How important is it for you to climb the career ladder?
- Thread starter Vider
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mentalchik
"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit."
Have no ladder to climb.....................
it's quite depressing !
it's quite depressing !
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
I wasn't really thinking very hard last night to be honest, yes, there are a few professions where there's often a non-management ladder - science/engineering/academia, accountancy and the law I suppose, that sort of thing. You can continue to get professional qualifications and advance within your profession rather than within the company, but the company respects that. I should have remembered this, I used to work with statisticians a lot.
Still only a very limited subset of jobs though I'd say, and quite a slow and difficult process often anyway.
Boris Sprinkler
Dont be scared
I wanna be top of my game in my chosen field. And age wise am already at a fairly good level, but the next ten/fifteen years want to be pretty much a senior manager or director responsible for the information security of a decent sized organisation.
stupid dogbot
Haughty and Superior
I'm happy being where I am on the techy tree, but I couldn't give a fuck about going into management.
Boris Sprinkler
Dont be scared
Technical Knowledge is important, but I am now starting to delegate that out as I get more and more reponsibilities/work to deal with. Current financial climate is causing an upsurge in undesirable behaviour.
Alot of the work I do is control based, research and policy orientated. Strong implementation of policies and impacting mindset being highly important in the security of an organisation. Yeah fuckit, reckon I could do that!
Alot of the work I do is control based, research and policy orientated. Strong implementation of policies and impacting mindset being highly important in the security of an organisation. Yeah fuckit, reckon I could do that!
this is the same for me. i got off the career ladder when the next step was being a director = doing nothing but managing people and dealing with office politics and smarming up to clients.
its a real shame that good technical people cant progress above a certain level without having to do something that they are generally really not that good at = management.
off to academia now tho, think its probably the only place where you do get promoted for being good at technical stuff. and you dont have to work long hours.
bugger all money in it tho.
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
The career ladder isn't important. There's only one step further I could take anyway and I'm not fussed about it. My existing management duties are in addition to the other work I do and stepping up a rung would just give more responsibilities. I'd have even more management , marketing etc to do as well as all my client work
Having enough money to look after my family is important. I have five mouths to feed, or seven if you include the pets
Having enough money to look after my family is important. I have five mouths to feed, or seven if you include the pets
roryer
道可道非常道，名可名非常名
Climbing in seniority and respect in the field in which you work is naturally important, apart from anything else it gives people the ability to get more done, and for anyone gaining 20 or 30 years of experience and knowledge about a discipline, I imagine being bossed about by someone 15 years your junior wouldn't be ideal.
How this relates to the career ladder however is an interesting point, since most people will not end up in senior management positions in large companies then where does that leave you if you are in middle age, and have not 'made it'?
Does this make you a failure? Well, I think that knowledge and skill are not the key indicators of who will succeed in their careers, which seems to depend largely upon luck, being in the right place at the right time, sometimes subterfuge, undermining colleagues in order to get ahead, and often ambition and perseverance.
So if you are happy doing what you do, and are considered an 'expert' in a particular field, then your senior management will likely consult with you, rather than demand you to do as they say.
So in conclusion, I guess yes, it is usually good to climb the ladder as it may make your life more fulfilling, but not essential if you enjoy your job and are happy with your life, and nobody should beat themselves up about not achieving career success, as we all really know that life is a bit of a lottery.
How this relates to the career ladder however is an interesting point, since most people will not end up in senior management positions in large companies then where does that leave you if you are in middle age, and have not 'made it'?
Does this make you a failure? Well, I think that knowledge and skill are not the key indicators of who will succeed in their careers, which seems to depend largely upon luck, being in the right place at the right time, sometimes subterfuge, undermining colleagues in order to get ahead, and often ambition and perseverance.
So if you are happy doing what you do, and are considered an 'expert' in a particular field, then your senior management will likely consult with you, rather than demand you to do as they say.
So in conclusion, I guess yes, it is usually good to climb the ladder as it may make your life more fulfilling, but not essential if you enjoy your job and are happy with your life, and nobody should beat themselves up about not achieving career success, as we all really know that life is a bit of a lottery.
bemused
Well-Known Member
For me it depends if it means I'll be doing something interesting, years ago I worked for a company and got put on their 'high potential' program. I was amazed the ammount of people on that group that applied for and got some really shit jobs. I got taken off it because I was only appliing for stuff and wanted to do and not just to become 'a manager'.
I moved on and now years later am climbing a career ladder but only to the point where the next level won't interest me. I've never understood people who just want to be managers just so for the job title, they normally end up doing some really awful jobs.
I moved on and now years later am climbing a career ladder but only to the point where the next level won't interest me. I've never understood people who just want to be managers just so for the job title, they normally end up doing some really awful jobs.
Really important. Within an academic field. I want to be as good as I can within a particular area and be a person who finds out new things and publishes them 
eta: I should point out that I'm not even on the ladder yet, still studying, so maybe things will change and I'll be happiest doing something else
eta: I should point out that I'm not even on the ladder yet, still studying, so maybe things will change and I'll be happiest doing something else
what career ladder
This
Meltingpot
Living in our pools we soon forget about the sea
I'm between jobs at the moment, so frankly any job which pays a living wage and is at least bearable would be an improvement. Otherwise though, I think the best job for me is one which uses the greatest number of my skills and abilities so I don't get bored. Also, to have a boss and workmates I can get on with.
FridgeMagnet
Administrator
Really important. Within an academic field. I want to be as good as I can within a particular area and be a person who finds out new things and publishes them
eta: I should point out that I'm not even on the ladder yet, still studying, so maybe things will change and I'll be happiest doing something else
Being as good as you can within an area isn't climbing a ladder though. I think that I am considerably better at what I do than I used to be, but in fact in order to get there I had to get off the ladder (i.e. quit my job and go freelance) because the only ladders I had access to were based on taking management roles and nothing else.
Puddy_Tat
🐈⬛
in the grand scheme of things, i'm not really driven by ambition.
the snag is, if you don't try to climb the proverbial ladder, then you often end up being bossed around by some jumped up overgrown sixth-former who has got there via a 'management training programme' rather than by actually ever having been good at doing anything useful, who doesn't really understand what you do but knows it must be really simple because you're paid less than him, and who assumes there's something wrong with you for not climbing the ladder...
the snag is, if you don't try to climb the proverbial ladder, then you often end up being bossed around by some jumped up overgrown sixth-former who has got there via a 'management training programme' rather than by actually ever having been good at doing anything useful, who doesn't really understand what you do but knows it must be really simple because you're paid less than him, and who assumes there's something wrong with you for not climbing the ladder...
1927
Funnier than he thinks he is.
I used to be keen on climbing the ladder, but bout 10 years ago got off and had spells of unemployment, shit jobs and stuff. I am now working longer hours than I was 10 years ago, for less money with more responsibility, but I am far happier and that is what matter to me!
AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
The idea of a good work life balance and some job satisfaction are more important to me than rank or salary.
I have no interest whatsoever and would loathe being a boss, and would be an extremely shit one.
being a good boss usually means shit at creativity and brilliant at making money,
sales/ marketing/ secretaries or whoteva = people that organise talented scatty people and take the credit usually too
being a good boss usually means shit at creativity and brilliant at making money,
sales/ marketing/ secretaries or whoteva = people that organise talented scatty people and take the credit usually too
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