Penelope Trunk focuses on giving career advice to “a new generation of workers.” Some people would call her advice counterintuitive, and others would say it’s loony. She says things like “old advice – like pay your dues, climb the ladder, and don’t have gaps in your resume – is outdated and irrelevant in today’s workplace,” and suggests taking long lunches, ignoring people who steal your ideas, and not vying for promotion can end up being productive in their own right. I think it’s fair to say some people love what she says, other people hate what she says. For my part, I think whatever she says is at least entertaining.
And, she does make good points. Her advice isn’t meant to be one-size-fits-all, but you’ll often recognize nuggets of your own experience in what she’s talking about. That’s what happened when I read this post, “Five signs that your career is about to get vapid,” on her blog.
The signs:
- You aim to be a generalist.
- You are consumed with getting a book deal.
- You have never had a long-term relationship.
- You lack strong opinions.
- You think career advice is stupid.
The trick in looking at a list like this is you have to do it twice: On your first read, you’ll focus on the items that seems whacky (C’mon, tech people don’t think about book deals“. On your second, you’ll wonder about your first impression (Search “computers” on Amazon.com and you’ll get 611,957 results. You think they were all written by English majors?).
This is a good “take-stock” list, meaning it’s a good set of things to think about as you consider your current job and career plans. While the argument continues about whether it’s better to specialize or generalize in tech, where do you stand? Maybe you’re more consumed by running a blog than writing a book – and running a blog can be a good career move – but is it getting in the way of your work? You won’t have to work too hard to think about how these questions relate to you – the real work comes in answering them honestly.
Oh, and given what I write and edit for a living, I definitely think it’s a bad sign for anyone to think career advice is stupid.
Tags: Advice, Career Advice, Penelope Trunk
