The 5 Biggest Lessons I Learned Climbing the Ladder in Tech

This really made a big difference early in my career. I remember when I needed to decide between staying with my jr. software engineering job at a big company or joining a risky hardware startup and becoming their first employee. A lot of my friends were surprised that I went for a risky startup, but for me, I chose an asymmetric opportunity that had manageable downside and unlimited upside. You have stumbled upon an asymmetrical risk opportunity that can accelerate your career.

This is an oversight I have seen a lot of people making that ends up hurting their careers. You need to pay careful attention because everything has a due date. Every time your stakeholders, manager, job changes or enough time passes by, you need to prove your worth again. You have to make sure you are filling and surpassing those expectations. Going through two acquisitions this was the biggest learning that has helped me continue to nurture my career.

As a manager, I say that with the best intentions possible. One of the most important things is to not shy away from career conversations. In my first job, I was an engineer and I wanted to experiment with a leadership role in the future. After the discussion, my manager said perfect, when an opportunity comes I know you will want to give it a shot. I thought it was far-fetched but a couple of weeks later it happened. If there is a career ladder, you can reverse engineer it and figure out what skills you need to develop.