How to build a good career in tech[Storytime Saturdays]
It’s rare to come across Podcasts this good,
Beyond Coding is truly exceptional. Both the host and guests are always very high quality.
I’m attaching an episode where they talk about how to start a career in coding. They discuss quite a few topics and to me the real golden insights as they discuss how to build a fantastic long-term career for yourself. In this post, I will go over some of the most impactful takeaways from this talk.
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Find what makes you happy
This is something that immediately stood out to me because too many people get into Software Development without having an interest in any one area of the domain. This is terrible for your long-term career growth because the only reliable way to progress in your career as a developer is to consistently get better. Your life will be a lot easier if you pick a field you’re actually interested in. Or at least in a field that you don’t mind studying up on.
With the rise of AI, this is going to kick up even more. GPT-3, AlphaCode, and other Code generators are already to the point where they can automate code. Take a look at the following example, taken from the famous Github CoPilot. Given a function declaration, and a docstring, it can generate functions that match the functionality described. As you can see, the instructions can be quite elaborate.
To those of you interested, I cover these and events in AI in my series Machine Learning News. For those of you who want to learn about the major events in AI without any hype of exaggerations, I would suggest checking it out.
As you can see, if you don’t bother constantly building up, your career won’t be safe. Most major companies have had some kind of layoffs over the last few years. This teaches you one thing- no one is sacred. No job/company will be completely safe. Find an area, make sure you consistently learn, and you will be much better off. Both in securing your career and progressing it.
The fact that you found me is a good first step. It shows initiative and discipline on your part. But you will have to add consistency to that. Read into the areas you’re interested in, constantly sharpen your skills and you’ll be in a very good place.
To those of you who don’t have a field that you are interested in, keep reading. This email/post covers how to find your perfect niche later.
Pursue Mastery
Once you have a field you like, it’s time to start actively start learning in the field. Emphasis on actively. Pursue interesting ideas, network with others in the industry, and establish your street-cred in the field.
The example discussed in the podcast was the person who tries to do everything (full-stack specifically lmao). Instead of being very good at one thing, he skips around a bunch. Such a person is easily replacable. While having a breadth is good, don’t cultivate it at the expense of your depth in one area. This will help you be clearly valuable to a team. There is no point in being in the top 30 in 20 tasks, because there are tons of people above you everywhere. Become top 10 in a few, and don’t worry about the rest.
The job market is competitive. I don’t need to tell you that. You’re reading this because (and some of you are paying for premium content) you understand that it is hard to go at it alone. Mastery will help you avoid the competition.
Last week’s Saturday introduced the concept, “Competition is for Losers.” Let’s elaborate upon that, in the context of your career.
As you start to pursue mastery in the field you chose for yourself, you will learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you to refine your learning, till you become an expert at certain areas. For example, my mathematical base and general interest in Computer Science have allowed me to work with a very diverse set of people. It is what contributes to my ability to read and cover AI research from a variety of domains effectively. There are others who are much more specialized to certain roles/kinds of ML. Depending on your strengths, you will be more suited to one thing or another.
Now to cover the important part of this post. How can you discover your areas of interest/your strengths? I will now give you a plan that will help you. Interestingly enough, this newsletter is a direct consequence of this approach.
Now for the most important part of this post.
Are you ready? Take some more notes.
No more stalling. I promise. …or maybe
Experiment a lot
This was the part that I loved the most. As the guest talks about his journey and shares his insights, one thing stands out. His recommendations implicitly contain this insight, but I’ll make it explicit.
Experiment. A lot.
In the podcast, they discuss how it is important to try different things. Try to speak at meetings/conferences. Write a few technical documents. Look into different projects. You never know what strikes your fancy.
As you continue to practice, you will start to gain exposure. It will help you understand where you do well, and aspects you don’t like. For example, before getting into Machine Learning I was an international champion in Android Development AND top 2% percent in the world, when it came to competitive coding.
They were definitely a lot of fun. But because of them I learned a lot. I realized that I didn’t really enjoy coding for extended periods of time. I also didn’t really like being forced to memorize the very esoteric algorithms or be forced to go through every little permission file. This gave me a clear indication of what not to do.
I also found what I enjoyed. I found that I liked creating systems, and designing products with a birds-eye view. I liked learning about the foundations for different computer science concepts and ideas. I also found the math for Computer Science beautiful. This is what lead to me eventually deciding to specialize in AI.
Even my content followed a similar journey. I started with YouTube because I was inspired by Yannich Kilcher. However, I found that I was much better at writing, and I also enjoyed it more (I can listen to music as I write, but not as I record YT videos). While YouTube has done well for me, most of my growth and career opportunities have come from my writing.
To date, I’m experimenting with different formats, content types, and ideas. This newsletter was one such experiment, that a lot of people found helpful. So I’m committed to it.
The key is to start small and build it up. This newsletter started off with no real schedule. Then it became weekly. As more people started to like it, I put more effort into it. I realized that it would be great if I had posts on graphs etc. And thus, it became daily, with specific days for different tasks.
Once you do start, it is important to look at a few different things. They are-
Do you enjoy doing this? I hate editing videos. That’s why I refuse to edit my videos, even though it would help me grow faster. If you despise something, you will burn out much quicker. If you absolutely don’t like speaking, no point in trying to speak at conferences.
What aspects am I good at? Constantly evaluating your growth and feedback will help you find your strengths.
Have I been doing this long? If you have and don’t have much to show for it, you might want to consider changing something. However, do this only after having tried something for atleast 3 months. That way you have enough data.
Naturally, as you find what you like to do (and are good at), you can double down. You can go from presenting at your company meetings (no investment, low risk) to presenting your company products at conferences (much higher risk and investment). You can go from writing internal documentation to writing engineering blogs. Or you might go from helping with the backend teams, to leading your own. It’s all about patience and deliberate practice.
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