Two simple lessons for success in the tech industry

Paula Desmond
Sep 2, 2018 · 1 min read

An intern recently asked me what are some of the biggest lessons you have learned from working at various tech companies. My response was “How long do we have for our conversation?” We both laughed. I purchased us both a cup of coffee and we sat down. I told her that I will limit my lessons to two lessons.

Lesson 1: be selfless. My colleague looked at me with a quizzical expression. Yes, be selfless. If you are selfless I guarantee that your work will be noticed in ways that will set you up for success. One should “fade into the background” when you have laid the foundation for others to build on top of your work. In other words, be a vehicle for setting your colleagues up for success.

Lesson 2: do not get performance obsessed. Again, I received another quizzical look from my colleague. Surely performance is everything! Yes, performance is important, of course. But being obsessed about performance is misguided. I have seen colleagues “turn down” the less shiny projects at companies because they were desperate to get that next promotion. My biggest learning is that you can turn that “less shiny project” into something your company needs to focus on. I have a list of other lessons but these two lessons are fundamental in making impact in your team.

Paula Desmond

Written by

User researcher. Ex UXR at Nuro, Uber, Facebook & Instagram, MobileIron, Citrix and Dell. Former tenured professor in human factors engineering.