start. I saw a lot of young folks nodding along, and it just felt wrong. How are you supposed to pay rent while working for free? Has anyone else heard this kind of advice lately and pushed back on it?

I finally stopped getting ghosted by recruiters after trying one thing

I was applying for marketing manager jobs in Chicago for 6 months and never heard back after the first call. Last month, I started sending a follow-up email within 30 minutes of the interview with one specific idea from our talk. Got a call back for a second interview the next day. What's the fastest you've ever sent a follow-up that actually worked?

Got told my resume was too busy, now I keep it to one page.

A hiring manager in Austin said my two page resume looked like a 'wall of text'. She said pick your top three projects and explain them well. I cut it down to just my work at TechFlow and two freelance gigs. Anyone else get this kind of feedback and what did you cut?

TIL a simple thank you email can really change your week

I had a rough Monday where a project I led got some tough feedback, and I felt pretty down. On Wednesday, I sent a quick thank you note to a coworker who helped me out a few weeks ago, just because. She replied saying my note made her day and that she'd been having a hard time too. That small talk turned into us grabbing coffee on Friday and sharing some really good ideas for fixing the project. Has anyone else had a small, nice thing at work turn into something bigger?

Got offered a full-time job and a contract gig on the same day in Denver.

The full-time role paid $75k with benefits, but the 6-month contract paid almost double hourly. I took the contract for the cash, but now I'm worried about finding my next thing when it ends in October. Has anyone else picked short-term money over long-term stability and how did you plan for the gap?

Heard a guy at the coffee shop say he turned down a job because the title was wrong

I was grabbing coffee yesterday and overheard two people talking. One guy said he got offered a 'Marketing Coordinator' role, but he asked for it to be changed to 'Marketing Specialist' before he would accept. He said the pay was the same, but the 'Specialist' title would look better on his resume for his next move. It made me stop and think about how much weight we put on job titles now. I always just looked at the money and the work. Has anyone else made a choice like that, where the title itself was a deal breaker?

Warning: I turned down a promotion last Tuesday and everyone thinks I'm crazy

My boss offered me the team lead spot after our manager quit. It came with a 15k raise but meant I'd be in meetings all day in Phoenix. I actually like the hands-on work I do now, fixing problems directly. Has anyone else said no to more money to keep a job they actually enjoy?

Question about those online 'career personality' tests

I dropped $120 on one of those fancy ones that said I should be a forest ranger... which sounds cool, but I'm a dog groomer in Phoenix. The whole report was basically just telling me to work outside. I could have saved the cash and just asked my buddy what job he thought fit me. Has anyone else gotten weird advice from a paid test like that?

Watched a coworker go from quiet to leading meetings after he started just asking 'what's the next action?' in every email

His project updates went from vague walls of text to clear, one-page summaries with owners and dates in about 3 months, and now management actually reads them.

Can we talk about people putting 'team player' on their resume with no proof?

I was helping a friend in Chicago review 30 resumes last week, and 80% had that phrase with zero examples. It just makes you blend in. What's a better way to actually show you work well with others?

My boss at the old print shop in Tacoma used to make us do the 'paper test' before any big job

He'd have us hold a single sheet up to the light and check for watermarks and grain direction, saying it was the only way to avoid jams. I thought it was a weird old-school thing until I started at a new digital firm and a $15k print run got wrecked because nobody checked the stock. Do any places still teach those hands-on checks, or is it all just hitting print now?

The weird shift in how people talk about 'work-life balance' over the last 5 years

I was cleaning out old files and found a project plan from 2019. The client's main goal was just 'increase output by 15%'. Fast forward to a meeting last week for a similar project, and the first slide from the client was about their 'employee wellness metrics' and 'sustainable pacing'. The change is huge. Back then, working late was a quiet badge of honor, and you just didn't talk about being burned out. Now, my junior team members openly block their calendars for 'focus time' and managers ask if you're taking your PTO. I think the big cause was the pandemic forcing everyone home, blurring the lines so badly that companies had to actually name the problem. It went from a vague idea to something we have to measure and talk about. Has your workplace made any real policy changes around this, or is it still just talk?