In a few weeks, my brother-in-law will finish college, and as with many people his age and life period, he is unsure about what to do next. That has kickstarted a recurrent thought in my mind that has popped up repeatedly over the last few months: What advice would I give to my younger self?
I don’t want to come off as an “all-figured” type of guy, because I’m not, but I think I can at least tell what’s worked for me and what’s not.
Learn
My first and biggest advice I would have given to myself all those years ago, and one that I think I nailed without knowing it, is to always optimize for learning new things. The first years of your own career are the best to find what you like, what your passion is, and what drives you forward. They are perfect years to test a lot of things, and have the energy and time to do so.
In my case, I had the opportunity to work on an early-stage startup. That environment forced me to learn lots of things and do it fast because there wasn’t anyone there to fall back on or rely on. I had to develop my ability to adapt and learn quickly.
This helped me grow a lot quicker than I would have in another place.
In this regard, for me, an anti-pattern early on in your career is to focus too much on pay or title. Those things can come later on, and they can’t come before learning new things in those crucial years.
Network a lot
Linking with the first point, my second advice would be to network a lot in your first years. Getting those early connections of people in the same industry as you can offer lots of opportunities during your whole career.
That said, I think the first most important connections that you’ve had to make are during college, since those can make a difference in your first jobs.
In my case, thanks to my college friends, I had the opportunity to work at the aforementioned early-stage startup.