A Response for Simpleamazement...
My career started when I dropped out of college after going for 4 years and being 80% finished with a BS in Biology. I wanted to be an optomoetrist, but had no idea that I had ADHD/OCD, and also didn't know that I would make up for living like a puritan the first 20 years of my life by being a heathen between 20-22. So, once I bombed out of school, I got a job.
Luckily, my Dad and brother had started a small family software/consulting business. We worked out of my Dad's basement, literally. My Dad, my brother, me and my wife (then my girlfriend.)
My wife and I worked for them for a few years, and then moved down here to continue things on our own. I am thankful for having a techie background. You can't bullshit someone who has the capacity to log on to a database and investigate things for themselves.
I've worn every hat in the IT industry, in chronological order they were:
(1) Installation Technician
(2) Course Designer/Trainer/Documentation
(3) Technical Support
(4) Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC)
(5) Applications Developer (GUI), some light coding but nothing too heavy
(6) Software Sales Representative (Awesome Job!)
(7) Business Analyst
(8) Database Analyst (Write SQL Queries then Summarize for Various Purposes)
(9) Project Management
The first job got me my base experience, and then I got assigned new work according to what my superiors thought I could handle. That's pretty much how it goes.
I got my PMP years after actually managing a project. It's kind of worthless, but it looks good on your resume, IF you can actually manage a project that is. I have met people who have that certification and they were complete idiots, so it only goes so far, and that is if you can walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Kind of like MCSE or A+. I'll bet that only 20% of the people that hold those certifications are folks you would actually want to work on your enterprise production hardware, network, or software.
Some wisdom from my 90 year old friend, Anne, applies to life in many ways, including jobs:
"It's best to leave the party while you're still having fun."
This translates to:
"It's best to find a new (and better, hopefully) job BEFORE you lose your current one."
There is no loyalty in the private sector. There is loyalty in the public sector, but there is alot of clique networking and politicking. In general, if you have a public sector job, and what you know is complicated and technical, you have decent job security, but no job is totally secure.
I have always been an industrious man. I have always worked side jobs to make extra cash. While my kids were real young I worked full time as a systems analyst for an IT company, part time as a waiter at a BBQ restaurant, and worked weekends cleaning houses, DJing at bars, and landscaping, so my wifey could stay home with our beautiful little rugrats.
Even when I was younger I worked as such because I have champagne tastes.
When it comes to money, never put all your eggs into one basket. Create as many streams of revenue as you can at once. It never hurts to have spare coinage around.
I'll do my best to give it to you in a nutshell. Balance in my life is created by my management of a few key priorities: (1) Family (Being a good husband and a good Father), (2) My Career, (3) My Education, (4) My Personal Interests, in that order.
FAMILY = #1
I have one chance to raise my kids right, and to establish good rapport with them when they are young. I love my kids dearly. They are fun to hang out with. So, I make time for them, no matter what. I am home for dinner most nights during the week, I put one of them to bed (we alternate) almost every night, I babysit them on weekends to give my wife a break, and I make it a point to teach them how the world works by letting them help me with chores, running errands with me, and of course playing/hanging out with them.
My wife is my sweetie. Without her I wouldn't have my kids. She cares for them just as much as I do, so it is essential that I make sure I do what I can to keep her happy. We make time to talk, to hang out, even if its just watching a DVD at home, we go to the gym together (every Saturday and Sunday), and we try to get a babysitter as much as possible, but these days things have been crazy and we only get to go out about once per month. Your wife is your partner, keep her going and she'll keep you going. It's a two way street.
Friends are family too, but only true friends. As you get older you realize that you have way more acquaintances than tried and true friends, which is fine. Good people are hard to come by. If you have one in your life then you are blessed. If you have several than you are among the most fortunate on Earth. My friends are an eclectic group of people, all brilliant in their own right, all with flaws as glaring as my own, we're all human, but we've helped each other and made the efforts necessary to have some of the most awesome, hilarious, and overall fulfilling life experiences imaginable. My friends are truly my own, they are no different than my flesh and blood, they are dear to me in their own right.
CAREER = #2
My career is what feeds my family and provides us with health care and other benefits. So, it has to be #2 in my hierarchy, as without it, #1 (my family) would have no means of sustaining itself. But, if I had to choose between a job, or seeing my family, then I'll make less money and remain present in their lives. I haven't had to make such a choice, and I am thankful for that. I don't travel in my work, I stay in town. I can't imagine how my life would be if my wife took a job where she was out of town all the time and left me with the house and the kids and the pets. I'd go freaking batshit. So, there's no way in a hell I'd ever do that to her.
EDUCATION =#3
Education is essential if you are to keep eveolving and improving your career prospects. I'm two courses shy of completing my Master's degree, and I am so happy. I waited 7 years after graduating from undergrad (2001, I went back to school and finished a B.S. in Management Information Systems) before begining graduate school. I've taken 2 courses per semester for the past 2 years, and now I am finishing with 1 course per semester, as I took a new job last September, and it is keeping me VERY busy. All the hard courses are done though, so I should be OK.
Bear in mind that a subset of education is obtaining professional certifications. They will never hurt you. You will learn something obtaining them, and you will meet people. Networking is just as important to your overall success as education/job skills. Who you know can make you or break you in moments, what you know is yours forever. A genius known by no one will be poor, much like a well known idiot. The key is to create balance between these poles of your path to success.
PERSONAL INTERESTS = #4
Here's my gravy. Here is the spice of life. I have always been a very curious and creative person. In my free time I will be doing anything from DJing music in my den, composing music in my den in my project studio, lifting weights, jogging, building something useful and then making it beautiful, laying out by the pool, or traveling to visit some of my dear friends.
HOW TO MAKE IT ALL FIT TOGETHER:
You must learn to TRIAGE your life. You must determine what is important between cometing priorities, what is most urgent, what cannot wait, and what can. Interstingly enough, the way I learned to do so was by entering into new life priority. For instance, the events that made me more efficient and productive than I ever was before they happened are, in order: (1) my career, (2) my marriage, (3) becoming a Father, and (4) pursuing a graduate degree. All of these are top priorities. I must succedd in all of them. I do not play to finish anywhere but first place. If I fall down and screw up in the process and get a silver medal for a period of tie, that's fine, I tried for the gold, and I'll get it next time. If you give your all to all that is important all of the time, when you look back, you will have no regrets.
You might have to "rob Peter to pay Paul" with regard to shifting time from one priority to another. But that is OK so long as you keep everything in balance ofver the course of a few weeks, or a month. Cut yourself some slack. Don't forget to create time for yourself to have fun, because ifg you don't you will become resentful, and that's an easy way to screw up a good life. Be thankful for what you have, don't linger on wht you think you don't have. Bitching about it won't change it, neither will sulking. Carve out the "fat" in your life. Here's one way how to do that:
hack yourself
Also, do not ever forget to eat well and exercise. I have a slew of fitness/nutrition info in this thread, and more elsewhere on the site I'm sure. You are an animal. You will not succeed if you are of poor physical fitness, and you are risking the one thing that means everything, for without it you have nothing: Your Health.
(1) In business, know how to let loose of sunk costs. If you put money into what seemed to be a good deal, and it turned sour, then walk away, you can't recover lost money by putting more money into a bad deal. ALSO, you must cover your fixed costs + your time and effort. If you don't make a profit, then why work? Here's some stats you need to know. A year of work for 1 man on a 40 hour per week schedule is 2,000 hours. There are 50 business weeks in a year, 8 hours per day, 5 days per week: 50 X 8 X 5 = 2,000 hours. For every $5 per hour in hourly wage you make, you are making $10,000 annually (before taxes). 2,000 hours per year X $5 per hour = $10,000 annual income. $10 per hour = $20,000 per year annually. See how that works? You need to know how to estimate the value of things quickly, on the fly.
(2) In personal matters, listen to your heart. If you don't know how to, learn, because if you don't it will crush you one day, as it did me. Once you get the knack of it it's great. Don't give up on anything you will regret later. Keep trying, but know that God only helps those who help themselves. Don't try to save people with a victim complex, they will drag you down with them.
Beware of pathological liars, control freaks, and sociopaths, they are more prevalent than you think in real life. Know the signs of someone being one, and handle them accordingly. There is only one way to handle conflict: HEAD ON.
See above.
CONCLUSION:
The advice above is the result of my 36 years of life as an ambitious, industrious, hard working, and well intended man. My way may not be the best way for all, but it works for me. I sleep well at night. I know that I have given life my best shot. We have each day but once, so make the most of each day. Don't take any shit, life is too short.
Any questions, please reply and I'll try to answer them for you.
-Halla
PB is on the warpath! 
I always feel safer when the big guy agrees with me. 
I'll change it quick again in a day or so. 
