Contrary (and cynical) take.
If your goal is to climb the corporate ladder, work where you feel you can rise the fastest.
The smartest people won't be your peers in higher management.
Yeah, but then you get laid off from your cushy VP or Director role at 45 and realize you weren’t as smart as you thought you were when you’re searching for your next role that will pay you your previous salary. You’ll probably think back to this crossroad and regret it. Especially since robotics hasn’t had its ChatGPT moment just yet, but looks soon.
As director or VP one should be able to retire at 45 in USA. Then you don’t care anymore about next job.
Most people making it to VP or Director by age 45 haven't been in that position long enough to retire. Not to mention that getting there by that early point generally requires a certain amount of drive that's difficult to just shut off and retire.
I mean, this could be phase 2 of career growth. Focus on personal growth first by surrounding by experts.
Maybe.
I’ve seen some pretty incompetent people just show up and play the game make it decently far. I prioritized learning first and got great offers right off the bat, but I definitely overdid it.
Different strategies for different people.
It just all seems so random and personal to me to make any blanket statement in this area.
The biggest thing to me is to not blow the small handful of opportunities that randomly present themselves. In this context, there is a good chance those won't be in agents or robotics.
At 50, I am happy with my life but I have blown almost all my opportunities. I have grinded out a decent life but it is pretty minimized vs what could have been.
I was offered a nice career at 21 in the financial markets from my part time job while going to college for CS so turned it down. CS was delusion with my math skills and I dropped out. Ended up spending a decade grinding to get into the financial markets after college.
Before CS I thought I would get a PhD in psychology. A real Freudian fan boy professor made me abandon that. I thought Freud was so absurd on first encounter. At this point I have read almost all of Freud's work on my own. I should have stuck with the original plan in psychology.
On the other hand, maybe the path I have traveled is the optimal path because at 50 I am not done. I still have huge dreams to make this all be the right path. The bar is not that high.
It is all a relative valuation.
Yeah this. Also leverage yourself a position where you are well known and indispensable.