Post #1496532

I gotta do a small LinkedIn style rant about some things here in Germany/DACH in regard to job search and some other aspects that I notice every now and then. It annoys me how much Germany is still into credentialism. It wastes so much great talent, time, and resources, in addition to not being really helpful when working goal-oriented anyway. Im lucky to have some credentials, so I get decent offers, but for others its so much worse when seeking new jobs etc. No certificate will measure readiness and real-world experience. You cant possibly have all the skills and experiences youll need, even with 100 certificates, and theres no way around just getting started somewhere and actually doing things. "Please just do one more certificate..." nah just let people work. Its normal to feel/be a bit underqualified when doing new things, or there wont be any growth. And making talented people bored will just make them leave. Theres this thing called learning, and it can be done on the job, and it keeps the job actually engaging. Of course, its fun to do certificates and be praised for showing arbitrary skills (like a dog), but its also very easy to get dependent on third-party/authority validation and praise, thinking its more important than it actually is. Impress the hierarchy, do your tricks, dont take any risks. Yikes! Getting anything meaningful done usually requires choosing opportunities that have lower median and higher variance outcomes by rejecting consistent small wins (such as credential chasing) in favor of consistent attempts to achieve huge wins. And that brings me to another point, because a lot of those attempts will fail. Failure is often seen as something entirely negative in Germany, and it doesnt make sense! This was most notable during the time I spent in the Valley. When you fuck up in Germany (e.g. failed startups, failed projects, failed events, etc.), people like to see you as "burned". You fucked up and thus suck at XY, and you will never be good at it. Youre a failure. In the States, its rather seen as "this person got experience on how not to do it and took responsibility for it", and to them thats often worth a lot more than someone who doesnt have any experience in how to handle fucked situations when it all turns to shit or someone who avoids responsibilities. Would really enjoy it if we could celebrate failures more often, and not only wins. Thats one of the few things that I actually enjoyed about being in the states. I might also post this small rant on my blog at some point.