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Behind The Firm List Blog
Teeth (& Mind) Cleaning
My dentist served in the US Navy in World War II. He set up his current practice in 1947.
He's been in the same place since then. The equipment could be original. This was my first time, and I enjoyed it. We
talked a bit, and it made me feel so young. It made my 5 years of professional web design seem like 5 months.
Those 40 minutes I spent there today opened my eyes wide, letting me see this industry and my career in a different light.
No, I don't expect to wander into a new position tomorrow and find myself there 54 years later. I doubt that's possible
anymore.
He said he was trained to do it, so that's what he's done.
I wasn't trained to do web design. If anything, I was trained to teach middle school kids. But even that was only
half-way. I was a third of the way in being trained to be an architect, but that's still years from being one.
But I am five years into be a web designer, and as the industry goes, it's kind of like being that dentist, having
started out in 1947. I've joked that I am a "grandfather in the industry" for just having started in 1994, but at
times it doesn't feel all that much like a joke.
How does one cope with being at such an accelerated point in terms of position and salary, yet only 5 years of work
under one's belt? How do I continue to go up?
