
How to screw up your life by getting promoted - jasoncartwright
http://thestartuptoolkit.com/blog/2012/12/how-to-screw-up-your-life-by-getting-promoted/
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kephra
"Building something interesting requires a surplus of time and money. Salaried
jobs provide neither."

The trap is not the salary job promotion, but the raise of middle class
lifestyle. You wont leave middle class, as long as you raise your lifestyle
with every income increase, and stay in dept.

The solution is to keep a frugal lifestyle. e.g. my lifestyle is around
Euro1000/month, even including my sailing boat. A typical good payed coders
job leaves Euro2000 surplus every month. So working for salary for one year
means, that I have two year runway to work for myself.

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primitur
Where in Europe is EU3000/mo. the norm? I've got 25 years of experience as a
developer, and I'm finding it hard to get 2/3rds of that ..

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GuiA
Where do you live in Europe? In western Europe (France, UK, Germany,
Netherlands, Belgium, etc.), 30-35k+ is a common starting salary for an
engineer with a MSc.

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primitur
I'm in Austria, a C/C++ developer (Java, Android variant too, but I'd rather
not work in it) with systems programming experience, and now 4 years of mobile
work. The salaries around these parts are close to the GP scale, but not quite
there ..

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louischatriot
That's especially true for high-paying jobs in finance, law or management
consulting. Here your wage raises so fast that most people don't see how their
tastes are evolving. For example, after 2-3 years most cannot go to a
nightclub without buying a bottle of champagne.

I quit Bain right before my first big pay raise and I feel that was a good
decision. I eat pasta more than often but most of my friends who stayed have
lost sight of their dreams. "I would like to quit but I can't" is something I
hear SO often.

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cviedmai
I actually once read something like financial companies prefer to promote
people with family, house etc instead of single guys because that's the way
you lock them down. If they cannot afford to quit the job you basically own
them and you can exploit however you want.

I think in a similar fashion to the writer but have a different approach. By
learning to live with very little and be happy with the minimum, I'm not
afraid of having to leave a place and give up a nice salary. Having the money
is a nice plus and I can enjoy buying stuff and nice restaurants, but I don't
make it part of who I am or the foundation of my happiness. Or at least I try
;)

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jrockway
I doubt this is true. In my experience, you get promoted when you get a
counter-offer from another firm.

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hakaaak
Another related problem is called "golden handcuffs". Many work in jobs that
provide great salary and/or benefits and would like to leave, but they think
that they will sacrifice their family's well-being by leaving. I was like that
for years and recently switched to a new job that is a lot better for me. It
is still far from perfect: I am more stressed-out, and I work more hours. But,
the pay and benefits are better, and my skills and marketability are
improving. I want a job that I love, and I'm still working on finding that,
but if you have "golden handcuffs", don't fall into the trap that you can't do
better. If you are aren't struggling and learning and you are unhappy and
spreading unhappiness, you are a drag on yourself and everyone else. You can't
always be unhappy, in fact you may continue to be unhappy (I am, or at least I
tell myself that I am), but if you find yourself making others unhappy and
feeling that they should realize that they are unhappy as you, that is not a
good situation, and you need to change. There are plenty of other
opportunities out there, but you won't find them unless you are looking for
them. Just decide what you want, and do your best to make it happen. Don't buy
into the self-help books either. They make promises they can't keep.

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kabdib
There's no point in being unhappy just for more money.

I recently left a great job, and left a bunch of golden handcuff money on the
table, for a position with far less stress and the ability to pretty much
chart my own course. Bonus: I'm learning a bunch of new stuff (getting paid to
go to school is a really good deal).

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edandersen
There is nothing wrong with being promoted. You just need the self discipline
to realise that like everything in life, it is only temporary and you need to
be ready for the job and salary to disappear at any time and for any reason.
Greatly increasing your living expenses makes no sense when getting a sizable
pay rise.

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larsberg
This advice is also similar to what I tell undergrads who are about to step
out into the workforce for "just a couple of years before going back for grad
school." A few people do it, but the vast majority will get used to the new
salary, get married, and that pretty much ends it.

I tell them that the experience, particularly at a google/MSFT/apple, is worth
getting because you'll have a much more well-rounded perspective than those
who come straight from undergrad. But no matter how frugally you lived while
working, it's the strong spouse that is OK with a 10x pay cut (> $220k ->
$22k, at least for me in the sciences).

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DanBC
There's a big difference between downsizing - leaving you with spare cash to
do stuff with - and "Salaried jobs [...] stay the fuck away from them" which
has seriously harmful potential.

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edandersen
A botched "promotion" attempt can also backfire for employers.

I had one joker boss/startup owner try to promote me (his words were "what job
title do you want?") but had no intention of giving me a raise! Suffice to say
the working relationship did not last, I went on to more than double my salary
within a year of leaving.

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peteretep
I am reading a very interesting book at the moment with a similar sort of
theme called "Your Money or Your Life": [http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-
Life-Transforming-Relations...](http://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Life-
Transforming-Relationship/dp/1591797306)

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anovikov
Same thing here. I can't start a lot of things i (now) have experience to do
and which i am sure will still work, just because i can't imagine myself
flying coach again - and that would be the way of life for the next coupe
years if i do. Was my mistake.

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pinaceae
was flying longhaul business for years, doing consulting. then joined a
startup which rocks its space - but has a strict internal frugality policy -
coach at all times, no matter how long the flight (we have offices in US, EU,
CN and JP).

flying ZRH-SFO every couple of months in coach really, truly sucks once you
know how it feels to fly the same route in business. being able to lie down
and stretch your legs...

still the best decision of my professional life :)

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tome
Business class certainly costs a lot, but I imagine you can be work-productive
much more quickly after stepping off the plane if you've flown comfortably.
Have you ever considered a cost/benefit analysis of this decision? I'd be
interested to know the results.

~~~
pinaceae
oh, i agree completely and basically know the results. business class allows
you to work _in_ the plane, as you have power outlets and more importantly,
space. once the guy in front of you leans their seat back in coach, you can't
work on that presentation any more.

stepping off a 12h flight and working the next day is possible in coach
though. your body doesn't like it, but it is manageable, however super
inconvenient.

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sardonicbryan
One policy I've implemented in my group at an SF startup is when I want to
promote someone into a new role, I first put them in the role before giving
them the title and raise. That gives them a chance to evaluate how much they
actually like the role, while giving both sides outs if the role doesn't end
up being a good fit.

I've done this with two lead PMs and an engineering lead so far, and it's been
met with a positive reception.

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nhangen
I disagree with the premise. Sure, you can increase spending and get hooked to
a salary, or you could just learn how to make more and have more.

