Adversity and Career Path
I've wondered about this for a while. I have a feeling that it really depends on how you overcome adversity that defines your later career path.
Take myself for example. I bombed out of college after two years back when I was 20 (1.75 GPA, thank you - I mean I really bombed). I then spent several years recovering from that. But slowly but surely, I was able to get a help desk job, then system administrator job, then IA job, and now a IT manager position in GRC at the ripe old age of 33.
And I've got plans to go even further. Finish MBA in June (with a 3.98 GPA... darn statistics), finish up a second masters maybe in 3 years after I take a break, start work on CCNA/CCNP... it's good stuff. Heck, I was considering a third masters - my thought is to be very diversified and a jack of all trades instead of going for a PhD.
The interesting thing is that I have friends who have been in the same job for 5 years, same 2-3% raise every year, and are struggling now to find out what they want to do. The thing is, they were gifted everything when they were younger. Lived in a swanky neighborhood, never had to work for a allowance/car/etc. Parents made a lot of money. They just kind of coasted through college as a fun time, and then are now drifting through work. While they complain about their jobs day in and day out, they're not doing anything about it.
Granted, there are a few things that kicked me in the butt. Number one is getting married. The missus is highly educated (aka 13 years of education post high school), and I felt that I had to step up my game, see. Number two was having a kid. Besides not sleeping ever again, I think there is a big push to do well, and it's because I want to succeed for my kiddo. And kids aren't cheap.
But I feel that if you are faced with adversity at a younger age, you're more willing to overcome it and succeed vs. if you don't have that challenge early on. I see this a lot in my friends. Some are hit with adversity and don't recover. Some are hit with adversity and bust their butt, and are now successful. And some just kind of coast by, without that hunger and ambition, and will probably just continue to coast by.
I think that is part of it. Ambition. They have to want to do better, and then do something about it.
What do you think? Do you think that adversity allows for greater success later, depending on how you react to it?
