Career 101 — Stop Growing Alone!
Early in your career, you might be a lone-wolf. You might find yourself focusing on your own work and your personal growth, and you don’t spend much time thinking about others.
This was the career development trap I found myself in as well. I was a software engineer and I was a good one, but I focused on my work, my growth, and I didn’t spend much time getting help from others.
Upon reflecting, some of this behavior was motivated by pure ignorance, not knowing that others could help me. Much of it though, was fueled by arrogance and insecurity. I was overconfident in my ability, telling myself I didn’t need help from others, and I thought that asking for help showed others that I wasn’t good at my job.
While flawed, this overconfident-mindset worked for several years. I was able to build some incredible apps and I found myself earning several promotions. It wasn’t until I was a Senior Software Engineer when I started to realize that others were growing faster than I was, and I was determined to learn why?
Asking for help led to faster growth!
It continues to amaze me that often, the logical approach doesn’t lead to the most optimal result. I used to think that if I asked for help, it meant that I wouldn’t be learning something by myself, that it would limit my…
