New grad, Do you feel pressured to find the right job? Don’t. There isn’t any.
I came across this article on Bloomberg Businessweek which emphasizes on the importance of making sure your first job is the right job.
- There is NO RIGHT JOB. To start with, let me make it clear, the point that the article makes couldn’t be more wrong. There isn’t anything called the right job or the wrong job, in the perspective of long time career. It is a perception, which indeed everyone is allowed to have their own. But, I have a problem when the perception comes from a medium that is as popular as Businessweek, because, It has the power to influence people and the decisions they take. I see many “successful” people every day, who haven’t started out with “The Right Job”. This particularly is true for me and I am not upset about where I am today. I couldn’t be any happier with where I am although I do realize I have a long way to go to call mine a “successful” career. I have changed jobs a few times and each one has focussed on an entirely different thing, all in the realm of engineering however. I have no regrets about any of my moves.
- Plan Your Move. Most of my moves are because, I have got a hang of what I was trying to achieve but was not sure of another layer of the stack so my next job focussed on that mysterious layer. I have worked in a customer service center, written device drivers, firmwares, tools, applications (mobile and web). Am I a master of all? NO. Do I want to be one? NO.
- Stay Sincere, At least to yourself. So has the varied career helped me? Definitely Yes. I, as a generalist, bring in a different perspective. I understand the stack well enough to get started on a given job. And then all that matters is Focus and Sincerity. Not to no one else, but just don’t BS yourself. I have in fact practiced no bullshitting to no body. Which has hurt at times (cause not all managers want you to tell them their process or the deadlines or proposed solutions are unrealistic) but then again, It din’t kill me and I am stronger with every no BS moment.
- Give yourself 5 Years. Only you can know your capabilities well. Make an attempt to understand your strengths. Play with different things in the first, lets say, five years. Even if you know what you exactly want, from day 1. Give every gig an honest opportunity to interest and impress you. That sincerity will take you a long way. In the last 10 years all my experiments/gigs have been in the world of Linux (Android for the last 5), covering all of the stack. Today, I have to work on things that I don’t particularly enjoy and I expect that to be the case forever and I am confident of pulling them off because I‘ve done that before as part of a full time job. It is when you finally land the job you enjoy, you are ready to fire your guns to achieve the full potential.
- Feel free to “waste your time”. Dabbling with jobs for 5 years sounds like a serious threat to your career and feels like a waste of time. It isn’t a threat. Nor is it any waste of time, if it is then do it. When compared to what you will be equipped with by the end of that phase, the initial years is only a worthwhile investment, if you believe in yourself. You have to.
- Do not get a mentor. Not until you have spent your first five years understanding yourself. And then make sure you have a mentor cause only then do you know, what you want from your mentor and can help your mentor understand what you are ready to invest. Today, I have a mentor. She is honest and I can be the same with her. Has absolutely inspiring personal and professional feats. She is willing to help. And, my mentor being a lady, brings in the much needed perspective that I don’t see as a guy, in the world of technology.
I look forward to bringing in a difference to the world. So can you. Just make sure you love your “wrong job” too to start with. Stay Sincere.
