Tag: Career

Career, life

Should you stay at a job for more than 2 years regardless?

by MQDuong1 Comment on Should you stay at a job for more than 2 years regardless?

Job hopping is a common topic among white-collar worker communities. How long should a person stay at a company to avoid being negatively judged? Somebody started that conversation on Twitter a few days ago and the originator’s position was that job hopping, which in this case means that no previous tenure lasted more than two years, was terrible. Kelsey Hightower, the principal engineer at Google Cloud, chimed in with his opinion and own experience: he never worked at a place for more than 2 years before Google!

Some of my coworkers have been working here for more than 25 years, but most of them are on the same organizational level as I am, despite the massive difference in tenure. Does that make them less respectable? No! I respect them a whole lot for their knowledge and especially their personality. But I won’t be surprised if head-hunters raise questions on why they made so little progress career-wise over the years.

Kelsey Hightower became the Principal Engineer for Google Cloud, even though he didn’t comply with the conventional wisdom that you need to spend more than two years at one job. Bozoma Saint John was the top Marketing Executive at two different companies (Uber and Endeavor) in three years before being appointed as Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix in August 2020. Her reign at Netflix ended 8 short months later, in March 2021. If even widely successful professionals hop from one job to another, why should younger workers be judged harshly for doing the same?

There are literally countless reasons why relationship between employees and employers can sour. For instance, you may get a good-paying job that promises great career growths yet demands long hours. You have no choice but to quit because you have a newborn and you need to spend more time at home with him or her. You love a company, but the organizational structure doesn’t enable career advancements anytime soon in the next 3 years. Or the work is great, but your manager exhibits grueling micro-management and doesn’t advocate for you.

Finding a job where you can stick around for years is like finding love. You need dumb luck. A lot of things can go wrong and they often go wrong. Plenty of factors need to be aligned for a professional relationship between a company and an employee to last long. But if luck plays a big role in this matter, we should all take that into consideration whenever assessing someone’s working history. Extend more empathy. Ask questions. Give the person a chance to explain the short tenure, why they left the very previous job and what they did despite staying for a short time.

Let’s say a normal person’s career is 45 years long. Staying for two years at a company means you commit 4.5% of that career time, not an insignificant amount. We only live one life. Our time on Earth is so valuable that we shouldn’t waste it to stat-pad a resume. If it’s a pain to go to work or there is no prospect for career advancements and there is nothing that you can do more about it, then leave. Nobody knows what will happen in the future. Perhaps, the new job will lead to disappointment and you will have to jump ships again. But leaving may also give you a chance to find a better employment where you feel content and happy. There is only one way to find out.

To close, I’d like share a famous drawing of Tim Urban.

Source: Tim Urban
Career, life

Small yet important things to do in office

by MQDuongLeave a Comment on Small yet important things to do in office

The following are some small practices that I have learned so far in my career. They have worked well for me and I’d like to share them openly.

Take initiatives and put in the work early on

When you are new and especially when you are just fresh from school, it’s important to put in the work early on and take as many initiatives as you can shoulder. In my current job and with my severely limited banking experience prior to this role, I took as many JIRA tickets (a system used to manage projects) as I could. I put in hours of going through others’ code, through as all the fields in many tables in the data warehouse. The effort seemed to pay off. I am more comfortable now with the data and how it all works than I was a year ago. Plus, I built myself through the projects a library of code that can be re-used. It helps me get projects done more quickly. It’s more difficult than I thought, but at the same time, that’s why it is satisfying when you can see your personal progress.

Don’t show off or bury others in public

If you can point out a coworker’s mistake privately, do it, instead of hitting “reply all” to a group email. There is no gain in embarrassing others publicly even though that’s not your primary motive. If the point is to ensure all information and output is correct, talk to the person privately.

I have seen people humble-brag in emails about how they put in extra hours or did something great or found something new. I did that myself early in my career. However, I learned that nobody likes humble-brag. At least I don’t. I would tell my younger self the same thing. The reason why many people at work, especially those who came before, didn’t advertise as much is because they didn’t bother to. So why should you? Keep your head down and do the work. Recognition will follow. If you don’t humble yourself, life will do it for you instead.

Feel comfortable saying “I don’t know”

I also have seen folks blurt out answers to questions without thinking them through. Such answers likely have holes that invite further questions. In many cases, it may be the best way to build/keep credibility just to say: “I don’t have an answer right now. I’ll get back to you later”. Executives may have more information than you and can point out numbers or facts that don’t seem right, but I am pretty sure they don’t have all the answers on the cuff either. So why should you try to?

Do your own research first

I had recently somebody at work who is longer tenured than me ask me how to extract a month from a date field in SQL. I guarantee you that if you google it, the answer will be in the top 3-5 results. If you were asked that question, especially from somebody more tenured, how would you feel? My experience teaches me that people are willing to help, but they are happier to when they see that you already tried yourself. It’s very frustrating when somebody didn’t even try and kept bugging you with questions. Nobody is born with knowledge. All is gained and earned.

Document things

If it’s a piece of code, comment on what you wrote. If it’s a fairly complex process that needs screenshots and instructions, put it in a Word document. First of all, somebody else will benefit from the practice. Second of all, you yourself will appreciate that you documented it. As we age, our memory doesn’t get any better. Even if our neurons don’t deteriorate, we have to deal with an increasing amount of information every day.

Business, Career, life, Personal Growth

Lessons from Charlie Munger

by MQDuongLeave a Comment on Lessons from Charlie Munger

I came across a few Charlie Munger-related resources. Even though he is 96, Charlie is still sharp. He is someone whose straightforward wisdom I admire a lot. There are a lot of people out there who strive to make simple points more complicated (think a narcissist like Taleb), but Charlie is somebody who can convey insightful lessons in a layman’s terms and a daily language. Another reason why I admire Charlie is that he doesn’t strive to show off his wealth. He doesn’t make headlines for being on a yacht or buying 20 Ferraris. If you are not familiar with Charlie yet, I highly recommend you read about him. He is someone admired globally, even by famous and rich folks.

“To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world does not reward a bunch of undeserving people.”

“I think that realistic is probably a better word. The truth of the matter is that our abilities are not so high. And part of the reason for the successes we have had is I think we understand our limitations better than others. But I don’t that humility…”

“I have this friend who is really not very smart at all. He makes everybody explain things until he understands it…But he does have incredible patience. He doesn’t do anything unless he understands it. And he’s perfectly willing to have 5 years go by between deals. Meanwhile, you’d be surprised how rich how dumb man has become.”

So you can be pretty modest if you understand your own limitations. It’s better by far to be with a guy whose IQ is 130 who thinks it’s 128 than with a guy whose IQ is 190 who thinks it’s 250. The second guy is going to get into terrible trouble.

Operating within what’s prudent with your given hand and your given ability is just a financial knack. But I don’t call it humility. I call that enlightened greed.

Source: Twitter
Image
Source: Twitter

Move only when you have an advantage. It’s very basic. You have to understand the odds and have the discipline to bet only when the odds are in your favor. We just keep our heads down and handle the headwinds and tailwinds as best we can and take the result after a period of years

Source: Twitter

Tren compiled a ridiculous list of Charlie’s quotes over the years here

Book, Business, Career, Optimism, Personal Growth

Book: The Messy Middle

by MQDuongLeave a Comment on Book: The Messy Middle

The Messy Middle is a new book written by the founder of Behance, a networking platform for designers. He is now the Chief Product Officer at Adobe. The book reflects his bootstrapping years at Behance and great lessons on businesses, career and entrepreneurship. Even if you are not an entrepreneur (I am not), this book has some insights on how tough it is to be one and fantastic lessons on how to advance your career. The book may get a bit mundane as it progresses, but the good thing is that many small chapters aren’t related to one another and you can skip forward or move backward at will. No need to read it in order. Below are a few of my favorite passages:

On self-awareness

Self-awareness starts with the realization that when you’re at a peak or in a valley, you’re not your greatest self. Self-awareness means dispelling your sense of superiority and the myths that people believe about you.

Ultimately, self-awareness is about preserving sound judgement and keeping relatable and realistic. However big your project or ambition, your journey is nothing more than a sequence of decisions: You’re probably many decisions away from success, but always one decision away from failure. Clarity matters. The more aware you are of yourself and your surroundings, the more data you have to inform your decisions, and the more competitive you will be

On authenticity

Nobody remembers or is inspired by anything that fits in

I do the work I do because I have to. I can’t help it. I was born this way – I can’t be false to any man. I know what the current trends and moods are, but I can’t concern myself with them. I also can’t force myself (as many do) to make work that fits within the going commercial style. Trends change and I believe that is why my work is still relevant today, because I am the only one making work like mine.

The idea of being born “weird” means you have a gift – like being born a star athlete. It would a sin to deny my gift. My “weird” is powerful. It stands out. I know that it attracts some individuals and clients, and repels others. I have to be cool with that. I am not for everyone – just the sexy people. Like you.

And as American artist Sol LeWitt once advised, “Learn to say ‘fuck you’ to the world once in a while”. Do your thing.

On doing the hard work

There’s a reason so few people do hard work beyond their job description: It’s hard work. You run the risk of extending energy or falling behind in other pars of your life, but these are the costs of playing at the frontier and having the opportunity to lead something new. You’re either a cog in the system or a designer of new and better systems. Of course, if you aspire to transform your industry and leave a valuable mark in your world, you’ll challenge every system you find yourself confined by. When you see something wrong, take the initiative to fix it.

When you find yourself frustrated or critical, channel that energy into persistent creation. If it’s not your job, pursue it anyway. Do research, run tests, or draft white papers and presentations to prove your position, even if it’s on your own time. It’ll give you a sense of satisfaction that no amount of preordained tasks will.

A shared trait among entrepreneurs and innovators within big companies is defying prescribed roles. The future is drafted by people doing work they don’t have to do. You need to be one of those people and hire them, too. There is too much wonder and talking and too little doing. So don’t talk: do

On how difficult it is to stay positive when dealing with hardships of entrepreneurship. I am not an entrepreneur, but it’s something I feel relatable, as I believe many do.

When I think back to those lost years, I recall a constant somber loneliness, a suffering from the feeling that nobody else could relate. The struggle was further compounded by the optimism I had to exude to my team and potential customers and partners. My hope had to be minded deep beneath the surface of fear and reality. The juxtaposition of the intensity of a start-up and feeling invisible and despondent was soul crushing. Staying positive was exhausting, and there were times when I felt depressed.

Without a steady stream of rewards, you will feel empty. You must supplement this void with manufactured optimism. You will have to endure anonymity and a persistent state of frustration. You’ll have to generate a unique and intrinsic sense of belief in yourself as you manage the blows to your plan and ego.

 

Book, Career, life, Optimism

Inferiority and Superiority Complexes

by MQDuongLeave a Comment on Inferiority and Superiority Complexes

The dynamic between inferiority and superiority complexes has been on my mind for quite some time, but the book “the courage of being disliked” articulates it better than I ever could. I cannot recommend this book enough. It can be a life changer. Read it if you have time and want to have a better life.

Everyone has the feeling of inferiority, one way or another. There is nothing wrong with it. It is desirable that one uses the feeling of inferiority to drive actions and growth. The inferiority complex refers to the blaming mindset. For instance, I was born in a poor family and uneducated. Therefore, I couldn’t succeed. This “cause and effect” mentality is detrimental to one’s mental health.

A long period of enduring the inferiority complex leads to a superiority complex or a fabricated/borrowed feeling of superiority. Specifically, one “borrows” superiority from using a luxury brand, being associated with a famous person or boasting one’s achievements. Other examples can be using jargon or big empty words. The book quoted Alfred Adler, a philosopher whose credit seems to be less than what he deserved: “The one who boasts does so only out of a feeling of inferiority”.

I used to fill the hole of my inferiority complex with a superiority complex in the past. I, for sure, still do to some extent nowadays. Fortunately, I have tried very hard and consciously to use my feeling of inferiority to drive my personal growth and avoid living on someone’s value systems or borrowed superiority. I have made an effort to play down whatever I do, keep the low profile, keep my head down and just do my own things.

Unfortunately, it may be a bit tricky and difficult in a society drunk with superiority complex. In the past not so long ago, my friend recommended me to apply for a position in her team because she knows what I can do and that the company can be a good fit for me. I sent my resume. My friend, after two weeks, came back and was mad at me. She said that the hiring manager in her team would want to see me boast more on what I had done and that I needed to make the resume longer with more boastful statements.

One incident doesn’t represent the majority, but it would be naïve to think that it is not common. It makes the task of balancing it out tricky. There is no hard-and-fast rule on this. But I think it’s important that we are aware of these complexes and the practical consequences.