Work Your Money, Not Your Life

Chapter 6What Does a “Good” Job Look Like for You?

“What about a start-up or venture capital?” my friend suggested.

“I don't know – aren't those super hard to get into, especially venture capital, and aren't start-ups pretty risky?” I responded.

I had asked my friend to help brainstorm other industries for me to transition to, but it didn't seem like we were making much progress. I knew my job at the time wasn't the right fit, but it seemed like we were just guessing at what could be good career paths based on what sounded “cool” or “sexy.” Instead of relying on gut feeling or what other people said was a “good” job, which is how I ended up in investment banking in the first place, I wanted to be able to have a structured way to think about this decision, preferably with concrete data to help guide me.

Finding the right job might sound relatively straightforward, but it's not. It's actually a complicated problem, with a lot of different factors to take into account and balance. I realized that breaking the process into bite-sized tasks would make it much more manageable. As a first step, I decided to analyze what a good role looked like for me by reflecting on the two full-time positions I had held, as well as my summer internships, high school jobs, big class projects, and extracurricular activities. This was my way of beginning to gather some real data points.

For the remainder of the chapter, I'll walk you through several exercises that will help you get more clarity on ...