Wavering Back and Forth

When looking forward to the great expanse that I envision lying forward in the future, I feel awestruck imagining the range of possible outcomes that exist. On the one hand, I imagine how if I put my best foot forward and dedicate myself wholeheartedly to the pursuit of my ambition, with the help of luck I might find myself in the position of just having found a top job at a large company. On the other hand, I imagine myself allowing things to slip by and not endeavoring to find a good job and not practicing the skills needed to find one, but instead slacking off and investing suboptimal effort in pursuing my duty. Comparing these two drastic alternatives, I can see that the long-term effects of both are drastic. One the one hand, I can work my way into finding a respectable position in society. If not, I might find myself bereft of a job, straggling to keep up with the lower ranks of the software engineering competition.

However, more important to me currently than achieving either of these possibilities is keeping a tab on my efforts to train and find a good job, as the long-term outcome of my career trajectory is likely to be most strongly influenced by the consistent and daily effort I invest into honing my skills and preparing to be a candidate that can succeed at such a job. An important aspect of this is maintaining a realistic attitude towards my own efforts and my standing relative to the competition, which will minimize surprise and ensure that the work invested closely follows reality. Part of maintaining clearheadedness while investing my time and cognitive resources towards the task of becoming prepared for my career requires that I maintain organized, such as by maintaining a list of the programming problems I need to solve to be considered a viable coder. Another key component is ensuring that I can adhere to a fixed and regular schedule while working, with a lengthy attention span and a workweek that is commensurate with that of the workforce. In addition to these two qualities, a sharp mind and tongue are vital in order to communicate with those recruiting for jobs my capability, thought process, and the ideas that may make me stand out.

If, acting in opposition to the previous paragraph, I chose to not monitor myself and my pursuit of my goal of landing a good job, instead harboring a lax attitude toward the whole affair, clinging onto the small, yet impossibly unrealistic sliver of hope that I may be able to obtain a competitive, high-caliber role in a career through "magic", then I have every excuse to not mind my manners, daily routine, and even my own capabilities and competence. Though the effort involved will be less, the opportunity cost of not duly investing the required effort will inevitably be revealed through the tradeoff of landing a job that is, most likely, subpar, not because it is impossible to land a good job, but because the probability of me making it through the levels of screening and interviews for a competitive role will be reduced by my obvious lack of preparedness, which cannot be reasonably masked before the interviewers except by implementing a devious plan that is likely to be equally, or perhaps, more effort-intensive.

And yet, despite the necessity, it is most likely not even enough to put forth one's best effort into coding, resume and skills improvement, and interview preparation, as the size of the competitive pool far exceeds the available roles in industry, particularly in the corner of the world which I live in. One must be driven past the norm, with an attitude of conquering and a willingness to invest relentlessly into the process of finding jobs without expectation of return. Hence, it can be daunting to even consider the amount of drab, difficult drudgery that one must begin to engage with on a regular basis, without assurance of outcome, and burdened by the knowledge that there are others, potentially whom one is close to, who have achieved the same feats of varying remarkability. So, I conclude by highlighting the importance of maintaining a realistic, and possibly dim if necessary, attitude towards one's prospects of securing success in the workforce, as a necessary prerequisite of working to find a competitive job, as the first step in establishing a respectable career.