Career Advice When Starting Out
It happens all the time. Hey Brian, can we sync up next week? I recognize this inquiry immediately as it usually means this person wants to talk about their career options. They could be heading into a huge interview at a well-known company or already have an offer in hand and want help negotiating. Perhaps they’re someone in my network just starting out. I’ve had so many of these types of calls I thought I would write an article to maybe help others, but turns out I might need three or more. Let’s tackle starting out in your career first.
What makes me qualified to write this article? Well, I made it into management at large tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon plus many other startups along the way. I also earned my MBA from UC Berkeley. However, it’s really the journey that is interesting, not the destination or credentials.
I grew up poor, on welfare, without parents at 13, bouncing around from house to house. I had to find my own path to get to where I am now. I didn’t have parents looking over my shoulder to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to and as you read on you’ll see how that might be a blessing and perhaps held me back a little as I didn’t have the secure base to start from.
For those who are starting out my general advice is to do the things you like not the things you think you should do. I generally did the opposite of this, changing my major to Business and concentrating in Finance because I wanted to achieve and be really, really successful. It felt like the best path to make lots of money and gain lots of prestige fast!
My first Finance job at Boeing bored me to tears so I left and returned to my college job selling car stereos. Eventually, with some hard work, I landed on Wall Street as a Financial Analyst, but became so disillusioned by what I experienced I quit and taught High School math. After this, I tried lots of jobs, but I didn’t enjoy any of them until my 30s as I had to keep iterating until I found something I actually enjoyed doing. I lost myself along the path and had to rediscover what truly interested me. If only I would have listened to that impulse at the beginning of my career maybe things would have been different, but perhaps you can learn from my mistakes?
Thus, when I talk to college students or the recently graduated I pry deep into what they enjoy doing, not what they think they should do. My favorite question to ask is what they would do with $10 million in the bank (or something equivalent to not having to work — I’m your rich uncle etc). After the usual responses of traveling and blah blah blah we usually get to something meaningful after a few follow-up questions. If you ask this of yourself and really try to pry deep by journaling/writing it out you’ll come up with something inspiring for you to work on. Now, you may not be able to pivot to working on this immediately, but perhaps you can take the next step? Maybe it’s a class to gain the skills or perhaps it is volunteering somewhere to try out the work. Whatever it is, try to take the next step today. Don’t get lost trying to pursue your passions, that’s too big and passion is bullshit. It’s like going on a first date with marriage on your mind. Just find something that interests you and take the next step no matter how small.
Thanks for reading this far. It was my first attempt at writing down some of the common advice I give to people starting out. What did I miss? What questions do you have? Leave a comment below. I plan to update this article based on your responses and additional career sessions in the future so follow for updates.
