Over the years, I’ve suffered from “company man” syndrome and look back to his guidance as a reminder that I should own my skills and interests, and bring them to an employer if and for as long as the job suits them. I shouldn’t go with the job wherever it takes me simply because that’s my employer’s wish.
Not always easy advice to take, but extremely important advice to me.
> to try to do things that would make your friends say wow
Not great advice. The opinions of friends, like those of parents, can be hard to disambiguate from inner knowledge. So it's important to respect friends' opinions, but not to seek to impress them with the work we choose to do.
I work at one of a small group of companies that develops a somewhat niche technology that I fell in love with many years ago. For several years, I had a driving intrinsic motivation and truly enjoyed my work. At some point I was “discovered” by a successful manager, who elevated me to a more visible position, and in the intervening years, I also had a lot of success and monetary rewards. But...