Visual life lesson

When I retrained my friends for programmers, I noticed an interesting thing. People who have already worked somewhere, retrained very willingly. And the more their experience was outside of IT, the more they worked harder. Those who were still students, sometimes frankly halyavi.

After talking with those and others, I noticed that the students to the last believe in the “magical employment” that awaits them immediately after graduation.

Further, for those who have not yet removed their rose-colored glasses - a guide to the real world.

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Each of us has needs. The need for family, friends, home, work, hobby, ...
But I would like to talk about one of the most important and always relevant: the desire to live well and earn well.

Most people have this need. And everyone is trying to satisfy her through work, profession and career. And it seems quite logical to achieve this goal through professional development and self-realization. Who among us would not want to become a high-class specialist, a professional of international level: recognition, respect, high incomes, great opportunities - sounds great.

And what is the plan of action for all these millions and billions of future high-class workers? Quite often, this plan looks like this: finish school, prepare for a university, enter a university, study, finish a university, find a good job, work, make a smart career, go on a well-deserved rest.

This plan only seems to be correct, but it is not.

The right plan is different from the wrong plan in that the right plan leads to a goal, and the wrong plan doesn't.

The plan described above does not take into account so many things from real life that I don’t know how to call it: primitive, outdated, or simply wrong.

What does not take into account this "the most common plan for success in the world"?

Competition

1 Winner takes all

5% of the best specialists receive 50% of all money. 20% of the best professionals receive 80% of all money.

Some companies are looking for a better employee, while others are cheaper. The first are not afraid to overpay, but they want to get the best for the money they have. The latter want to pay the smallest money for the minimum quality that suits them.



You will begin your career / professional path from the leftmost point of the graph. And it is best to be in the rightmost part of it. You have a long way to go. You need as quickly as possible to move at least to its right half. The specialist from the right side of the graph differs from the specialist from the left side by the presence of experience, and, moreover, of qualitative experience.

While you are in the left half, the number of such specialists as you in the labor market is much more than the demand for them. So this is a buyer's (employer) market. And you have to compete with the same as you, for the most lousy job.

But as soon as you have gained enough experience, and moved to the right half, the rules of the game begin to change. Demand begins to exceed supply and wages begin to grow. 5 years of good experience can result in a 10-fold increase in salary. So, think, look around, and learn.

But even better is to enter the top 5% of specialists. Here your fees will be limited only by the stock of money from your clients / employers. He wants to hire the best - let him pay better than anyone. Just like at auction.

A smart and hardworking person is able to enter the top 20% of specialists in 5 years. And over the next 5 years - in 5% of the best specialists. Here, of course, you need a lot of self-education and often change jobs. Sometimes and work beyond measure.

But do not need much (long) work. The best specialist does not do more work, he does a better job. The best. Therefore, it cannot be replaced by ten average workers.

If in the presidential election you received 48% of the vote, and the second candidate is 47%. You did not get the support of the majority, you did not surpass your rival twice. You bypassed it by one, only one percent! But you will become president and get everything , but he will remain nothing and will not receive anything.

2 Loser will not get anything

If you have already entered a university, you may have heard about the “competition of 5-10 people per place”. Of the 1000 applicants in the competition 10 people per place, only 100 people will become students, the remaining 900 will not receive anything.

What do you think will happen when you graduate and look for a job? Competition will grow at times!

Suppose you are graduating from a law faculty in Moscow this year (specifically taking an example not from IT). Suppose there are only 10 universities in Moscow, which together produce 1000 lawyers annually. There are two vacancies on the market with a salary of $ 3000, 8 vacancies with a salary of $ 1000, and thirty vacancies in the state. organizations with a salary of $ 300.

Bummer 1: 1000 "lawyers" and only 40 vacancies. That is, only 40 out of 1000 lawyers will get a job in the profession, and the remaining 960 people who have spent 5 years studying at the university will go to work as “sales managers.”

Bummer 2: You are one of the top 40 graduate lawyers, what are your chances of getting a job? Much less than 100%, because there is still cronyism, family professions, hiring an acquaintance, etc. Most of these 40 vacancies will be occupied by sons, nieces and grandchildren of top managers of these same companies.

Bummer 3: You are the best graduate of your year, but you still have no real practical experience. But after all, people who have been working in the specialty for 3-5 years will qualify for a good job market. They have acquired experience, reputation, and connections. So, probably, it is necessary to begin from the bottom.

Bummer 4: You will have to work for 3 years on “free” jobs for the sake of experience, and at the same time be engaged in self-education, and only then you will be able to compete for good vacancies with perspective, future valuable experience and high salary. This stage should have been held at the university. But you studied in our “good, but useless university”, so now you have to do it yourself.

3 You have nothing

All you have is a diploma, and it is not worth the paper on which is printed in the eyes of your future employer. Most often, the employer knows the “real price” of your diploma and its microscopic benefits in comparison with real-world experience.

Do you have a college degree? Who does not have it? We have half of the country with a higher education . It's like a certificate that you are not a fool, that's all. There is no use for "useless obsolete education . " Driving license more sense.

I am the best

Well, if you decide to become the best, you will also find many "magic surprises."

1 The best is the enemy of the good

To be better is to be better than others, to transcend them and to be different from them. You cannot do the same as anything to become the best. You need your way.

You cannot be the best in everything: while you study everything, someone specializes in one thing. The best way to become the best is to choose one very narrow specialty and become a world-class specialist in it.

If you practice ballet from five years old to 8 hours a day, there will always be someone who practices from three years to 10 hours a day. By the age of fifteen his experience will exceed yours by 5000 hours. But there are also geniuses, for every hour of which you need to study three. And the best teachers in the world, and you, for example, are self-taught.

The only way to become the best without having your own unique way (to be like everyone else) is to work harder, be talented, have good teachers and rich parents. Although - this is not quite "like everyone else", right?

But even the fastest and most hardworking horse in the world will not overtake the car. You need your own strategy, your own unique plan to become the best without sacrificing everything.

2 The best not just to be

There is always someone who started before you. Someone has rich parents, someone studied at the best university in the world. Some parents took me to work. Nothing wrong. It happens. This is called - different starting conditions. But such people are a minority, the world is full of people who have themselves achieved success, thanks to their innovative thinking, hard work and the ability to constantly learn everything new.

Life is like a card game. Anyone will win if he is given only trumps, a professional wins regardless of the cards distributed. He minimizes their influence to a minimum by his skill.

No one understands this as well as professional athletes. Many of them have only a few years to realize their chance and achieve success.

3 There is always someone who is willing to work more than you.

There are many such people. Among them are workaholics, perfectionists and people who are simply in love with their work. Yes, many of them donate family, friends, and are ready to work 80 hours a week. Work is their life. This path is not for us. But they are perfectly able to push you to the roadside. You are not ready to spend 6 months a year on business trips to get a promotion, and they are ready.

The average Chinese student is more diligent than ours, and the Chinese worker is ready to do your job for a quarter of your salary.

To work a lot is not a way to success, but to work a little is a way to failure.

4 Cultural environment

In "our" culture is not taken a lot and work honestly. If you study a lot in high school, disappear in the library and pass all the exams yourself, then you are a teacher. And if “I haven’t taught anything and passed” or “I have written off everything”, then you are great. It’s difficult to work hard and honestly when your friends, colleagues, the whole society and you yourself despise yourself for it.

It is difficult to strive for success when society itself hates the successful and the rich. Hates and envies. Poor people, having seized upon money, begin to put their wealth on display. Really rich people behave more modestly: Abramovich can walk in glasses for $ 10 , because in them and without them he is Abramovich.

You have to love your life and your time. Money is just a tool that makes you financially independent. And if you are financially independent, then you can do what you want and not do, then what you do not want.

Be careful with the "victims" when you become the best. Do not sacrifice really important things: family, friends, health, favorite work. Being financially successful at the age of 50 and not having family, friends, health, not loving work is not a success, it is a failure.

Sentence

By the way, I have an interesting offer for you. Don't you want to become a Java programmer? Programming is an interesting and promising profession , and programming in Java is also well paid.

In universities, unfortunately, almost no real programming is taught, so I wrote JavaRush, a Java programming service in the form of an online game. On Habré there is a good article describing the project, and the most impatient can immediately start learning .

Always yours, General