career success avoidance 1

Following the success of my post on career success, certain commenters jumped to conclusions. They were assuming that it's an advantage in life to come from the ranks of the management classes. If anything one deserves sympathy, after having to grow up alongside these future captains of industry, at knob school.

The few career opportunities that ever came my way (so far) were of my own making, and I was able to mess them up all by myself.

The only respectable job I ever consented to was when someone talked me into taking a university research post.




I used to keep the blackboard in my office covered in meaningless scribbles, just in case the professor dropped in. It was a cover for what I was really doing with the grant money - writing software to print index labels for all my jazz radio tapes. I was able to maintain the pretence for several years, just long enough to last until I got the black spot, the perfect excuse for shelving the jazz research.

If I remember my sunday school lessons correctly, to him who hath shall be given. And so it came to pass that I received other offers, on the strength of the research job ...