It has taught me that imposter syndrome fucking sucks.
On a more serious note, it’s taught me to be a solid ally for colleagues but always be skeptical of the business owners and decision makers themselves. I woke up to a layoff along with 5 other people and was laid off for 3 months before I found a new gig. Don’t allow emotions to cloud your job search. It’s all a negotiation and you should push for whatever you can get in terms of salary, PTO, etc. Never sell yourself short because the company sold you some story about how they need help.
It depends on the job type really. If it’s something in the food business, you are in a literal death trap every day in the name of some random person’s sense of taste, but if you’re in a humanity job for example, they can’t afford the mentality that would cause the work scene to not accommodate to you.
I work in agricultural robotics… Our client develops a new harvesting machine, but is unaware of the real danger of it. My boss just want the things done as fast as possible. This expose us to danger. Not really a robotic cell, not really an agricultural machine, something in between, without any direct regulation to cover it because it is new.
Sorry about that. Hopefully they fix that and you live somewhere where they’ll be able to. In most relatively well-off countries, usually filing a complaint in court does the job.
A lot of truth in this thread, albeit too cynical for my taste. Yes, the company as soulless, emotionless entity doesn’t care for you. However, your coworkers might, even your boss.
Also, my main take away:
make sure you know your worth
make sure the right people know your worth
make sure the right people know that you know your worth
To add some positivity… Art is absolutely something you can make money with. It’s a struggle and you’re going to be poor for most of your early career, but that goes for most jobs. Make art.
What is your discipline? I personally am a graphic designer, but I also shoot and edit video, learned to produce shoots, and shoot and edit edit photo when needed, though I’m definitely nothing specia with photo. I love animating my designs in after effects and I have made myself pretty damn good with html, css, JavaScript and web flow. You gotta be open to things. Creativity is all connected. Any boring PowerPoint deck can be a creative challenge.
But remember that you’re working is worth real money. Everyone else thinka you do nothing and you’ll have to earn all of your respect. Be kind and humble. It is possible.
My biggest lesson was that decades of work means nothing if you become disabled (in the US).
You can end up with literally nothing and lose literally everything if you become disabled. Even if you still have skills, even though you worked hard to contribute to society for decades, it can all go away overnight and you can suddenly not afford food anymore. There’s no safety net, and you won’t learn that until you need it.
If you’ve worked for somewhere less than two years, they can pretty much fire you for whatever reason they want, as long as it doesn’t discriminate against a protected characteristic (i.e. gender, disability, sexual orientation.)
Brits had their rights to take cases to an employment tribunal eroded by the Tories.
You still have rights. Everyone should have a contract by law. Joining a union will get you advice on those rights. Your negative attitude is a primary cause that the Tories have gotten away with so much.
I agree the Tories have eroded rights past the point of reason, and even those right we have are more difficult to defend. P and O being a case in point. The Tories even kept them (P and O) in line for a £300m contract after this. That does not mean we should not defend those rights. Being complacent is a terrible route to just meander into.
Full fact shows the average wages dropped by £20 per week in 2018 from 2008. We have had 3 more years since then and now it is very obvious that it is a lot worse. The young and the poorest feeling it the most. A union sub is £10 per month on average. If everyone was in a union then the whole country’s contracted labour force would be £30 per month better off. Not being in a union is a false economy.
If nothing else please make sure you vote when we get the chance.
Document absoluely everything. Get every agreement in writing. If someone tells you to do something in a meeting, follow it up with an email response confirming the action. Keep a copy of those emails. If it’s not written, it didn’t happen.
I got this advice from my boss 35 years ago before texting and email. It’s so true. Beware folks that tell you things verbally, follow it up in writing. They may be trying to dodge accountability. We had a president known for not using email
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