Today I want to ask a question that makes some people uncomfortable: is the sacrifice necessary to rise through the ranks in your career worth it?
My friend and I talk pretty much every day about careers. This is not an exaggeration. Perhaps it’s because we are both ambitious, both started our careers at the same company at the same time (same internship cohort), both went to the same college, both work in finance, etc. We also both would like to make a good living, be challenged, and perform to the best of our abilities. We’ve discussed law school, the GMAT, MBA programs, CPAs, CMAs, ABCs (okay I made that one up), and more. We’ve talked about the advantages of working in audit versus working in an accounting function, and vice versa.
This Monday, though, for the first time ever I questioned whether it would be worth it for me to sacrifice and pull the 60+ hour weeks, complete the certifications and MBA program, and in general sacrifice to rise the ranks in a corporate environment.
There are a couple reasons I am questioning this. Most of all, it’s my love of business ownership and having the ability to build a business that provides real value to customers. Most important, I do my best work when I’m not trading my time for money and when I’m in control. I like to make decisions of how to use resources (time, capital, workers, etc.) efficiently. I gain energy from it as opposed to the draining feeling of grinding out work day after day in a layered organization.
This is not to say that I don’t thrive as an employee in a salaried or hourly position. I had a great yearly review last year and always make an effort to go above and beyond my job duties. I have a good salary and benefits at my job, and I am given the opportunity to learn and grow as much as I want. I have access to software, tons of data, and other things that I would not come close to touching if I worked a small business full-time. It’s the “right” place for me at this point in my life.
With that being said, I have used my blog as a side hustle and it’s allowed me to own, manage, and grow a small business while still working a full-time job. Despite the fact that my blog work essentially is done early in the morning, late at night, and on the weekends, I still enjoy it enough to keep at it week after week. I love the idea of growing an income stream, creating value, and working on something I can potentially sell for a lump sum down the road. It’s not simply trading an hour of my time for a set amount of money. It’s not just owning a blog that excites me; there are many small businesses that I think I would truly enjoy running. At the same time, I certainly understand the value in having stable income and being a part of a bigger organization.
I definitely enjoy my job but thinking about the possibility of working my own business full-time down the road definitely makes me think twice about where I will be in 5, 10, or 20 years. Is it worth getting an MBA if I decide to go the entrepreneurship route? Could the money for the MBA be used in a better way? These are the questions I need to answer sometime in the near future.
Another important question I think all recent college grads and young professionals have to ask themselves is: do you really want to get to the top?
As I said earlier, climbing the corporate ladder is going to take a lot of sacrifice. Time, money, and relationships often have to take a backdoor to your work, and for good reason; there is always someone else willing to sacrifice a little bit more than you to get to the top. It’s crowded at the top and the further you go, the more you have to sacrifice in other areas of your life.
As I hinted at, I thrive in an entrepreneurial role. In my dream world I would own multiple businesses and have no boss. That dream may never come to be, but if that’s my dream why would I sacrifice to rise the ranks in the corporate world when I know I won’t be happy if I reach the top?
Let me spin this around for those who have no desire of being an entrepreneur or owning a small business. Do you want to be working sixty hours a week? Is it really worth sacrificing all that time and effort to “maybe” be a director some day? There is also the question of whether reaching the top is really all that desirable. Yes, you might make more money, have a more prestigious role, etc., but do you want to work 12-hour days and 60-plus hour weeks, possibly every week? These are things that have to be taken into consideration.
There is nothing wrong with going in each day and putting in eight solid hours and going home. You may never make it to the Vice President level with the nice corner office and stock incentives, but you will have more time to be at home and, if you so desire, to pursue side income or projects. If side income doesn’t sound appealing to you, you’ll just have more time for family and friends – that doesn’t sound too bad to me!
When it comes to careers, work, and deciding what path to take there is no easy answer. You can have the next decade mapped out of how you expect your career to play out, but the funny thing is plans have a tendency to change. In just the first few years of my career things have happened that I wouldn’t expect to happen. I would be pretty much everyone reading this can relate.
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Have you questioned whether it’s worth it to “climb the ladder” at work? What are your thoughts on work/life balance and sacrificing to make it far in a career? Are people wired to be entrepreneurs or do they learn to love it?
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Photo by Nicholas Canup
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Most of us who graduate from college have the dream of landing in a good corporate job and reach that top position. We are all so inspired by seeing those top successful people in the industry. What we cannot see is the pain and struggle what they went through in their life to reach that position. Yes being ambitious in life is good and at what cost we want to achieve it matters a lot to us.
Good post DC! This is much of what I struggled with and can tell you on some level it’s not necessarily an easy decision to deal with, but looking back I wonder now why I waited so long. At the end of it all, I just didn’t want to bust my backside for someone else and play the rat race. I was good at it, but I had that drive to create something on our own and a clean break was what I needed to be able to begin that. In terms of loving being an entrepreneur or learning to love it, I think it can happen both ways though I think it looks different for everyone.
This is partly why I am leaving my job. I HAVE to climb the ladder, there is no other way around it. With the VP role comes much more stress. Phone calls around the clock from lawyers, no weekends, staying late and so on.
Love this post DC! This is such an important message for people to really take in and think about. In then end, it’s important to figure out what things are truly important to you, and not the things that feel important simply because our culture says they are.
I think it is worth it if you want to climb REALLY high. And think you have the ability to become a top executive. Otherwise doing your best at work and having a life on the side is a better balance. I was not willing to sacrifice much so made an early exit.
I never wanted to climb the ladder at work. I just wanted to get the hell out of there! I’ve really enjoyed my improved work/life balance and don’t think I could go back to the regular working world again.
Regardless of whether you want to be a top executive or a successful entrepreneur, you’re going to have to sacrifice a lot of time and effort (and probably money if it’s something outside of blogging). So if owning your own business ventures appeals to you more than the corporate alternative, I say you go for it :)
Thank you for writing this, it is such an important message to all of us.
I’ve always considered law school (and still am) but I sometimes wonder why. Why do go to law school or any other program? I think I’ve realized that my goal is really to be successful in life.
To me, part of that is becoming debt free including my house and being able to do whatever I want without money being an issue.
I’ve often thought about whether it is worth it to climb the ladder and nowadays with a wife and baby, I wouldn’t sacrifice working long hours over spending time with the family. I work in government so I don’t really have that dilemma… I did go to law school part time in the evenings while working full time, but that was before I had a family and I wasn’t really happy with my job and job prospects. I’m not sure what field you are in, but I’d make sure that an MBA is worth it before making the time and monetary commitment to it.
I actually had a pretty nice permanent research job, with full benefits. However, I was becoming limited with what I could do just within a few years of graduating college. So, I put everything on the line, and went back to grad school full time for my PhD. It stinks now, and I know I am putting my personal life on a bit of a hold, but to me it’s worth it!
I like your thought process here. I don’t think it’s worth it, for me, to climb the ladder. I am a hard worker and unfortunately it’s rarely paid off. I have been working for small businesses, so that may change in the future (not as many opportunities), but I would rather have my sanity and enjoy life. Of course, I’m open to having a side hustle as that would be on my own time and terms. My boyfriend, on the other hand, would like to become a store manager someday. They definitely have to sacrifice a lot – working odd hours, weekends and holidays, but he figures he can do it for a few years to make a lot of money and then scale back.
JourneytoSaving I’m with you on the whole enjoy life and have a side hustle. I think this may be the route I’m headed.
I had thought seriously about getting my MBA before and I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be the wrong thing to do. I don’t want to climb ladder and I don’t want to work for someone else so for me, investing an MBA just isn’t worth it. My ultimate goal is start my own business and.
Interesting points. I always tell young college grads to work your ass off the first five years to get to where you want to be professionally, then you’ll hopefully have created more flexibility in your career for your personal life. Namely, being a Dad who actually sees there children and is involved in their lives. If not, then cut bait and find something else that does give you the flexibility and hours you need.
Well as you probably know I questioned this a lot, but I’m on the opposite end where I questioned whether or not I can make it as an entrepreneur. For now I’m giving it my best shot. It sounds to me, just by reading this email that you’re leaning towards the entrepreneur route. I would say go with your gut.
If you want to have a non-traditional career where you maybe leave the 9-5 to do other things, then I would say work as hard as you possibly can while you’re so young and don’t have kids. Save and invest most of the money and pay off all your debts. If you think you like your career and want to work to a more traditional age, then I would not burn myself out to get to the top. I think about 10 years of doing anything will burn you out. That doesn’t mean you have to change what you do, you just have to find ways to do it differently that keep you invested and interested. I’ve seen old optometrist who just phone it home and hate every minute they are there. I am determined to never get to that point.
I sacrificed the potential for a higher salary to be at my job. I really love my job but it will also help me to get into grad school. Thanks to the experience and connections I’ve made, I’m hoping to get into the PhD program for the upcoming fall cohort. But on top of the potential to go farther in my education, I’m less stressed and have a great work environment with flexible hours with work with my various medical problems. If I don’t get into the program I have no idea if I will stay though.
I decided long ago that due to my addiction to education the best career move for me would be to work for a university and benefit from tuition remission. I could make a lot more money somewhere else, but this is a really nurturing environment which encourages learning new things. My biggest dilemma now is whether to start taking art classes or go for my PhD.
I will dedicate 40 hours a week to my job, but I will rarely go beyond that. If that limits my career growth, so be it. My life is more important than making shloads of money.
In terms of where I am now in my career, I definitely want to do a bit of climbing. I wouldn’t say I want to go all the way to the very top, where I am a high level executive within the organization though. The past couple of weeks I have been working some 10-12 hr days. It does take a toll on your body, but I have to admit I always look forward to that extra paycheck at the end.
If you really want something, you would make sacrifices in order to make it happen and that making those sacrifices would be worth it in the end. It all depends on the person really.
I’ve worked in finance since college. I always hear people ask me if I am getting my CFP or CFA. I have my Masters but am not interested in sacrificing all of the time to earn these other designations when I’m not 100% certain I will ever use them.
I was going to get my MBA initially, but after looking over the coursework, realized that most of what interested me was in electives and that only meant I could take 3 courses. So I went a different route and received a degree in finance. All of the classes interested me. If it turns out that I want to take an ethics course or management course, I’ll look online for a free course or low cost non-credit course.
The other day someone asked me if I was interested in being promoted to assistant program director. Surprisingly it was an easy answer for me, “No.” Maybe at another company, but at my current job, I have no interest in being promoted. With the promotion comes more work, more hours and not that much more pay. No thanks!