Don’t let your expertise get in the way of your future?
Most of you understand that expertise isn’t just book smarts. It’s about getting out there, getting your hands dirty, making mistakes, learning.
Education opens doors, but real expertise comes from doing. So, if you feel stuck in your job, don’t rely only on your degree. Take charge, seek opportunities to learn more, and level up.
We all know this part.
But here’s another challenge as we build expertise. We can become rigid in what we’ve learned. “This is how we’ve always done it. It works great.” I’m sure you’ve heard folks say things like, “At my old company, we did it this way.” And it was awesome — for them, then.
If you lead a large team, you understand this well. I’ll use a tech company example. Most folks aim to build coding expertise. They work hard, quickly advancing from entry-level to senior developers.
But then many get stuck, struggling to reach that next level, like a principal engineer. They need new skills and new expertise. But also need to unlearn some old habits.
This happens at many levels, from manager to director, from director to senior director, and so on. Some take years, even decades, to cross these hurdles and keep leveling up. Each step requires new expertise. Folks forget what they did the first 5–10 years of their life, and how open they were to learn new skills. We begin to feel entitled because now we have worked those years, we believe we know it all.
Expertise isn’t handed to you. You must work for it. Don’t let your education limit your expertise. But also, don’t let your current expertise limit your ability to gain new expertise.
Learn, Unlearn, Relearn. Embrace every chance to learn and grow. I’m always looking for fresh challenges, projects outside my comfort zone, and mentors to teach me new tricks. Always make time for something new, different, and uncomfortable. Even a small time for something different is enough.
Keep learning, keep growing. Get out there and become an expert, again and again. Don’t settle for what you already know.
Until next time, Cheers,
Amit
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