Career Planning CliffsNotes
Marc Andreessen has an excellent series of posts about career planning. I particularly like his elegant analogy to portfolio management:
People who manage money professionally don't think about individual investments in isolation; they think of those investments as part of an overall portfolio. Each investment has its potential return -- the benefit you get from owning it -- and its potential risks -- the things that can go wrong. ...
Each job that you take, each role that you choose to fill, each opportunity you pursue, will have a certain potential return -- the benefits you can get from taking it, whether those benefits come in the form of income, skill development, experience, geographic location, or something else. Each job will also have a certain risk profile -- the things that could go wrong, from getting fired for not being able to handle the job's demands, to having to move somewhere you don't want to, to the company going bankrupt, to the opportunity cost of not pursuing some other attractive opportunity.
Not to mention his introduction to the series:
Most people who say they want career planning advice aren't actually looking for advice -- they just want validation of the path they have already chosen.
