The Career Advice No One Told Us (But We Wish They Had)
Tags: career
Published: 2024-06-28 00:18:00

Nine days out from baby day!! (Also nine days out from America’s birthday coincidence? I think not). But for real, baby number 2 is healthy and barreling towards a July 4th due date! Plus I’m still unearthing myself from emails from Render and trying to cram as many meetings and tie up as many loose ends before baby is here so while I am trying to enjoy the last few days of a family of 3— the hectic schedule is making time go by too fast.

One thing I spoke about on a recent live is doing the ‘small stuff’ better during an interview. Here are some ‘small things’ you can do better than others that don’t take a lot of effort…

- Ask thoughtful questions at the end of an interview
- Research the folks you are interviewing with and find commonalities to bring up to change the style of the interview to more of a convo
- Be happy/smile during an interview! (it helps A LOT)
- Send thank you notes via LinkedIn afterwards
- Know what the company does and a little about it’s history and reference/tie it in to your questions/answers in the interview
- Depending on how much work it is, build something small using the companies software/platform etc

One more thing…I will be taking off this newsletter/live show for the the next month/month and a half so I can be more focused on my family. I started my live show when Arie, my daughter, was born 4 years ago and really haven’t taken a pause on it outside of vacations! So this will be my last newsletter for a bit. I appreciate you reading this and see you in a few weeks 🙂
So we better make this one count, right?!

Maybe it’s the new baby, maybe it’s looking back at my career, or maybe it’s just the question I ask at the end of most GC 2.0 shows. But I always want to know what career advice you wish you could tell your younger self. I’ve gotten some great answers over the years, and I wanted to share some more with you. Shout out to my Twitter (X? idk have we decided on that one yet?) fam for helping me put this list together.

Even if you’re not in the ‘younger self’ part of your career anymore, odds are you know someone who is or, let’s be honest, we’re all still learning some of these lessons. And [y’all delivered with some great ones](https://x.com/tdesseyn/status/1803789909653893525?utm_source=gc20.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-career-advice-no-one-told-us-but-we-wish-they-had):

**Life**

- Learn that it’s okay to say no.
- The faster you learn to say no, the faster you can focus on what actually matters to you.
- Advocate for yourself, especially when it’s uncomfortable.
- Don’t neglect your health. You only get one body. (until the robot tech catches up at least)
- Even if things don’t usually go to plan, you should always have a plan.
- Talk about people in private how you would talk to them in public.

**Career**

- Quit bad companies faster. Signs of a bad company: slow/no growth, bad leadership, or a manager who doesn't value your work or advocate for you.
- The best way to avoid burnout: work where your effort is appreciated.
- You can’t do everything yourself— hire and train other people to help.
- Don’t strive for the small raise. Strive for the personal growth and life-changing jumps. You’re worth more than you realize. AKA learn how to better negotiate & advocate for yourself.
- Trust your own decisions. And if something in your career is bringing you more joy, lean into it.
- JR DEVs— don't be shy about asking for code reviews, you can improve quickly with just a few tips. Remember software isn’t about code, it’s about people.
- Do you want to be like the person giving you advice? Then take it. If you don’t….

_And finally…._

Appreciate and talk to the people around you. We can get hyper-focused on ourselves and forget there are people around us going through the same struggles. That’s part of the reason this article is even on your feed. Because sometimes you just need the reminder that…
You’re not alone.
-Taylor