Re:If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)
by yobbo on Monday December 22, 2025 @11:43AM
(#46355711)
It's not about good or bad times. All compasses are broken so any particular direction you believe you are walking deliberately might as well be uniformly random.
"Direction" and "design" are probably the wrong metaphors for careers.
Re:If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)
by georgeecollins on Monday December 22, 2025 @01:09PM
(#46356782)
I think it is better for your mental health to see yourself as having some agency. You certainly have some, though how much we can debate. But saying something like "all compasses are broken" sounds so defeatist that I worry you are experiencing depression.
Re:If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)
by dugidugout on Tuesday December 23, 2025 @09:22AM
(#46365518)
It seems more odd to me you are placing as much value on career agency to infer ones mental health broadly. I'm not saying this isnt a norm in many cultures, but I'd like to hear your argument for supporting it.
Re:If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)
by QuantumGood on Monday December 22, 2025 @01:13PM
(#46356841)
Personally, I find the advice useful. Most who provide a framing for causes of success either do not place it in relation to anything, or relate it primarily their own situation, and their argument becomes susceptible to interpretation as survivorship bias. Some try to extend their argument to cover more cases, but can be seen as overconfident based on limited experience. It's hard for one writer to "prove" what general success rules are.
Re:If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)
by nswest23 on Tuesday December 23, 2025 @09:36PM
(#46371843)
What are the important problems today? Do you mean AI? I'm not sure I'd agree or that it's obvious what the "important" problems are.
Re:If you don't design your career, someone else will (2014)
by moralestapia on Thursday December 25, 2025 @11:37PM
(#46389267)
>If Hamming was operating from a "good time", it should be true that his policies are also applicable in the "bad times".
No. Why?
His advice to "work on the worlds hardest problems" was spoken to people who had worked their way past the initial difficulties. General advice to "Move towards important problems", which is precisely the same thing, applies in good and bad times, and is very likely to produce in you a valuable expertise.