never stop learning. never. ever.
:-)
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Do what makes you happy. Money will follow.
In the early 90's my manager said IBM is in trouble, and the buyouts won't continue forever. Start thinking about a new profession. I joined a local rescue squad, became a paramedic, and was set for the ITO-2 in 1992. Best advice I ever had!
My mom: "Three things bring great people down: fear, greed and ego... Now you know it, so be careful"
“ trust no one” was suggested to me during my 1st year. it should be added to IBM on-boarding manuals.
My 1st mentor said: do the best possible job no matter what it is. cleaning restrooms? make them shine like never before. Have been following this mantra for 40 years and it never failed me.
I was advised to consider taking a municipal job with a defined pension, because retirement will be a pipe dream working at IBM with their measly 401k match. Dave Ramsey agrees.
When 401Ks first became available in the 80s, my manager bugged me daily about opening one. At the time I told him why should I, that is the distant future, plus the pension plan looks great. He told me without pulling punches "this company employs you but does not love you, and despite what they say will always put their perceived well-being ahead of your own. Do not count on current retirement benefits for your future - do what you can to prepare beyond that, and the 401K is a good start". I am glad I listened to him.
I never had any worthwhile advice in ibm. Not once. All I ever got was "do it in half the time it will actually take".
My IBM mentor told me to leave IBM and find another job. There was no future. So I did !
Cannot say I have ever been given any advice working at IBM, besides "get the F out".
The bottom line is a bunch of horrible people work for IBM.
In December of 1980 I received job offers from IBM and accepted one, starting in June of 81. A high school friend's father was an IBM salesman and over Christmas vacation he showed me a copy of the think magazine. In the magazine was a letter written by then chairman Frank Carey. The thing that struck me was in his letter to employees he said - IBM is a great place to work but do not have all your eggs in one basket. Make sure doing things outside of IBM - I may not have it exactly word for word by that was the meaning of it. I took that to heart and made sure I learned about investing and never put all my eggs into the IBM basket (owning two much stock, 401k in all IBM stock) By acting on what Mr. Carey said I was able to retire earlier than I had thought.
- I do know some who put all their eggs into the IBM basket during the 90s when our stock crashed and made loads on the way back up.. but I also know many who got in two late and did not make anything or lost a little bit.
So to all the young folks reading this I say.. make sure you either educate yourself on investing or pay for the knowledge and have someone handle it for you, but do not ignore it because if you do the future you will be regretting that you did not do something earlier.
I worked for an IBM fellow. The day before he quit IBM, he reminded me to stay focused on the future. Doing things we have done before may feel safe but the opposite is generally true.
I have followed his advice as much as possible. I also left IBM 4 months after him.
Instead of a retirement coffee you can get gift certificates. They even have Buffalo Wild Wings!
"There has been a resource action and it has impacted your employment. I hope you can figure out what you want to do for [the rest of your working life]."