So. Just surfing the web to determine what career I should pursue instead of accounting. I know, clearly, the answer is on some website. But I ran into this Forbes' list of happiest jobs, and discovered, to my horror, that they listed 'Assistant Controller' as the #10 happiest job ever. That was the moment I decided I will never look at another one of these lists again.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/03/22/the-happiest-and-unhappiest-jobs-in-america/
WTF should I do with my life?
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
How do you want to spend your days?
The phrasing of the question really hit home with me; I love it. It distills my feelings about the finite nature of your time on earth. The ease of the diction removes the existential anxiety usually associated with such questions. The confluence of these feelings makes it a perfect way to approach the question.
How do you want to spend your days? No big deal. What would you prefer to do? Don't think about the practicality of your choices, or your future, or your past. Just try to identify what you feel you would want to do with your days. What do you want to do? Who do you want to help? What legacy do you want to leave?
How do you want to spend your days? No big deal. What would you prefer to do? Don't think about the practicality of your choices, or your future, or your past. Just try to identify what you feel you would want to do with your days. What do you want to do? Who do you want to help? What legacy do you want to leave?
How to Get a Job with the Big 4
Ten Easy Steps:
1. Go to a college where the Big 4 firms recruit from
2. Earn a >3.5 GPA in accounting
3. Join the accounting and finance clubs
4. Hold an office with a campus organization
5. Do a day or two of community service
6. Write a decent resume
7. Invest in a nice suit, and professional haircut
8. Land an internship with an accounting firm
9. Smile and make conversation during the interview
10. Don't be a total melvin
Accept offer.
1. Go to a college where the Big 4 firms recruit from
2. Earn a >3.5 GPA in accounting
3. Join the accounting and finance clubs
4. Hold an office with a campus organization
5. Do a day or two of community service
6. Write a decent resume
7. Invest in a nice suit, and professional haircut
8. Land an internship with an accounting firm
9. Smile and make conversation during the interview
10. Don't be a total melvin
Accept offer.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Big 4 Sweat Shop
"Stop acting like some 'real world' project manager. You're just a slave driver in an office full of desperate people."
The above is a quote from an actual conversation I had with a friend while at the Big 4, talking about what we wish we had the balls to say to our manager. It made me laugh really hard. Then the reality of the statement sunk in.
“If it was remotely interesting there would be a show on A&E about it.” - Tom, Parks and Recreation
The above is a quote from an actual conversation I had with a friend while at the Big 4, talking about what we wish we had the balls to say to our manager. It made me laugh really hard. Then the reality of the statement sunk in.
“If it was remotely interesting there would be a show on A&E about it.” - Tom, Parks and Recreation
Monday, March 25, 2013
CPA and CFA?
Yep, a I earned a masters in accounting, a CPA, and some Big4 audit experience, and now I'm pursuing the CFA.
Know that pursuing multiple designations looks good, but it also looks bad. It means you messed up and pursued the wrong career at some point, but it also means you are experienced and well rounded. Its neither good nor bad. You are not better than someone who doesn't have a certification, in the same way the person with more certifications is not better than you. They're just tests.
Why?
The risk/reward trade off of an accounting career versus all other jobs in 'finance', the soul crushing-ness of redoing someone else's detail accounting work, the misery of formatting excel spreadsheets with the right color highlights and boarders, working late nights for meaningless deadlines, the drudgery of dedicating your career to zero-value backwards looking work. I'm taking this ridiculous test to escape accounting.
It is hard. Its a big sacrifice of your precious free time and youth, and the pay-off is not guaranteed. However, studying and passing proves you are self motivated, that you can work hard, and are intelligent enough. It provides you a chance to learn very interesting concepts in a structured and verifiable way. Its fun to compete and push yourself. That's why.
CFA Salary Data referring to a CFA institute survey from 2006
http://news.efinancialcareers.com/13632/cfa-compensation-survey-results/
CPA Salary Data referring to a 2010 Robert Half Survey
https://community.thiswaytocpa.com/allgroups/profession/b/articles/archive/2012/12/28/cha-ching-cha-ching.aspx
Know that pursuing multiple designations looks good, but it also looks bad. It means you messed up and pursued the wrong career at some point, but it also means you are experienced and well rounded. Its neither good nor bad. You are not better than someone who doesn't have a certification, in the same way the person with more certifications is not better than you. They're just tests.
Why?
The risk/reward trade off of an accounting career versus all other jobs in 'finance', the soul crushing-ness of redoing someone else's detail accounting work, the misery of formatting excel spreadsheets with the right color highlights and boarders, working late nights for meaningless deadlines, the drudgery of dedicating your career to zero-value backwards looking work. I'm taking this ridiculous test to escape accounting.
It is hard. Its a big sacrifice of your precious free time and youth, and the pay-off is not guaranteed. However, studying and passing proves you are self motivated, that you can work hard, and are intelligent enough. It provides you a chance to learn very interesting concepts in a structured and verifiable way. Its fun to compete and push yourself. That's why.
CFA Salary Data referring to a CFA institute survey from 2006
http://news.efinancialcareers.com/13632/cfa-compensation-survey-results/
CPA Salary Data referring to a 2010 Robert Half Survey
https://community.thiswaytocpa.com/allgroups/profession/b/articles/archive/2012/12/28/cha-ching-cha-ching.aspx
The Courage to Actually Leave
Be your best you every day. Be thankful you are young and healthy, you won't be for long. Everyone will age, everyone will get sick, everyone will die. Don't get too attached to it, but don't squander it either. Don't squander your opportunity to go after the things you want. You only live once, and you only die once, and the healthy and energized part of your life is far too short to play your cards conservatively. You never know when your time will be up. You can get hit by a truck tomorrow, you could be diagnosed with cancer or some other debilitating disease that will sap your energy and effectively end your ambitions and life as you know it.
Your career is not a battle of attrition. Success does not come from 'sticking it out' in a job that doesn't suit you. Don't quit quitting before you even quit!
Your career is not a battle of attrition. Success does not come from 'sticking it out' in a job that doesn't suit you. Don't quit quitting before you even quit!
“Life is short. Why be an accountant? Except for the stability and the benefits and the above-average pay. Oh, God, this better work out.”- Ben, Parks and Recreation
"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good."- Dr Seuss
"If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good."- Dr Seuss
Finding Your Purpose
The following is summarized from the psycologytoday article linked below. The ideas really resonate with me, and I'd like to put my feelings in writing and document the important points I took away from the article.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-new-resilience/201105/why-its-hard-find-your-life-purpose-in-todays-world
1. Pursue something larger than your ego. Your life's objective should not include superlatives and titles. It should be altruistic. It shouldn't be about optimizing the way your ego feels. Do what you are passionate about and success will follow. Hopefully, if you are working on your passion, your ego wont crave outward success and recognition anyway.
Think about Apple. They created new markets for music, and entertainment, new products from imacs to ipods to itunes to iphones. They weren't focused on winning. They weren't focused on market share and EPS. They were focused on creating the best product, period. That is purpose. Improving the world by focusing on providing the greatest value you can. Of course they are one of the best managed companies in the world and do indeed maximize market share, and practice strategic obsolescence within product lines, and tightly control costs, but their core, their driving focus was the quality of the product.
2. Don't try to find your purpose. Try to 'learn' it. Try to 'feel' it. Study your life story, your successes and failures and try to determine what they say about you and what you like. People are terrible at deciding what will make them happy, and who they are; the self-help industry is supposedly a 2.5b industry per wikipedia. Make a study of you. Be an unbiased expert in you.
"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage."- Emerson
"...may suddenly think during the night, "I must go to the north," and in the morning, he sets out on his journey. He does not know why, he does not know what he is to accomplish there, he only knows that he must go. By going there, he finds something that he has to do and sees that it was the hand of destiny pushing him towards the accomplishment of that purpose which inspired him to go to the north." -Hazrat Inayat Khan
http://www.theonion.com/articles/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionate-about-then-do,31742/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:quote:default
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-new-resilience/201105/why-its-hard-find-your-life-purpose-in-todays-world
1. Pursue something larger than your ego. Your life's objective should not include superlatives and titles. It should be altruistic. It shouldn't be about optimizing the way your ego feels. Do what you are passionate about and success will follow. Hopefully, if you are working on your passion, your ego wont crave outward success and recognition anyway.
Think about Apple. They created new markets for music, and entertainment, new products from imacs to ipods to itunes to iphones. They weren't focused on winning. They weren't focused on market share and EPS. They were focused on creating the best product, period. That is purpose. Improving the world by focusing on providing the greatest value you can. Of course they are one of the best managed companies in the world and do indeed maximize market share, and practice strategic obsolescence within product lines, and tightly control costs, but their core, their driving focus was the quality of the product.
2. Don't try to find your purpose. Try to 'learn' it. Try to 'feel' it. Study your life story, your successes and failures and try to determine what they say about you and what you like. People are terrible at deciding what will make them happy, and who they are; the self-help industry is supposedly a 2.5b industry per wikipedia. Make a study of you. Be an unbiased expert in you.
"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage."- Emerson
"...may suddenly think during the night, "I must go to the north," and in the morning, he sets out on his journey. He does not know why, he does not know what he is to accomplish there, he only knows that he must go. By going there, he finds something that he has to do and sees that it was the hand of destiny pushing him towards the accomplishment of that purpose which inspired him to go to the north." -Hazrat Inayat Khan
http://www.theonion.com/articles/find-the-thing-youre-most-passionate-about-then-do,31742/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:quote:default
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)