How does your job align with your career goals?

[philipwhiteold]

If you've compiled a resume lately you probably remember writing out the little section title "Objective". While it may not always seem relevant and when your frustrated sometimes "to get a job" seems appropriate but have any of you followed an objective through your career or plan to?

Perhaps I am a bit too addicted to the net, but anyways I chose to follow an objective path of Information Technology management. I'm currently a long ways from management but I did start a job as business software consultant/programmer a few months ago which I think is a good start in aligning my goals with my objective. Pehaps I'l get there and maybe I'll get sick of it all and do something else. Right now though I'm doing what I like and I think it has a lot of possibilities to get where I want to be in the future.

So whats your story?

[YaSO]

I still spend many hours coding, but I spend a lot more time promoting and marketing that before; it's not like making cold calls and going to meetings, but "How to present a product/service" is becoming a big part of my work.

I used to work on desktop applications(Windows, MFC, COM, ...) and programming was really my job. Now I work on a web based application and it has an interface to everyone on the net, so I need to approach very differently. That kind of forces me into thinking about promotion and marketing.

I suppose I'm aligning my goal with my objective, but there has to be more than just a job and career in life, so I need to think about for a while to see where I stand in a big picture.

[philipwhiteold]

Change your objective to millionaire beach bumb and see where it takes you. :)

[worthless]

Nothing upbeat to report from this moribund, deadest-of-dead-end jobs. After racking up all that debt to get an MBA, and to see it lead me absolutely NOWHERE has been a serious reality check. Wish I could sue my grad school for that fraud of an education they sold me.

Aligning jobs with career goals? You watch too many movies. Ridiculous thinking like that lead me to quit decent jobs for the promise of some undefined, largely mythical ideal post that doesn't exist.

Just do your work and make your way up the company. Pray that your employer believes in job training. And put away those ideas of getting paid for what you love to do. This isn't Bollywood.

[YaSO]

worthless,

Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I wish things will go well for you this year. By the way, what exactly did you study? Specialization? Finance, IT management, accounting?

[jfslenes]

First, I come to this site with a rather unique perspective. I was self employed as an undergrad, have been so since. Never had a "real" job. That is both a blessing and a curse.

I am embarking on a new path myself. I am applying myself to referral marketing, am working referral marketing into my motel business, am working on the internet, all with the intent of replacing my existing income over the next couple years.

You might take a look at a book "The New Profesionals" by Charles W. King and James W. Robinson. They discuss the new reality of out sourcing and huge structural changes in corporate USA. King is a prof at the U. of Illinois and is involved in extensive research on referral marketing.

Another rather cynical book is Paul Pilzers The Wellness Generation, The Next Trillion. He discusses the baby boomers aging and interest in "the fountain of youth" and how we might profit by that phenome.

Good Luck and Good Selling.

What the heck, take a week of and ski Taos!

[howiehey]

Try and build your own consulting practice - don't worry about a "real job" - forums like this are great to help you find new contacts / leads

good luck!

[Anand_rao]

well I am also in IT services industry in India. I started as software engineer, my designation is still software engineer but I am more involved with process, requirements, design and team lead activities. However If I continue on this line it would probably lead me to Project management which I don't want to be in. I like consulting Line of work and want to move to that and also Business development, all this leading to a more strategic decision making roles. where you help decide future IT business strategies for your your company and your clients. however this is a very long way of.
I am thinking of pursuing MBA for these reasons. I am not sure what specialisations I should pursue - Strategy, Information systems, marketing, Management consultancy ?
Also all this would depend on getting into a good b-school and then getting the right job in a good company after that...lets see.
I am getting very negative overtones from those who have done thier MBA. Making me consider delaying my MBA to be more financially secure.

[Anand_rao]

there are so many ppl viewing the forums but so few posts. don't understand why the forums are not active

[philipwhite]

That would be my fault. 100%. Between work, studying, friends, the gym, and everything else, I don't always have a lot of time at the end of the day to drive people here and fire up the conversation. I really appreciate all of the members that continue to post and keep things lively. I do my best and I hope the community continues to grow.

I saw in your post above that you mentioned that some of us have negative comments towards the MBA. I'm very proud of MBA and all of the work I put into it. A lot of outside factors contribute to the negativity towards the MBA. In the US, the economy took a dump and a lot of professionals were hit hard by it which leads people to question their past choices. A lot of people still don't accept the idea of online or distance learning and still others look are the wrong statistics when judging the net value of the MBA.

[mike]

It just sounds to me like Worthless is angry because he wanted a big payout after the MBA- meanwhile- the thing that's probably keeping him from his big payout is his attitude.

[cemj99]

Life isn't fair, especially in the corporate job market. Attitude does play a big role. You have to realize that you are playing in an unfair environment and develop strategies to still compete and win. What those strategies are depends on your environment. An MBA is still an asset. Its not the magic key but it is something nobody can take away from you.

[Anand_rao]

its not about how much payout you get. Its about the what you get to do after your MBa and what kind of job profile you have.

I have close to 3 yrs work exp and within this time span, i have discovered for myself that I am happy and satisfied when i like what I am doing rather than how much i get paid. Payout is important, but for me the job profile is the single most important criteria

[Anand_rao]

philipwhiteThat would be my fault. 100%. Between work, studying, friends, the gym, and everything else, I don't always have a lot of time at the end of the day to drive people here and fire up the conversation.

the main reason i think is that, there are more ppl asking questions than those answering them. what we need to do is to get ppl who did get admissions and are currently studying in B-schools or completed their MBA to come here and share their knowledge. that would be beneficial to all andd make the forum more lively.

[cemj99]

That's an excellent point. An MBA will give you flexibility to migrate to a job that you are satisfied with. I find in my workplace people seem to be unhappy not necessarily because they don't like what they are doing, they don't have the credentials and skill set to do anything else.

its not about how much payout you get. Its about the what you get to do after your MBa and what kind of job profile you have.

I have close to 3 yrs work exp and within this time span, i have discovered for myself that I am happy and satisfied when i like what I am doing rather than how much i get paid. Payout is important, but for me the job profile is the single most important criteria

[marlon_brownj]

I wish things you will improve for you. I am making a huge investiment and taking a risk as well. Paying $50,000.00 cash for my studies. It is a strong credential though. It will only work combined with lots of experience and other factors such as a suitable personality. Is it going to give me the knowledge I expected ? I doubt. This is my third quarter on a full-time MBA. So far professors have thrown a bunch of accounting, econ formulas, etc on us. Nothing that I couldn't learn by reading a book. We are talking about a top 20 US school. Why am I doing this ? Because unfortunately the job market is about competition. If the guy next door has an MBA and I don't I may be left behind.

Do I think is it worthed stop working to study MBA ? Only if you are really sure you will get a profitable job in finance or something like that. For techies like me, I *never* would stop my work to study an MBA. Even if I had an offer from Havard or what have you. MBA is becoming a commodity now, in my opinion it simply not worthed dedicate full-time for it anymore.





Nothing upbeat to report from this moribund, deadest-of-dead-end jobs. After racking up all that debt to get an MBA, and to see it lead me absolutely NOWHERE has been a serious reality check. Wish I could sue my grad school for that fraud of an education they sold me.

Aligning jobs with career goals? You watch too many movies. Ridiculous thinking like that lead me to quit decent jobs for the promise of some undefined, largely mythical ideal post that doesn't exist.

Just do your work and make your way up the company. Pray that your employer believes in job training. And put away those ideas of getting paid for what you love to do. This isn't Bollywood.

[cemj99]

I agree with this post. I said the same thing a few years ago when I started my MBA program. If you have a well paying job and if you aren't going to a "top 10 school" with an excellent placement rate, its not worth giving up your job. Personally, I wouldn't give up my job even if I did go to a top 10 school. Its no such thing as a magic degree that will give you the perfect job. Getting the dream job is a combination of skill, luck, perserverance, and knowing the right people. Sometimes one asset is more important that another. Too many people have this mythical view that once they get their MBA, all of their dreams will come true.

I wish things you will improve for you. I am making a huge investiment and taking a risk as well. Paying $50,000.00 cash for my studies. It is a strong credential though. It will only work combined with lots of experience and other factors such as a suitable personality. Is it going to give me the knowledge I expected ? I doubt. This is my third quarter on a full-time MBA. So far professors have thrown a bunch of accounting, econ formulas, etc on us. Nothing that I couldn't learn by reading a book. We are talking about a top 20 US school. Why am I doing this ? Because unfortunately the job market is about competition. If the guy next door has an MBA and I don't I may be left behind.

Do I think is it worthed stop working to study MBA ? Only if you are really sure you will get a profitable job in finance or something like that. For techies like me, I *never* would stop my work to study an MBA. Even if I had an offer from Havard or what have you. MBA is becoming a commodity now, in my opinion it simply not worthed dedicate full-time for it anymore.