As a 20 year veteran of the corporate grind, I'm not sure I agree with a lot of what's posted here. A lot is just simply cliche advice lacking any real substance ("Just keep a positive attitude!"), and some advice I've taken and had it not be good. For example, the idea of becoming good at the tasks that are poorly understood or that nobody likes to do. Yeah, I did that in multiple companies, and I know others who did too. What ended up happening is that I was pigeonholed doing the same crap tasks day in and day out, while other not-as-competent employees got all of the good, fun and high visibility projects, because I was "indispensable" and therefore had to keep working the crap.
People (mostly not on this forum) and corporations will fill your head with lots of really bad platitudes like "we need to work smarter!" and "let's give 110%!" and "we can accomplish this with a little hard work!" Yeah, whatever, it is in the corporate self-interest to get you to work as hard as they can for as little expense as possible, always adding more to your plate instead of hiring someone new, and it's easy for them to do because the US seems to have this culture of "hard work pays off". I changed my mind about that when I started working with European and Australian counterparts within my company (so my peers) and saw that they didn't have that attitude, they didn't kill themselves, they had more time off and worked little if any overtime, and they still got work done. And they were happier.
So what I've learned:
- As others say, visibility is key and takes little effort. I learned early on that the work you do isn't as important as the work everyone thinks you do. So you have to advertise what you do and be visible. If you work hard and accomplish a lot and nobody knows, it doesn't help your career.
- Do be a team player, be open and listen to others, but don't be taken advantage of by doing the crap work while others on your team reap the rewards. Be visible so everyone knows what you brought to the table. If you don't like your job, don't bitch about it at work. Go on a forum and vent instead. ;)
- Work/Life balance is super important. Every company will go on and on and on about how they support it and want to help you achieve it, that's just them using psychology to make you think they support it and to help you feel better. It is up to YOU, and only YOU to work to achieve work/life balance. It is up to YOU to understand the work/life balance programs that your office offers, and USE THEM. Your boss won't do it for you. They won't insist you take some time off, or use flex time to build a schedule that is beneficial to you personally instead of only to the office. There is some sick statistic of the number of US workers who don't use their entire allotted vacation every year. American workers already get shit for vacation days compared to other westernized countries. You'd better be using every minute they give you. You need that time to recharge! While you are at it, figure out your passions outside of work and cultivate them. That, plus the relationships you have, is really important. Don't make all your friends be your coworkers either. Coworker friends are fine, but it's nice to have that separation from work as well in your off-time.
- Your career is just starting, so you are mostly in a learning mode at this point. The fact is a lot of bosses and team leads just suck at it. They don't know the studies that show how meetings lose productivity after the first 15 or 20 minutes, they tend to suggest methods of doing your job that amount to inefficient brute force, they latch on to fads, they micromanage, they fill your time with stupid tasks. You may very well be stuck with a team lead like this, and it sucks. If so, figure out what other leads in your org are not like this, and use them as a mentor and learn all you can, network with them all you can, and see if you can guide your career towards working with these people more, even joining their team if the opportunity arises. A good boss makes a huge, huge difference, especially if they shield you from all the politics and other dumb crap.
- If politics or drama arise - and it will - remember that it is just work, and in the scheme of things they just aren't important. I'd suggest learning to meditate as that can help you feel a feeling and let it go. It does wonders. As a corollary to this, try not to wrap your identity up in your work. Nobody wants their tombstone to read "Here lies xyz. He was a good GlobalMegaSuper Corporation Employee." Figure out what's really important to you, outside of work, and when you aren't at work try not to even think about it. Focus on the really important stuff.
- You need to figure out what your maximum level of crap is and stick to it. This might take you some time as you are just starting out. Is it worth working a ton of overtime, doing crap tasks, dealing with a bunch of politically motivated idiots in the hopes you get an extra 1% bonus or a promotion? Keep in mind that promotion might lead to even more overtime, more crap tasks, and dealing with more idiots who now have even more power because they are upper management. So what is the ROI for you? Is the extra money worth the tradeoff? What is your limit? My life became easier when I realized I made enough to meet my financial goals, and I stopped going "above and beyond" because the ROI just didn't make sense. Why should I kill myself to get a promotion to a job that means killing myself even more? I still get my work done, still am visible, so I'm not saying be lazy. Sure, a little extra money is nice and I might retire a year early, but the years leading up to that just got worse. Yuck.
- Structure your financial world around leaving work. Don't look at it as "I'm stuck here until I'm FI." Look at it is "if I have no debt and a large amount stashed in investments, I will have more options. I can, for instance, quit my high paying high pressure job and take a lower paying job that is more meaningful to me". Based on your savings rate, make a ballpark guess as to when you will reach FI. Then, if you are thinking about making a big purchase, like a new computer or something, calculate how much time you'll have to add to that FI date to also pay off the purchase (plus extra to cover maintaining it), and consider if working the corporate world that much longer in exchange for the purchase is worth it. Sure, a few things here and there adds only a week or so, whatever, but that adds up.
- If nothing improves try to move your career in the direction you want. Again, your company won't do this, YOU have to do this. Remember that your job in most corporations is simply to make a bunch of rich stockholders even richer, sometimes at the expense of the environment, privacy, the working class, or whatever. If this bothers you, plan a way to leave the situation. It will take time, even years. Are you interested in human services? Try to volunteer at a non-profit. I do this, and not only is it rewarding personally, but employees there have taken notice and I may be able to parlay it into a work opportunity down the road, possibly just part time since my finances give me that opportunity.
- Read Dilbert. There is a reason he includes his email address in his strips - people submit ideas to him all the time based on their own experiences. So his strip is like a cathartic venting session among drones unhappy in the corporate world.
- Go hiking, because nature is just cool.
Good luck!
