I only lasted about 5 years in research. When I was a technician breaking things and designing test rigs it was fun, but when I got "promoted" I was bored out of my skull. Too much time spent in meetings and writing proposals, i.e. doing nothing.

when i get to do things, its great.

but the old rule remains: he who makes the power points makes the money.




the meritocracy lie exposed: working harder or doing better work doesnt make you more money. selling it up the chain is what makes you the money. ive been pretty successful, though i hate being a salesman.

Who ever told you that is your enemy .
As I embrace my middle age, and look around me, the people that I see who are doing the best are more often than not, the guys who consistently worked their tail off and always put in the extra effort .
It does not always seem like it will pay off in the short term, but all those extra hours and extra hustles add up over a lifetime .
Carry on Mr Punk.

It is funny now, looking back 22 years, but when my boss at the dairy told me my position ( area manager and sales rep) was being cut in 8 months, they wanted me to stay through that period and had a package for me afterwards, I was in shock and a bit worried. I shouldn't have been. I did home energy audits for a couple of years then was asked to work in tourism in the area. That lead to working with the provincial department as a customer service trainer and becoming certified as a heritage interpreter. I got to talk to folks from all over the world and had a blast with none of the headaches.
I often said, if I had known on that day in 2003, when my boss gave me the news, what I know now, I might have kissed him on the mouth. He changed my life for the better.

sorry the real world is not a norman rockwell painting highlighting work ethic.

its mostly folks who can network and sell themselves better who get ahead, and the work is a pretty minor component. this gets more true the higher up in the company you get too. because you stop doing your own work, and start managing workflows or processes or people.

sorry. the meritocracy was a lie.

Update to this thread. I was just scrolling on Craigslist jobs 1.5 years ago. I searched "Tempe" as it's the suburb of Phoenix where I live. Saw an ad that caught my eye.

It was for a commercial painting company estimator. Some construction experience? Yes. Can you read blue prints? Yes. Good with numbers? Yes. Hmmm... Sent off my resume and found myself having lunch with the owner of the commercial painting company the next day. Got an offer letter a few hours after that lunch. Hey, LeeH... what do you do?

Glad you asked... basically, I run through numerous RFP (request for proposals) that come in via email looking for jobs that work well for our company. If I like it, I download the blueprints and run through them to assess the surfaces, finishes, size, location, etc. If that all looks good, I use a piece of software to measure the square footage of the spaces from the blueprints and use those figures to create an estimate in another piece of software. Since I spend all day paging through blueprints, I've learned much about how buildings go together. We're a small company and mostly work in offices, warehouses, retails stores.... we've painted over 80 Starbucks in and around Phoenix. I get paid decently and the owner appreciates my accounting background as I also cleaned up some messy books and maintain those, too. Pretty cool job to have as I near retirement. Owner is laid back and flexible. If I need to be off for any reason, I just go.

So, yeah... picking up a new gig is possible, even for us older folks!

Well done, sounds like a great fit!