Failure As A Badge Of Honor?
from the not-so-much-any-more dept
Business Week has an article about how failure in the new economy can be seen as a “badge of honor” these days. I’ll admit that it’s not exactly shameful, and a lot of people have no problem saying that they’ve been laid off, but I don’t think it’s much of a badge of honor any more. I had seen stories like this a couple of years ago saying that failing in the new economy was no big deal and some venture capitalists even wanted you to have one failure under your belt. However, these days, a lot of old economy companies seem to be looking at the “failed” dot com crowd with disdain. It’s no longer, “oh look at the risk taker”. It’s now “what the hell were you thinking?”. I’ve been hearing stories from folks who bounced around the so-called “new economy” who are having trouble finding jobs because the older economy companies they’re talking to think they didn’t have enough common sense to realize that online pet store job they took was (1) ridiculous and (2) with an overly inflated title.
Comments on “Failure As A Badge Of Honor?”
After the gold rush
That article must have been written by a laid off, dot-com journalist. Basically all it does is blow sunshine up the backside of everyone that’s been laid off. Note the ever-rosy outlook of the future.
The dot-com bubble equates to a gold rush… everyone looking to get rich overnight, and only a few people profiting from it (namely CEO’s with hefty severance packages). Everyone else is left with a worthless plot.
Failure as a Badge of Courage
My foray into the .com world happened as a part of a lay-off that affected me last year. I wasn’t a part of the whole “I’m going to a .com to rake in the cash.” It was more like I needed a job and one happened to be available at a reputable .com. Since that time, I’ve been laid off from said .com and hired back. You may wonder why I returned to the same company. The way I look at it, survival is the key, and I’ll do whatever it takes to survive. Believe me, I don’t look at getting laid off as a badge of courage or a rite of passage; it’s the reality our generation lives in. A few years ago, there were options available for gainful employment across most sectors. Now, it’s take what you can get and hope for the best — like a good severance package.