I was recently asked the career question “What do you wish you knew before that you know now?”, which turned out to be a difficult question, in large part because I’ve been lucky as hell with my recent gig. However, I do think I made two tangible career “mistakes”.
First, I didn’t learn autoCAD at Berkeley so I was relatively unemployable when I came out of undergrad. However, because of this oversight, I worked as a landscape laborer moving dirt for the most influential six month stretch in my career. That was then followed up with a good run as a hand draftsman — there aren’t many people in my generation that has gone the full technology arc from lead holder through CAD to BIM.
Second, I let myself be pressured into quickly accepting the first job offer that came along after grad school, locking me into a low rate for the next three years. However, I correctly guessed that this job would teach me a lot, both in residential and commercial. Furthermore, they hired me as an hourly worker so when I had my hours cut during the recession I was given the free time to got my licence without too much pain. A more corporate firm may have cut my salary by 25% but expected that I maintain 50 hour weeks to keep the job.
I’ve always found “no-regrets guy” to be a little obnoxious, but right now I’m fat and happy. Maybe I’ll have a better response and a more jaundiced view of the career after the next recession.