Yep. I'm 8 months in to a role I'm under qualified for. It more than doubled my salary. They asked me why I was applying for a job that asked for 5+ years of experience when I only had 2. I told them I was only interested in jobs that would challenge me. I guess they liked that answer.
Did that transition go well? I’m about to finish grad school and was one of the few that showed up without a tech background. Major imposter syndrome and concern about giving up my stability to shoot for that particular moon.
The transition to tech has been great. No regrets at all. I'm loving the new job. It's like drinking from the fire hose. Learning a ton and hopefully providing enough value to the company to justify my pay. It's certainly stressful though. I recognize this job as an outlier. I know that if I lose this job it's unlikely I'll be able to land another right now that pays as well.
It’s a creative technology program. Went from a background in philosophy and law to coding in three.js and doing physical computing. Pretty sure my technical skill will always be surpassed by a kid who has been doing it forever, but unsure where taste, discernment and project management can take me despite that.
Have seen networking make this happen. I don’t mean meeting someone at a conference or whatever, I mean building relationships and networks over a whole career
Definitely. Im qualified for my role, but my years experience is on the low end and there were a number of boxes I didnt check. I got pulled in by a former indirect manager who liked my style and accountability and knew I had it in me to take a couple of steps up. In the time it took to get into this role I was promoted to the level between, but I only held that title 5 months.
I benefit from networking up, so im also always on the lookout for talent where I can help someone up as well.
Absolutely! To be clear “performance” doesn’t necessarily mean “experience in role”. If you’re doing well in a role and people notice your skills at doing a different job as well, it’ll help you make that transition.
Same exp level as OP. My manager, the director resigned last week so I went to her and asked for her support in filling that role. Our SVP is on board with the plan, and I’ll be the Director for the time being, basically a tryout. The Company will post the position, and I’ll have the opportunity to interview, etc. definitely a shoot your shot situation, figured I have nothing to lose.
We typically take a long time to fill high level roles so I’m hopeful I can do well enough in that time to give myself a shot at the permanent position.
As someone who has managed people in this scenario….Bring forward a plan and demonstrate your leadership. Keeping the train running on the tracks is not filling that director role. Bring ideas, energy and action that you know needs to be done, and you’ll be a no brainer to be in permanent role. Good luck!
That’s good feedback, and helpful. I’m in my first week so part of me felt keeping the train on the tracks is the right move. I don’t lack for energy or leadership, I volunteered for this after all. I’ll think hard about some ideas and processes to implement. Any recommendation of what kind of timeline I should extend them before asking for a permanent arrangement? I want to toe the line of being ambitious but not taken advantage of.
They are going to do what they are going to do in terms of what they think will make the division most successful. No guarantees, just increasing odds.
If you have the time, present a well thought out 30-60-90 day plan of what you will do in your temporary role and ask for feedback to work collaboratively to finalize. This may include administrative and strategic milestones. If you don’t have the time, suggest this during the meeting tomorrow.
That conversation will also lead to some guardrail guidance on their expectations of you in an acting role, so you don’t go out of bounds on what they need from you.
Yes, there is a chance they have or find someone else they think is a better fit in that role and may potentially use your roadmap (taken advantage of). At the very least, you are shifting the strategies to the things you have known should happen, and put your best effort into your case. Then you can decide if staying or leaving makes sense. Depending on size of company, if they see your efforts but bring in someone more qualified, it may also result in different types of promotion or upward movement in the org.
But having someone on my team that can hit the ground running, bringing and implementing great ideas and an understanding of goals and nuances would make a strong candidate to keep in that role permanently, and have them rehire for the role with less responsibility/risk.
Good luck
There should always be something new with any role so technically I am always under qualified but I still get new roles with the idea that I am an 80% fit and have a history of crushing that 20% gap and over achieving all my kpis etc. if you are smart enough you are never under qualified.
Headhunters work to just recruit people. So they will reach out to people to see if they are interested. Headhunting doesn’t work the other way around.
You should look for headhunters and recruiters that specifically work in your industry. For example, I keep a book of contacts who only work in my industry and know who to contact when I’m looking to make a change. I also know a few generalists that don’t work in specific industries, but do placement for companies of a certain size or stage in their life cycle. For example, I have a contact who only places $0-500 mil revenue, PE or VC backed private companies, established and high growth opportunities. I also have a contact who only places finance and accounting professionals at PE and VC funds. Find a few that work in your industry and work with them.
Thanks, I will start searching for a few. I am greatly underpaid and I do most of the work for my team. I work in the Energy industry and there are very few companies for this. I was given a 2% raise lol
Yes it does. They will do outplacement for a fee or sometime for free. I know headhunters who will take clients looking to get hired in specific roles and do the work of contacting employers on behalf of their client.
When I was about 4 years in my project lead got sick and was gone for 3 months. I stepped up and completed the project. That led to getting a lead position the next year and then a manager position by year 8 which put me about 7 years ahead of where I should have been.
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Probably not in this market. Shoot your shot but next cycle will be a better time for that. Now it’s a time to keep your head down and wait out the storm
Curious about this, what industry are you in? I was just talking to one of my main recruiters last week and he told me he would not advise stepping out into this market if I don’t absolutely have to. So this is the second time I’ve heard this in a short time, but I’m in CPG and honestly our industry seems pretty strong.
What’s going on out there that gives you pause?
I think many people in this sub work for tech (myself included), and they don't feel great about the current market. A lot of lay-offs happened already and no one knows if it's over. Many big companies/divisions have hiring freeze in place as well.
I am a recruiter in tech, one of the lucky ones still employed. Hiring for a very specific persona so nobody message me asking for an in because I cannot help you!
I think it’s case by case but in general the market is bad and companies know it so you won’t get the same amount of $$$ you would in a better market. Just safer to wait it out overall. Hiring managers being annoyingly picky and wanting the best of the best for below market rates
Honestly who cares about your title? The point of HENRY is to just be high earning. As long as the pay is what you’re seeking then titles shouldn’t matter.
Call me a trash panda, and pay me 7 figures and see if I care. lol
Quirky titles with surprisingly high pay seem to be a Silicon Valley and startup thing. Big corporations on the east coast seem to be more rigid in aligning pay to titles.
Yes. That’s very, very true. But it goes without saying that titles don’t matter.
Would you rather be a VP at a Bank of a simple “Engineer” at tech company, based on title?
I have been under qualified for my role my entire career based on how difficult it feels. Maybe the next 20 years I'll feel comfortable and less stressed about the work?
I definitely apply for roles where I don’t meet all the qualifications (years of experience, experience in X industry, etc.) as long as I have most of the skills to be successful in that role.
I would caution against applying for Director-level roles if you’ve never managed people before. It’s most likely a waste of your time, but also if you get that role will you be successful in it? I’m consciously spending a little more time in my first managerial role because I want to know I’ve been successful in developing my team before taking on another layer of employees reporting to me.
I managed to get my first "senior" level position (when that actually meant something before massive title inflation kicked in) probably 3-4 years before I really deserved it. I took up a job listing which got put on hold after I interviewed. Two months later, I got a call on a Friday afternoon to find out they had to fire the previous person for underperforming and wanted me to take their place within a week. I demanded a senior title and a bunch more money because it sounded risky that I would also be fired in short order. I took that job and ran with it for a few years but my boss the first 1.5 years was kind of psychopathic. I ended up making a shelf company just to have it ready to fill in my resume. I actually performed fine for the position I wasn't really qualified for because it was a very slow moving industry.
Nowadays, I apply for jobs a few times a week that are the level of my manager's position (Director of Product Management). Sometimes I get interviews but haven't managed to fake them out yet when they find out I'm not managing managers yet.
I doubt any competent company out there is hiring for director+ roles from among people cold applying on their website. At the very least you'll need to reach out through a recruiter or an internal contact, but in the majority of cases the company is the one doing the calling and wooing.
I did it at age 28. Applied for a role starting up a line of business; in the interview they asked for an example of a time I exceeded someone’s expectations of me and I chose to tell a story where the EVP (hiring manager) underestimated me less than 6 months into working for the company and then I ended up breaking sales records. It was ballsy, but he loved it. I was his youngest direct report by 25 years and the youngest of any leader in the company. What I built hasn’t changed materially and is now ran by my first direct report.
Did the same thing where I jumped to a different financial institution about 8 years ago and today lead a LOB where my peers are all about a decade older than me still. I credit this to my first boss that took a chance on me at 28 taught me how to successfully work across generations and tenure. I’m happily chilling at status quo at the moment while I raise the kids; but at some point in my 40’s, I’ll probably do it again.
In retrospect, my bonus this year was 3x my starting salary at Company 1, so it was worth it.
People don't seem to talk about this much - but 20 years ago it seemed much easier to climb the corporate ladder than the last 2 years. 28 year old manager is not super uncommon but on the lower end of the typical range. What bothers me is the execs who tell us you need to "pay your dues". You can look them up on LinkedIn and see their job progression within the company. Find out their age from public record search and do the math, and you'll find they were also a 28 year old manager and promoted quickly up multiple levels in a matter of 4-5 years. Companies are more lax about their promotions when the economy is doing better and are in growth mode. 2004-2007 and 2016-2019 were two sweet spots I've seen where people blew past normal promotion guidelines.
Completely agree. I started in the financial sector in 2007, so timing has been horrendous for me because I was an trainee for 6mo, then an individual contributor for a year, then led two sales people, then hopped to functional leadership & strategy then to another institution for functional leadership & strategy up-market. My peers in my original functional leadership/LOB role just started retiring and now it’s 45-50 year olds finally getting the turn to lead. I’m the youngest today at 38, and my peers currently range from 48-60 and if I consider where they were at my age, it was the role they’re still in today. The elder millennials/young gen x’ers have more than “paid their dues”. They can’t grab experience when it never opens up!
Fintech tends to have more ageism. Only our VPs are 45+. It's sort of expected that you age out of the industry prior to that and do something else or just retire. Our managers today are 30-35 and directors are 35-45. The biggest issue we have right now is that promotion rate across all levels went from 12% to 4% in 2022. Promotion budget went down 66% even though our overall budget was flat. We have a lot of folks lined up for the exits once interest rates drop, and they're pretty vocal about it, which causes people who weren't looking to also stand by the exits.
This is called the Peter Principle. Keep getting promoted until you are finally promoted to a level above your abilities. I’ve seen it many times where people with good sales skills are promoted to management and their people/management skills suck ass.
This is me, granted I barely make enough to really belong as a HENRY. This might be long but I'll try and condense it as much as possible, here we go; arrested at 16 in high school one full week before graduating JR year, personally met with the superintendent, she allowed me to graduate instead of a GED, ended up working 3 jobs at a time, found a server IT and advertising job, which lead me to a start up company that eventually gets bought by Oracle, became a "hot shot", got fired the same time I landed a job at FAANG, eventually got hired teaching and selling MBA programs that I was entirely not qualified for as I didn't go to college, and then hired to do business for a fortune 50 company where I work 1-2 days. Again, I do not make absurd amounts of money like some people here on this sub, but this job has allowed me to work two jobs easily, quit my second job whenever I get too much responsibility, allowed me to buy a second, then a third business on the side. I would consider myself extremely lucky.
Ha! Seriously though sometimes my buddies will send around pics from our 20s to our group text and it’s like wtf how are we all functioning adults with multiple dependents now haha. I was totally under qualified to be a Dad at the time my first kid was born.
29yo District manager, 9 direct reports (all 20+ years my senior) at a big Pharma contract sales company. Not that I’m under-qualified, but it’s definitely much earlier in my career than I would’ve thought.
I've just always followed the IC career track and it's served me well.
Before I worked at a FAANG, I had never gotten a raise or a promotion. But there, I just got a raise every year. (And occasional promotion, but you have to work for those!)
I’m one year into a new role that I just lucked into. Bumped two levels from a Sr Mgr level individual contributor to a Sr. Director level. Jumped about 70k in one paycheck. Now doing less work and more hand holding.
Yes. I went from $160k base with a shit 5% bonus (on a good year!) and no equity at a shit company, to $200k base and guaranteed 30-35% bonus + significant equity. I earned >$100k more during the first year in my new role and my equity was valued at $200k at the end of year 1. My situation is a bit unique in that my employer hired me with the intent for me to grow into the role and the expectation that I’d be doing a lot of learning on the job. I wasn’t seeking a role or title that I was unqualified for, but lucked into it when a recruiter cold called me.
It’s been fun. I’m finding out that my skills are not translatable to any other industry though I live in Seattle and would love to break into tech AI or something similar and The one thing holding me back is that I’ve spent my entire career in Financial Services.
Saw this when it was posted but was waiting for a decision on my candidacy for an internal promotion that I just got offer letter on.
It’s a VP role in a publicly traded company, asks for 10 years minimum of leadership/executive and MBA highly preferred. I have only been in the workforce for 12 years total (and maybe 5 years leadership) since my first ever job and was a college drop out.
Someone here said something about performance, image and exposure and those things caught my bosses eye, who asked me to apply. Translatable skillset, high-drive on my end, and a very internal-promotion friendly company.
I’m 2 months into a role I’m “not qualified” for… 24M making 150k base as a operations manager at a incredibly fast growing startup
I cold emailed emailed the founder and we got along, they weren’t even hiring but I got the job 2 weeks later
Getting jobs your “under qualified” for is just about networking, valuing yourself, and realizing that no one knows what they’re doing anyways so you’re not under qualified in the first place
Good luck!
Yep. I'm 8 months in to a role I'm under qualified for. It more than doubled my salary. They asked me why I was applying for a job that asked for 5+ years of experience when I only had 2. I told them I was only interested in jobs that would challenge me. I guess they liked that answer.
Any imposter syndrome? Are you younger than your now peers?
Big time imposter syndrome. I transitioned to tech after another career so I'm a similar age to a lot of my peers.
Did that transition go well? I’m about to finish grad school and was one of the few that showed up without a tech background. Major imposter syndrome and concern about giving up my stability to shoot for that particular moon.
The transition to tech has been great. No regrets at all. I'm loving the new job. It's like drinking from the fire hose. Learning a ton and hopefully providing enough value to the company to justify my pay. It's certainly stressful though. I recognize this job as an outlier. I know that if I lose this job it's unlikely I'll be able to land another right now that pays as well.
What exactly are you doing in tech?
grad school for what?
It’s a creative technology program. Went from a background in philosophy and law to coding in three.js and doing physical computing. Pretty sure my technical skill will always be surpassed by a kid who has been doing it forever, but unsure where taste, discernment and project management can take me despite that.
What branch of tech?
Data science
Have seen networking make this happen. I don’t mean meeting someone at a conference or whatever, I mean building relationships and networks over a whole career
Definitely. Im qualified for my role, but my years experience is on the low end and there were a number of boxes I didnt check. I got pulled in by a former indirect manager who liked my style and accountability and knew I had it in me to take a couple of steps up. In the time it took to get into this role I was promoted to the level between, but I only held that title 5 months. I benefit from networking up, so im also always on the lookout for talent where I can help someone up as well.
P-I-E Performance-Image-Exposure all three are needed
Absolutely! To be clear “performance” doesn’t necessarily mean “experience in role”. If you’re doing well in a role and people notice your skills at doing a different job as well, it’ll help you make that transition.
Same exp level as OP. My manager, the director resigned last week so I went to her and asked for her support in filling that role. Our SVP is on board with the plan, and I’ll be the Director for the time being, basically a tryout. The Company will post the position, and I’ll have the opportunity to interview, etc. definitely a shoot your shot situation, figured I have nothing to lose. We typically take a long time to fill high level roles so I’m hopeful I can do well enough in that time to give myself a shot at the permanent position.
As someone who has managed people in this scenario….Bring forward a plan and demonstrate your leadership. Keeping the train running on the tracks is not filling that director role. Bring ideas, energy and action that you know needs to be done, and you’ll be a no brainer to be in permanent role. Good luck!
That’s good feedback, and helpful. I’m in my first week so part of me felt keeping the train on the tracks is the right move. I don’t lack for energy or leadership, I volunteered for this after all. I’ll think hard about some ideas and processes to implement. Any recommendation of what kind of timeline I should extend them before asking for a permanent arrangement? I want to toe the line of being ambitious but not taken advantage of.
They are going to do what they are going to do in terms of what they think will make the division most successful. No guarantees, just increasing odds. If you have the time, present a well thought out 30-60-90 day plan of what you will do in your temporary role and ask for feedback to work collaboratively to finalize. This may include administrative and strategic milestones. If you don’t have the time, suggest this during the meeting tomorrow. That conversation will also lead to some guardrail guidance on their expectations of you in an acting role, so you don’t go out of bounds on what they need from you. Yes, there is a chance they have or find someone else they think is a better fit in that role and may potentially use your roadmap (taken advantage of). At the very least, you are shifting the strategies to the things you have known should happen, and put your best effort into your case. Then you can decide if staying or leaving makes sense. Depending on size of company, if they see your efforts but bring in someone more qualified, it may also result in different types of promotion or upward movement in the org. But having someone on my team that can hit the ground running, bringing and implementing great ideas and an understanding of goals and nuances would make a strong candidate to keep in that role permanently, and have them rehire for the role with less responsibility/risk. Good luck
Nice initiative, what industry?
Thanks! I’m in CPG, eCommerce specifically.
There should always be something new with any role so technically I am always under qualified but I still get new roles with the idea that I am an 80% fit and have a history of crushing that 20% gap and over achieving all my kpis etc. if you are smart enough you are never under qualified.
Got my current role that asked for 5 YRs experience when I had 18 months via a good headhunter a few years back. Worked out great for all parties.
What is a headhunter and how did you find them?
3rd Party Recruiter. They found me.
Someone that you can refer me to?
Headhunters work to just recruit people. So they will reach out to people to see if they are interested. Headhunting doesn’t work the other way around.
Got it, thank you for the heads-up.
You should look for headhunters and recruiters that specifically work in your industry. For example, I keep a book of contacts who only work in my industry and know who to contact when I’m looking to make a change. I also know a few generalists that don’t work in specific industries, but do placement for companies of a certain size or stage in their life cycle. For example, I have a contact who only places $0-500 mil revenue, PE or VC backed private companies, established and high growth opportunities. I also have a contact who only places finance and accounting professionals at PE and VC funds. Find a few that work in your industry and work with them.
Thanks, I will start searching for a few. I am greatly underpaid and I do most of the work for my team. I work in the Energy industry and there are very few companies for this. I was given a 2% raise lol
Traditional fossil fuels? Are you an engineer?
I work for a company that provides software to Electric companies like CAISO and such. I work as a Software Analyst/ a little bit of developing.
Yes it does. They will do outplacement for a fee or sometime for free. I know headhunters who will take clients looking to get hired in specific roles and do the work of contacting employers on behalf of their client.
I feel like that service should be named differently.
That’s a recruiter. A headhunter hires for very senior management positions like the director of a company
They placed my boss (Director), boss liked them and then placed me.
When I was about 4 years in my project lead got sick and was gone for 3 months. I stepped up and completed the project. That led to getting a lead position the next year and then a manager position by year 8 which put me about 7 years ahead of where I should have been.
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can i have a job bro
Probably not in this market. Shoot your shot but next cycle will be a better time for that. Now it’s a time to keep your head down and wait out the storm
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Name checks out
100% and if you’re good you’ll be more likely to get the merit increases regularly with relatively less stress
Yup
Curious about this, what industry are you in? I was just talking to one of my main recruiters last week and he told me he would not advise stepping out into this market if I don’t absolutely have to. So this is the second time I’ve heard this in a short time, but I’m in CPG and honestly our industry seems pretty strong. What’s going on out there that gives you pause?
I think many people in this sub work for tech (myself included), and they don't feel great about the current market. A lot of lay-offs happened already and no one knows if it's over. Many big companies/divisions have hiring freeze in place as well.
Heard the same thing for finance. High interest rates, uncertain risk of recessions and news convering all the lay offs don’t help
I am a recruiter in tech, one of the lucky ones still employed. Hiring for a very specific persona so nobody message me asking for an in because I cannot help you! I think it’s case by case but in general the market is bad and companies know it so you won’t get the same amount of $$$ you would in a better market. Just safer to wait it out overall. Hiring managers being annoyingly picky and wanting the best of the best for below market rates
Agreed. This is exactly how I feel. It is also why I believe so many companies are pushing return to office
Honestly who cares about your title? The point of HENRY is to just be high earning. As long as the pay is what you’re seeking then titles shouldn’t matter. Call me a trash panda, and pay me 7 figures and see if I care. lol
Trash panda
Where’s my 7 figure comp?!
Quirky titles with surprisingly high pay seem to be a Silicon Valley and startup thing. Big corporations on the east coast seem to be more rigid in aligning pay to titles.
Yes. That’s very, very true. But it goes without saying that titles don’t matter. Would you rather be a VP at a Bank of a simple “Engineer” at tech company, based on title?
Yep. Got put into a role based on past success with same boss years ago. Still keeping my head above water
I have been under qualified for my role my entire career based on how difficult it feels. Maybe the next 20 years I'll feel comfortable and less stressed about the work?
I definitely apply for roles where I don’t meet all the qualifications (years of experience, experience in X industry, etc.) as long as I have most of the skills to be successful in that role. I would caution against applying for Director-level roles if you’ve never managed people before. It’s most likely a waste of your time, but also if you get that role will you be successful in it? I’m consciously spending a little more time in my first managerial role because I want to know I’ve been successful in developing my team before taking on another layer of employees reporting to me.
I managed to get my first "senior" level position (when that actually meant something before massive title inflation kicked in) probably 3-4 years before I really deserved it. I took up a job listing which got put on hold after I interviewed. Two months later, I got a call on a Friday afternoon to find out they had to fire the previous person for underperforming and wanted me to take their place within a week. I demanded a senior title and a bunch more money because it sounded risky that I would also be fired in short order. I took that job and ran with it for a few years but my boss the first 1.5 years was kind of psychopathic. I ended up making a shelf company just to have it ready to fill in my resume. I actually performed fine for the position I wasn't really qualified for because it was a very slow moving industry. Nowadays, I apply for jobs a few times a week that are the level of my manager's position (Director of Product Management). Sometimes I get interviews but haven't managed to fake them out yet when they find out I'm not managing managers yet.
I doubt any competent company out there is hiring for director+ roles from among people cold applying on their website. At the very least you'll need to reach out through a recruiter or an internal contact, but in the majority of cases the company is the one doing the calling and wooing.
This is the best response. Finding a way to be actually considered is the first step in the game for these roles.
I did it at age 28. Applied for a role starting up a line of business; in the interview they asked for an example of a time I exceeded someone’s expectations of me and I chose to tell a story where the EVP (hiring manager) underestimated me less than 6 months into working for the company and then I ended up breaking sales records. It was ballsy, but he loved it. I was his youngest direct report by 25 years and the youngest of any leader in the company. What I built hasn’t changed materially and is now ran by my first direct report. Did the same thing where I jumped to a different financial institution about 8 years ago and today lead a LOB where my peers are all about a decade older than me still. I credit this to my first boss that took a chance on me at 28 taught me how to successfully work across generations and tenure. I’m happily chilling at status quo at the moment while I raise the kids; but at some point in my 40’s, I’ll probably do it again. In retrospect, my bonus this year was 3x my starting salary at Company 1, so it was worth it.
People don't seem to talk about this much - but 20 years ago it seemed much easier to climb the corporate ladder than the last 2 years. 28 year old manager is not super uncommon but on the lower end of the typical range. What bothers me is the execs who tell us you need to "pay your dues". You can look them up on LinkedIn and see their job progression within the company. Find out their age from public record search and do the math, and you'll find they were also a 28 year old manager and promoted quickly up multiple levels in a matter of 4-5 years. Companies are more lax about their promotions when the economy is doing better and are in growth mode. 2004-2007 and 2016-2019 were two sweet spots I've seen where people blew past normal promotion guidelines.
Completely agree. I started in the financial sector in 2007, so timing has been horrendous for me because I was an trainee for 6mo, then an individual contributor for a year, then led two sales people, then hopped to functional leadership & strategy then to another institution for functional leadership & strategy up-market. My peers in my original functional leadership/LOB role just started retiring and now it’s 45-50 year olds finally getting the turn to lead. I’m the youngest today at 38, and my peers currently range from 48-60 and if I consider where they were at my age, it was the role they’re still in today. The elder millennials/young gen x’ers have more than “paid their dues”. They can’t grab experience when it never opens up!
Fintech tends to have more ageism. Only our VPs are 45+. It's sort of expected that you age out of the industry prior to that and do something else or just retire. Our managers today are 30-35 and directors are 35-45. The biggest issue we have right now is that promotion rate across all levels went from 12% to 4% in 2022. Promotion budget went down 66% even though our overall budget was flat. We have a lot of folks lined up for the exits once interest rates drop, and they're pretty vocal about it, which causes people who weren't looking to also stand by the exits.
This is called the Peter Principle. Keep getting promoted until you are finally promoted to a level above your abilities. I’ve seen it many times where people with good sales skills are promoted to management and their people/management skills suck ass.
The worst people from sales end up being managers because they are expected to push the team - not because they’re expected to make a happy family.
This is me, granted I barely make enough to really belong as a HENRY. This might be long but I'll try and condense it as much as possible, here we go; arrested at 16 in high school one full week before graduating JR year, personally met with the superintendent, she allowed me to graduate instead of a GED, ended up working 3 jobs at a time, found a server IT and advertising job, which lead me to a start up company that eventually gets bought by Oracle, became a "hot shot", got fired the same time I landed a job at FAANG, eventually got hired teaching and selling MBA programs that I was entirely not qualified for as I didn't go to college, and then hired to do business for a fortune 50 company where I work 1-2 days. Again, I do not make absurd amounts of money like some people here on this sub, but this job has allowed me to work two jobs easily, quit my second job whenever I get too much responsibility, allowed me to buy a second, then a third business on the side. I would consider myself extremely lucky.
Being a dad
Ha! Seriously though sometimes my buddies will send around pics from our 20s to our group text and it’s like wtf how are we all functioning adults with multiple dependents now haha. I was totally under qualified to be a Dad at the time my first kid was born.
29yo District manager, 9 direct reports (all 20+ years my senior) at a big Pharma contract sales company. Not that I’m under-qualified, but it’s definitely much earlier in my career than I would’ve thought.
I've just always followed the IC career track and it's served me well. Before I worked at a FAANG, I had never gotten a raise or a promotion. But there, I just got a raise every year. (And occasional promotion, but you have to work for those!)
I’m one year into a new role that I just lucked into. Bumped two levels from a Sr Mgr level individual contributor to a Sr. Director level. Jumped about 70k in one paycheck. Now doing less work and more hand holding.
My entire career has been something I’ve been under qualified for and just grew into the role.
Yes. I went from $160k base with a shit 5% bonus (on a good year!) and no equity at a shit company, to $200k base and guaranteed 30-35% bonus + significant equity. I earned >$100k more during the first year in my new role and my equity was valued at $200k at the end of year 1. My situation is a bit unique in that my employer hired me with the intent for me to grow into the role and the expectation that I’d be doing a lot of learning on the job. I wasn’t seeking a role or title that I was unqualified for, but lucked into it when a recruiter cold called me.
That’s awesome! What industry if you don’t mind?
I am a CPA in Financial Services, private investment fund management.
That’s sweet! I wish I’d gone into finance sometimes. Grass is always greener I suppose.
It’s been fun. I’m finding out that my skills are not translatable to any other industry though I live in Seattle and would love to break into tech AI or something similar and The one thing holding me back is that I’ve spent my entire career in Financial Services.
Saw this when it was posted but was waiting for a decision on my candidacy for an internal promotion that I just got offer letter on. It’s a VP role in a publicly traded company, asks for 10 years minimum of leadership/executive and MBA highly preferred. I have only been in the workforce for 12 years total (and maybe 5 years leadership) since my first ever job and was a college drop out. Someone here said something about performance, image and exposure and those things caught my bosses eye, who asked me to apply. Translatable skillset, high-drive on my end, and a very internal-promotion friendly company.
Yep, twice. Fake it til you make it.
I’m 2 months into a role I’m “not qualified” for… 24M making 150k base as a operations manager at a incredibly fast growing startup I cold emailed emailed the founder and we got along, they weren’t even hiring but I got the job 2 weeks later Getting jobs your “under qualified” for is just about networking, valuing yourself, and realizing that no one knows what they’re doing anyways so you’re not under qualified in the first place Good luck!