In Stop producing mediocre work I made the argument that each and every one of us have it in us to be a superstar at something. We unleash our true potential when we work on something we are truly passionate about and naturally excel at. Here I’ll try to help rediscover that first ingredient in case you’re not sure what it is anymore – finding your passion (btw, I didn’t intend to turn this into a “Stop doing xxx” series but it just turned out that ‘Stop Thinking’ seemed really appropriate for this post…I’ll explain in a bit). What do I mean by passion? I mean work that brings you happiness and joy. You get laser focused and can block out all distractions when engaged in this activity. You would enjoy doing it even if you won the lottery.
Stop producing mediocre work
December 28th, 2009 6 comments »What the hell is this guy talking about? I was trying to pay attention. I really was. And the more I tried the more frustrated I got because I just couldn’t understand. I mean I understood the words but I don’t think they formed coherent sentences. He just stood there and continued to drone on monotonously, his speech almost degenerating to a soft mumble at times. It was like being forced to sit through a really really bad movie (e.g. Gigli). So eventually I just tuned out, pissed off and resolute that I would never return to this lecture again, instead relying solely on my trusty textbook for the rest of the semester.
Senior Accountant – Part 2
December 5th, 2009 5 comments »This is part 2 of 2 of our interview with Jaime on her role as a Senior Accountant at a public accounting firm. You can read part 1 here.
Q7. So how long does an audit usually take? When you first come to a company, you check controls, do the audit check transactions, verify profits, revenues, etc. How long does that process take?
It depends on the size of the company. Usually the planning lasts for a week which is three months before the audit. You come in after the (financial) year end, when the client has done all the adjusting year end entries. It might take two to three months for big companies. For smaller companies it could take two weeks. We ballpark it when we give a quote or estimate. We look at their revenue, gross profit, employees, and based on that we ballpark how many accounts we have to audit. So it really depends on the size of the company.
Senior Accountant – Part 1
November 16th, 2009 12 comments »We recently spoke with Jaime, a Senior Accountant at Grant Thornton. She’s going to give us a peek into the world of accountants. Here is our interview. Enjoy!
Product Line Manager – Part 2
September 14th, 2009 9 comments »This is the second part of a look into my world as a PLM. If you haven’t read Part 1, you can do so here.
Q6. What are the prerequisites to become a PLM, specifically education, skills and experience?
The answer to this question depends somewhat on the industry. Generally, skills and education can be applied across a broad set of industries from tech to fashion. However, as you can guess, the experience required of a PLM in tech might be very different from that of a PLM in the fashion industry. I’ll focus on semiconductors/tech because that is my expertise, but I’ll also try to apply a broader brush where I can for those not too keen on tech.
Product Line Manager – Part 1
September 4th, 2009 6 comments »So I thought I’d kick this off with myself as the test subject and talk about what I do. Its certainly not the most exciting sounding career or title, but I do get a lot questions on it from people, especially engineers interested in taking a step into the “darker” world of marketing/sales. I’ll try to frame this post like an interview (might start reading like an FAQ though).
Whatdoudo.net is up!
September 3rd, 2009 1 comment »We finally did it. After months of talking about it and pondering over it, Rim and I finally took the plunge and have started whatdoudo.net. I’ve always been fascinated with what people do (in their careers that is). Its always interesting to meet someone new and learn about what they do, especially when their line of work is very different from mine. Rim is the same way, but her curiosity goes beyond just work – she wants to know everything!
We figured there’s probably other people like us who want to get an insight into different careers – students in high school or university/college trying to figure out what they want to do, folks looking for a career change whether it be a radical or a slight shift in a different direction. So that’s what whatdoudo.net will try to do – in the coming months we will interview people from different walks of life and try to understand what they do, how they got there, what career paths are available, etc. We will try to gather enough information that can serve as a starting point for anyone considering a change or a new start. In the coming days, we’ll kick this off ourselves with a description of our day jobs. Stay tuned.
We also want to hear from you. What do you think..will this be useful? Any careers / professions you would like to hear about? The more feedback the better. Or better yet, do you think you’ve got an interesting career and want to be interviewed for our blog?
Let’s get this started…
