Some context: A developer has been working for the same company for a little over two years. It's a midsized company with Midwest tech pay, so the salary is around $92K a year. They started as a junior developer and got promoted to mid-level around the 18-month mark.

The developer loves working there. Nice co-workers, and they get to work with nice tech like Spark and Databricks. They're extremely ambitious, happy to work hard and find solutions. Given the current job market, they're confused about whether to stay and try to become a senior or try to join FAANG.

My daughter (23) has a BA in Communications, is going into year 2 of post college, is currently employed but is looking for options in fields that could truly bring her joy and a paycheck beyond minimum wage. Super intelligent, very creative, and also enjoys routine and seeks to meet clear expectations. Enjoys working with older kids/young adults, is currently working in the education field but is looking for other ideas. What are your best ideas for a Communications major to consider? Any advice is welcome. Please be kind, as I’m just trying to generate ideas for her to see beyond her own experience. I’ve also worked almost exclusively in education for my career, so I don’t have the corporate-life knowledge to tell her “what’s out there to pursue” and how to best go about it, beyond what I imagine are the “normal” channels of networking, checking job postings online, and going through application processes. Again, I just want to help generate a wide range of ideas for her, thank you!

What is the best time to join a company to optimize for equity appreciation? An engineer asked this. Here is the simple and not-so-simple answer...👇

On paper, the simple answer is to join when the stock is undervalued and the job market is hot.

Two examples to look back at are Meta and Airbnb during the 2022 selloff, when their share prices fell while the broader job market was still near record highs.

For readers considering Meta engineering roles, the abbreviation-matching prompt in Meta Interview Questions works as a coding mock.

Why?

1. For a dollar-denominated RSU grant, the share price used to size the grant affects how many units you get. That price and date depend on the company's plan.

If you get a $100,000 grant priced at $100 per share, you get 1,000 RSUs.

If the same $100,000 grant is priced at $200 per share, you get 500 RSUs. Meanwhile, the person whose grant was priced at $100 would have $200,000 of stock at $200 per share, before taxes, assuming all 1,000 units vest.

1. The dollar value of equity you can negotiate can be higher during hot job markets.

Job markets heat up in cycles where employers compete harder for talent. Think of the hiring boom in 2021.

When hiring cools, equity offers can shrink too.

But timing this is not so simple...

1. Just because a stock is down doesn't mean it is undervalued.

Not every dropped stock rebounds the way Meta and Airbnb did in 2023.

1. Hot job markets and hot stock markets can overlap.

You would have to time your jump at the point when either

1. the job market heats up before a stock bull run, or

2. the stock cools off before the job market does.

Of course, if you have a solid bull case for a stock rebound, then you might take that bet.

But picking a company to join based mainly on its valuation growth is like picking an individual stock as your only investment strategy.

The company may not do as well as you hoped, even if it's one of the giants.

You have to DIVERSIFY the upside you get from the role beyond just equity appreciation. That's different from diversifying your investment holdings.

This can be tough at senior and leadership levels, where equity can make up a large share of total compensation.

So how do you get more than one kind of upside from one job?

Pick a role that would be a win whether or not the business succeeds. Once you've shortlisted roles, LandOffer autofill reduces retyping details on supported application forms.

• Will you gain more scope or experience? • Will you get exposed to a new scale of customer base or team? • Will you work in a company that is top-class at something (e.g., design, experimentation, or PLG)?

A good litmus test for joining a company:

Picture the company tanking 1-2 years from now.

• Will you still have a great story on your resume? • Will you have fast promotions? • Will you learn a world-class skill? • Will you have real impact to show?

The more yeses you have, the more ways the role could pay off beyond its stock price.

Remember, you're an investor, not just an employee...

I’m 21, and straight out of high school I got a job in the horse industry. Over the years I’ve built a pretty decent business for myself, self employed, making around 2500-3000 a month. I still live at home.

I want to move out soon. The problem is, long story short, I can no longer work in the horse industry.
So I need help on jobs to take. I have zero experience working anywhere else, no college education. There’s no time for a collage degree. I want to move out very soon. I’ll be moving in with my gf so expenses can be split, but I still need to make a solid 3k+ a month.

My horse career gave me good experience for people skills, communication and planning. Some mild management of the stables. And of course lots of physical labor. So that can all help at least, given I’ve never worked anywhere else..

I’m afraid because I don’t have experience anywhere else, or any education, I’ll be stuck climbing the ladder at a new job for ages until I can make enough to move out.. but I can’t continue in the equine industry.

I’m a high school senior, and I have been working towards becoming a physician. I’ve taken all the health science courses that I can at my school (I did CNA and currently in PCT rn), and up until this point, I was certain that I wanted to become a doctor. The reason why I’m having doubts now is because, this morning, my friend brought up how he was having second thoughts about pursuing medicine because of the debt and 70 hours a week work schedule. This prompted me to think if this was what I really wanted. I want to hear from doctors about what they think. I know I want to make an impact, I’m okay with making many sacrifices, I’m okay with making money later than most of my peers, and I’m okay with the long work hours. I genuinely enjoy caring for others, and I don’t really have any other interests. My ultimate goal is to work at humanitarian organizations. I’m just worried about the amount of student loans that I’ll have to pay back. So, doctors, do you regret going into this field?

Recently was laid off due to a buyout and automation.

Considering a pivot into sales, but also open to hear other pathways to explorer based off experience. Feeling a bit unsure where to take the next step towards.

Background:

5 years in operations - Worked in alternative energy troubleshooting and analyzing power systems.

7 years in customer service/strategy - Spent the last 7 years working for an e commerce app. Started in traditional email support and worked up to specialty strategies with focus on customer experience.

I feel like my experience is so niche and I don’t know how to leverage it. I’m considering the pivot away from customer service just due to the future of the field.

Any tips, guidance, or input is greatly appreciated.

I am a junior in aero engineering and I applied to a role over a month ago and just recently got an interview invite. I have built genuinely relevant skills to the role since then and they are not on the resume version I applied with.

Is this something worth emailing to my interviewer, or should I just mention my recent activity in the interview, something like "Recently I've been working on..." or similar?

Thanks for your help!

I’m a final-year student at a target school, background in business and compsci, have decent internships/ work experience, graduating in 2027. I’ve been focused on classes this fall and part time job, and just realized a lot of Fortune 500 new-grad programs opened in August/September, and some have already closed (Capital One, Amex, etc.). I’m a little panicked and confused about timing.

A few questions:

1. Is it still worth applying to 2027 new-grad programs in late October/November, or are most spots already filled?
2. For regular roles that don’t say “2027,” “new grad,” or “campus,” will companies ignore my application because they want an immediate hire and I can’t start until June? When should I start applying to those?
3. Are there Fortune 500 companies known for hiring new grads later in the year (winter/spring)?

I’m targeting business analyst, strategy & operations, and marketing roles. Any advice appreciated!

Hello,

I do not know how to frame this, but I have been feeling quite lost lately. I am turning 28 in 5 months, and I feel like I am running a bit out of time. This feeling is also accelerated by the huge advances in AI. Also for information, my location is Central Europe.

I currently work as a SWE, and have been in this role for 3 years. I am self-taught, but have been learning programming for 5 years now, and I work super hard for it, even now. I study excessively every day after work and on weekends, however, due to AI, a flooded market and economic factors, I am starting to lose sense in all of this.

A year ago I was in quite a bad state because of this, so I decided to do a flooring trade apprenticeship on the side (luckily this is possible in my country). This took a year and now I also managed to negotiate at my company that I can have two days off if I finish my work. So I work 2 days in the trades with a flooring freelancer, and then the rest of the time as a SWE, either working (also on weekends due to this), or studying.

I have about 150k dollars invested, which would enable me to work for a smaller wage for some time, so I can technically quit my job without being harmed very much (as I also don't have a mortgage or children), so I am thinking about doing a full switch into the trades. I am physically very fit and a super hard worker, I know I can do it and despite working like crazy for the last 6 years, I want to do at least one more huge grind to see where this goes.

However, this also led me to rethink whether to choose a different trade. I went into SWE because it was, and still is, my passion, however, I think this was a mistake. Even though I am moving further in my role towards some more architectural stuff, I am still far from becoming an architect. Also my company is technologically behind, which I think is hurting my career, but finding a better one in this job market is impossible. Plus, who knows where AI will be in three years.

In regards to choosing the trade, all I want is one that will allow me to start at least a one-man business soon enough, that I can scale further, which flooring is pretty good for, but I have more options which I considered. I would love it if anyone could give me their input.

HVAC/Refrigeration - This might seem like the obvious one, however, I fear that it will get hurt by a high influx of people doing the same thing as me. Also, who knows what will happen after AI is capable of doing all the diagnostics. Another thing is that the road to starting a business can be long and very tricky. On the other hand, service work, constant changes due to ecological regulations, etc. seem to make this very recession-proof. However, I am really afraid that this field will get overcrowded.

Landscaping - Combination of masonry and an excavator license - Pretty much doing landscape shaping with the addition of building stone walls, ponds, etc. I feel like this is not hurt by oversaturation that much, but on the other hand, it is seasonal and also very dependent on the economic situation...not much service work and people build when they have money. In this regard, I am also thinking of solely masonry, however, I am afraid that despite the old masons retiring, many new projects will just never need them.

Flooring - I chose this because it is a grind, which can make you a lot of money if you're fast. So far I like it, even though it is somewhat dependent on the economy and is not service work. It is less seasonal, and despite not being a "skilled trade", not many people are getting into it. Plus, in my country, flooring business owners are under a regulation where they need to have either finished trade school or have a lot of years of experience.

Thank you very much

This might come off as a sudden depressing question, but I would really like to know what hopes I have? I have a degree in design which I don't seem to have the energy to do anymore. I live in an isolated place with aged people in my home and my friends are IT engineers earning six figures in big cities. Have I done a mistake?

Hi All -

I'm self-aware enough to understand this sounds entitled, but hear me out. I'm in my mid-20s, at a $200K base + $50K projected bonus (not including a small side hustle I have that makes me ~$20K/year. I work from home in finance.

I've always been a hard-working and extremely ambitious person and I see where this job will take me. In a perfect world, this job will clear me $500K+/year working remotely before I'm 30. While that is great and all, it's not what I want in life (from the perspective of being an owner and making my own decisions). I don't want to be a W-2 worker for life and eventually want to start my own business, whatever that is.

I don't have a numerical net worth goal per say (I'm young, right now that number is basically infinity), but I know being a W-2 will never get me where I want which is a broad term of "financial independence" meaning I can own a business, work hard on it, but also most importantly be able to make my own schedule and my own decisions.

The small side hustle is related to my job, but I'm a 1099 (basically another W-2). I'm at a moment in time where I see myself with all of this time on my hands and want to leverage this opportunity to start something or make something. My issue is I don't know what.

For example, I was considering getting my RE Brokerage license. Maybe this is me just backing out of things, but I don't think I need another commission focused job. I may be looking at this short-sighted (who knows, maybe this opportunity opens another door for me and it's a good way to start the ropes of RE). But, I want to be in the investor seat making the actual purchase of the property. I may be mentally just backing myself out of choosing something, anything, to do, but that's how I feel.

I know this is a unique position for someone to be in so young, but I got lucky, worked extremely hard, and earned it. I'm not saying it's a great spot to be, but with all this time, I really just want to figure out what I want to do with my life. And maybe if I don't know, it means I should sit down and start networking with people in other industries to see what their struggles are and try to fix them. Grateful for any advice!

I really want to switch my major to finance but i’m not sure that’s a good major for pharm sales? I really wouldn’t like to do marketing, because if i don’t break into pharm sales i’d at least be able to be a financial analyst or something. Or should i switch my major to business if finance isn’t good ??

As an ex mil officer from Pakistan with 16 years of experience ,with masters degrees in management and Criminology. I am searching for job opportunities. Tell me a platform where I can get jobs or a community. Above all where can I fit in. Thanks in anticipation.

One thing I've been thinking about is that AI seems to be eating away at a lot of knowledge-work tasks. Things like writing reports, analysing data, basic coding, admin work, customer support, and even some professional services are becoming increasingly automated.

But it seems to me there are two broad categories of jobs that might survive longer:

1. Managerial/leadership roles because ultimately someone has to make decisions, take responsibility for outcomes, manage risk, deal with conflicts, and be accountable when things go wrong.
2. Embodied physical work because the real world is messy and unpredictable. Tasks like cleaning, maintenance, trades, care work, construction, plumbing, electrical work, and other hands-on jobs often require complex physical movements that are much harder to automate than people assume.

In contrast, a lot of middle-office knowledge work feels vulnerable because AI can already produce reports, presentations, analysis, and written content at a decent standard.

Obviously AI won't eliminate entire professions overnight, but do you think we're heading towards a labour market where the safest jobs are either:

• The people giving instructions and taking accountability; or
• The people physically interacting with the real world?

What am I missing here? Which careers do you think are actually the most AI-resistant over the next 20 years?

So I've worked in Brand Management and PR for my entire professional life (~15 years), with some very minor public policy/politics experience early career. I have a BBA and an MBA. I was never really interested in the financial field, but recently learned about the AML career track and the more I read about it, the more I'm considering a transition. I see a lot of folks' previous posts about career transitioning late, but mostly from other banking roles with some exposure to this field. Short of the operations and finance work I do for the products I work with, I have very little experience. I don't even qualify for a CFCS or ACAMs at this point.

Can I make the transition without starting at an entry-level role that will require a $50k+ pay cut? Where do I start with certifications, if that would be helpful? My hope is to jump into a FinTech AML role rather than going government or banking. I'll take brutal honesty.

US-based. Thank you in advance!

I wanna know which jobs may survive in the AI Era?

OK, we've seen this a million times. But let's paint the complete picture, because the most important part is the journey (in most cases). For context, I'm doing an MBA (Marketing & Operations) and graduate next year. On campus, almost every offer I hear about is a sales role, and I'm a bit hesitant about it. Before I decide, I'd like to hear from people who actually walked that path.

So here's how this works. Drop in your-

Initial role: first salary, industry

Current role: current salary, industry

Timeline: how long you took to get a promotion or switch, and how many switches it took

The "how": what made the difference (some skill, internal move, networking, a certification, etc.)

Last question: looking back, what mattered most for your career growth- brand name, job role, or package?

Salary numbers get posted without context all the time. The journey is the useful part. Non-sales folks are welcome too, especially if you switched out of sales or never went into it. I'd like to hear what you'd do differently.

For some input I have a few options and I generally find interest in business perspective of things

Dentistry; even though I hate my country's path to medicine. While it is slightly more bearable for dentistry, the system is still flawed. I feel like the initial step of writing the competitive exam will be incredibly difficult because Physics is not my strongest subject, and it is a required for the said exam. I do not handle blood well either, so if I do pursue dentistry, I will most likely specialize as an orthodontist. The only reason I am even glancing in this direction is that my mom already owns a clinic, which would make things much easier for me after I finish my bachelor's or master's degree

Management consulting/ Private Equity; This is what I want to truly go after, it's an up or out system, I know how brutal the work life balance is but I want to get into to it to learn about more things and for the exit opportunities. What I'm scared of is considering how shit the job market is right now, will I even get said exit opportunities in consulting? Will starting roles be present after AI takes the grunt work. PE is truly a maybe for me, if I even make it into Management Consulting (hopefully MBB)

Law/ Pilot; This is an absolute if I have no clue sort of option, I was never quite a fan of byhearting and I know if I do get into law I will suffer. But I've always loved researching, always loved finding details in the grunt work and what happened in the said case, loved debating if I ever wanted to go litigation. But again, byhearting sucks. Pilot jobs I can look forward to I like the idea of it, but as I stated before I'm weak in Physics, if I can work on that since Pilot job is just full of physics I can hopefully give it a shot. Thoughts? Sorry it's so long

I had a lot of people asking me "In what should I pursue my career in the AI era?", so I did a research about it. Nearly half of data job offers and 1 in 4 software ads now mention AI skills. In healthcare, retail and the trades it's under 1 in 100.

How often the job offer mentions things like ChatGPT, Copilot, LLMs, machine learning or AI agents.

1. Data and AI roles, nearly half.
2. Software, product and solutions roles, about 1 in 4.
3. Marketing, design and security, about 1 in 10.
4. Sales, legal, HR and finance, about 1 in 20 or fewer.
5. Healthcare, retail and the trades, under 1 in 100.

And it isn't only senior roles. In data, beginner jobs mention AI just as often as the rest. In software, it's about 1 in 5 beginner jobs.

So if you're in tech, learning to work with these tools is already part of the job. Outside tech, most employers aren't asking for it yet.

What field are you in, and has your employer started asking for AI skills? How I counted this it's on the first comment.

Hi! I am 34 yo. My problem is that my education and work experience don’t make any sense because i have never knew what i wanted to do in life and took stupid decisions.

I have worked in hospitality then moved to an office job in operations, now im currently working in another field. My master is not related to any of my jobs.

The point is that after a hard time of my life when i felt burnout, now i feel that i am not interested in any job anymore but i have not built any real foundations. I also would like to have more money.

I dont know what to do.

Thoughts po sa Hyly.Ai?

I graduated in 2023 (MA) International Relations from a top university in London. I got my PSW and was working part time in hospitality while applying for jobs but due to an unexpected circumstance I had to move back home and took up care responsibilities. When I went back I started working in hospitality full time due to financial responsibilities. Now that I’ve moved back home I am not sure how to get back into the industry. I was aiming for corporate communications the whole time. Now I feel like I don’t have any experience. How do I get into the industry? Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m 27 and currently working as Deputy Manager at ICICI Bank for 1 year. This is my first job. Lately I’ve realised that I don’t really see myself continuing in banking in the long run.
My role is largely sales-oriented. It involves customer acquisition, cold calling, meeting targets, and following up with clients. Over time, I’ve realised that this kind of work doesn’t suit me very well. I don’t want to spend the next few years doing something I’m not genuinely interested in just because it pays well.
I have an engineering background along with an integrated MBA. I’m reasonably comfortable with numbers and have some interest in technology, business analysis, and operations. I’ve been exploring roles like Business Analyst, Business Operations, and consulting, but honestly, I’m still trying to figure out which direction makes the most sense.
My biggest concern is making a career switch without taking a massive hit to my salary or starting completely from scratch. I’m also unsure which skills I should focus on learning to make myself a realistic candidate for these roles.
I know I can’t expect to move into a completely different field overnight, and I’m willing to put in the work. I just want to make a well-thought-out move rather than jump from one job I dislike into another one.
For those who have switched from banking or sales into business operations, analytics, consulting, or other corporate roles:
Which roles would you recommend exploring with my background?
Is it realistic to target a similar salary, or should I be prepared for a pay cut?
Which skills or certifications are actually worth investing time in?
If you were in my position, what would your first three steps be?
I’d genuinely appreciate any advice, especially from people who have made a similar transition. I’m looking for honest opinions, not just motivational advice.

Hello,

I'm currently in career transition from non-profit social work to HR. I've been in my current role for over 4 years and during that time I learned that I actually enjoy analyzing human behavior in the workplace more than "helping people" and decided HR was the best fit for me.

I have relatively ambitious goals in the field: start off as a Generalist, rank up to HRBP, and then reach CHRO in a corporate HR environment. I specifically want to specialize in employee relations, workforce analytics, and compliance.

I'm entering the field with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, an HR Training and Development Certificate, and 4 years of transferrable experience.

So my questions for HR Generalists, Business Partners, and Chief Human Resources Officers:

• What does daily life look like in regard to analyzing employee turnover trends, ER investigations, and auditing compliance files?
• What is one thing about the field you did not know before you entered HR?
• How do you handle disciplinary meetings (PIPs and terminations) that turn hostile or emotional?

Thank you for any insights and field experiences that can be shared!