I am in my late 20s in a new country trying to change careers. A lot of people around me are getting a job through a consultancy and faking their IT job and asked me to do the same. I have a proper masters and not many jobs are high paying from the skills I gained from the masters program.
My question is to men that faked it in their late 20s and are right now in their late 30s or 40s and have no problem in their life. If you have problems, what suggestions do you have for someone that is going to “fake it till they made it”
One of the most important reasons for me asking this is that I don’t have a dad or a male figure in my life and I am really confused as to navigating through this.
Edit:
I mean faking as overstating you are capable of doing something, creating fake work experiences to add fluff to your resume, etc…
6 comments
I am a late 30’s male. I always was a straight shooter. Never lied, never oversrated etc. I have my business now and developping new ones. This is the truth i learned: EVERYONE does it. I am starting to do it a bit also, things are way easier.
Better to say sorry if you get caught than be left behind. Another tid bit that goes with this, make sure you deliver. You can fake it but after that, the burden is on you. Behind the curtain, make sure you develop the skills you need.
Knowledge is everywhere and people like to share it. Be humble, give gift of appreciation and work your boots off. This is exponential, at first it doesn’t seem like much. The “skill” of learning stuff you need to develop is everything. Before you know it, you make a lot more than you were able to envision.
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Im not sure what exactly youre asking here, I think you want advice specifically about faking your qualifications to get a new job because your degree isnt helping?
I know plenty people that had to career pivot because their degree was worthless. Hey if you get a job out of it that pays the bills, then yeah its worth it. With IT you can branch out into many things with a few certs too.
I’m in my early 30s, though I think I “faked it” constantly throughout my career. If I found a job I wanted, it didn’t matter whether I could do everything they asked, I just said yes and figured it out once I was in.
So far, it hasn’t failed me. I’ve never been fired (knock-on-wood) and have generally had a lot of success in my career. If I hadn’t done that, I think I’d have had a much more boring time.
That all said, I’m in a weird place now where I’ve received awards and prestigious non-work positions and I often wonder to myself how I got here and whether I really should be in these places. That might have to do with how I navigated work, I’m not sure.
> as overstating you are capable of doing something
Are you able to do it but lack the experience to demonstrate that knowledge or you genuinely don’t have that knowledge?
There is certainly an expectation that a resume will overstate accomplishments and that is built in to the process. Actual testable knowledge is difficult to fake because as part of the interviews they will be figuring out if you really do know what you claim to know.
> creating fake work experiences to add fluff to your resume
This one depends on which country you are in. In the US its relatively difficult as there are lots of tools in place to prevent experience fraud particularly in professional roles. When I put employer x on my resume HR/recruitment droids google that company and then look up the employment verification phone number for that company. Sure you could use fake tiny companies but if you are not at least aware of the company when interviewing someone you mainly use it to get them talking and it doesn’t have a huge weight when hiring, personally I would see the potential risks as outweighing the potential benefits.
> A lot of people around me are getting a job through a consultancy and faking their IT job and asked me to do the same
Not surprised you heard about this through tech. Some countries have a giant problem with resume & interview fraud in tech (see [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uklN9EIzxgM) for a blatant example). Different people interviewing and showing up the first day of work is also pretty common.
In the US there is a bit more of an emphasis on a related degree (usual path is CS degree to internship to job) but even that is not set in stone because the labor shortage in tech has been so profound for decades. Alternative methods of signaling skills like certifications and bootcamps also work, there is no value in lying about experience if you plan on actually doing the job. Many companies simply look for pulses and skills, everything else doesn’t matter.
faking it the way you are talking about can bite you in the ass, definitely dont lie about work history because you will fail background checks that are routine at most big companies.
the better way of faking it is phrasing your actual experience better into terms your employer is looking for, especially as a new graduate. You may think you have ‘zero’ experience, but that project you half assed in school can easily check the boxes in an interview if you sell it the right way on your resume and can back it up if asked about it in an interview. The things you say are technically true, but maybe not as impressive if people read the fine print, that’s a hallmark of corporate life.