I like the quotes that are attached to each of the 5 points. The quotes nicely reinforce the thesis of the article.
As an IC and someone that also mentored interns (summer intern season in full gear right now), I strongly agree with points 2 and 4. Documenting what you do (and telling others about it) along with building in the open helps you get noticed and for interns especially, these two are important when increasing your chances at landing that return offer.
I would also add to point 5 about "Loyalty is not career strategy" that on top of keeping that resume and brag doc updated, also occasionally interview at other places to freshen the interviewing muscles because the best time to prepare for an interview as they say is not when you need a job.
“Relationships Matter More Than Output” - while this may seem unfair or dysfunctional, it’s the way human networks work. We should accept it and be ready to operate in such kind of setting.
The visibility thing is for real. My team has doubled to 10 engineers and I struggle to keep track of what everyone is doing. An unintended bias is that those engineers I work closely with naturally get more visibility. I try my best to get full visibility across the team, but I'm also sharing the real truth here. If there's an engineer reading this, especially one part of a large team, sending periodic updates (say monthly or quarterly) to your leader would be a huge win for you. As a manager, I'm figuring out a way to do that for my director too.
Finally had a chance to read this. Nice article! Definitely resonated with me.
Glad it resonated! Thank you, Chris!
I like the quotes that are attached to each of the 5 points. The quotes nicely reinforce the thesis of the article.
As an IC and someone that also mentored interns (summer intern season in full gear right now), I strongly agree with points 2 and 4. Documenting what you do (and telling others about it) along with building in the open helps you get noticed and for interns especially, these two are important when increasing your chances at landing that return offer.
I would also add to point 5 about "Loyalty is not career strategy" that on top of keeping that resume and brag doc updated, also occasionally interview at other places to freshen the interviewing muscles because the best time to prepare for an interview as they say is not when you need a job.
For a concrete example on how to turn even chaos into clarity, this article could spur up some ideas/discussion: http://substack.com/home/post/p-156806263?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
“Relationships Matter More Than Output” - while this may seem unfair or dysfunctional, it’s the way human networks work. We should accept it and be ready to operate in such kind of setting.
As an introvert myself, it took me some time to understand that. Social skills and building relationships matter more than just pure performance.
The visibility thing is for real. My team has doubled to 10 engineers and I struggle to keep track of what everyone is doing. An unintended bias is that those engineers I work closely with naturally get more visibility. I try my best to get full visibility across the team, but I'm also sharing the real truth here. If there's an engineer reading this, especially one part of a large team, sending periodic updates (say monthly or quarterly) to your leader would be a huge win for you. As a manager, I'm figuring out a way to do that for my director too.