Reddit reviews The Rules of Work: A Definitive Code for Personal Success (Richard Templar's Rules)

I had to work two jobs, roughly 75-80 hours a week to make a third less money than what I'm earning now at one job. The two jobs were an entry level position in business, and a sales position in retail. I'm currently a creative project manager for a large company.

I suggest reading The Rules of Work, and They Don't Teach Corporate in College. Both are excellent books about how to get the most out of your career.

Two words of advice for young people starting out their careers: Stay hungry. This advice is mostly for those in business. Give yourself 18 months at your first career job. If you're not exponentially learning new career building job skills, find a new job by 2 years.

Also...try to learn some office politics, how to sell yourself, and how not to be a social retard.

I am NOT meaning in a manipulative way, I am meaning in a "look kean and competent and socially participative without looking like a cunt" way. We underestimate when we are young how easy it is to look like a complete dick in various ways.

E.g. check some basic guides like The Rules of Work, You, Inc. etc. These can help you navigate things better.

Also, be proactive about volunteering for things, especially when bored. Tell them that you're happy to take on some more things. As teachmelaughter notes, it's a potential job offer waiting to happen.

It's hard to say. A lot depends on where you are located. Another problem is that you're wearing many hats... but perhaps not very deeply. Again it's hard to say without getting into lots and lots of specifics of exactly what you're doing every day.

In smaller companies its common to see one person taking on multiple roles. In larger companies... not so much.

Part of your challenge will be to specialize. Do you want to do QA 5 days a week? Work with DB's 5 days a week? Manage software rollouts? Project management?

Besides deciding where you might want to focus will be the challenge of increasing your depth of skill in that particular area. This is necessary, especially for more senior jobs at much bigger companies (eg. you're probably not ready to manage the rollout of software to 1000's of desktops).

You might also benefit from The Rules of Work. I really liked it and it made a ton of sense to me.

Getting your resume in shape and start interviewing for new work might not be a bad idea. Even if you're not hired the experience of going on interviews and seeing what sort of questions are being asked would be useful. You've got a job so you're under less pressure... which should let you enjoy the process more. If your current company finds out you're interviewing just explain "you're exploring options for more responsibility".

Asking for more responsibility and more pay is also not a bad idea (with an eye to your company hiring a replacement for you). But it's a small company... what jobs/positions are going to be available? Getting some certifications might not be a bad idea (DBA or even go for a PMI project management one).

On project management... having a widely varied background can be a good foundation. You can talk to business folks and talk to technical folks and figure out what each is saying (and what either side is not hearing).