Career Lessons from the past year

When I completed my medical internship in late 2019, I made a conscious decision to be extra deliberate about my career decisions going forward. It also meant that I had to develop myself in several ways – acquiring needed knowledge and skills.

As I have progressed on my journey, I have learned some valuable lessons. I started writing them down at the beginning of the year and I am glad I did because I had forgotten that I even learned some of what I shared here. I hope you pick a thing or two.

You may not start in your dream career/role.

And that’s fine. I wish I learned this earlier. People make it seem like if you’re not chasing your dreams and working a job in your ‘passion’ you’re wrong. What they fail to mention is how daunting the journey can be. Don’t get sucked into the hustle of blindly chasing a passion and end up stunting your life. Sometimes, your job may just be paying the bill at this moment and that’s fine too. You may come to find a different new dream and chase that.

People have varied views on this and some would say to drop everything else and chase a specific passion. I think in the end, we just need to apply whatever advice we get to our personal situations.

It is okay not to have it all figured out.

There is a constant buzz about finding your passion and following it. The first point already stated that it’s fine not to start out with your ‘passion’. I think it is also fine to not know what your passion is when starting out. With new experiences, we find that we have new interests we probably never knew existed. I’ve seen experienced professionals still wonder if they’re actually living the life they want/working the career of their dreams.

The important thing I have learned on my journey so far is to be conscious of my interests and what excites me and things will fall into place. A pro tip to figuring things out is to look around (not just locally) and pick who you want to be like in the next 20 years, then follow the path while accounting for nuances based on your personal circumstances.

Plans change.

And that’s fine too. I have modified my career plans at least 3 times in the past year. You may think you have your passion figured out and then find that you are yearning for something new. You may also get your dream job and find that it differs from all you imagined. This points to the fact that life is a continuous journey and there is really no full stop.

I had a conversation about this with some colleagues on the night this post was edited and it further emphasized the point. Believe in yourself and know you can excel in any field you choose. Make decisions on the information you can gather (get as much as possible) and accept all that comes with whatever choice you make.

Mentorship is important.

I was once in the school of thought that mentorship may not be necessary for one’s career journey. I no longer believe that. While I agree that accountability partners (who will mostly be your peers) are necessary for achieving goals, there are some insights that only a more experienced person can give. There is also a place for peer-to-peer mentorship, ie, getting advice from your peers. Both types have their place and a good mix works best.

It doesn’t have to be a rigid relationship, but having someone who has gone ahead guide you in some way is quite beneficial. An added benefit is that they can double as your sponsors and have a wider and more influential network so they can expose you to more opportunities. I wrote about my mentorship experience so far here, and also shared some tips on finding a mentor and making the best of it here.

It is easier to get ahead than to stay ahead.

Getting your dream role can happen on vibes. It’s possible (and probably easy) to sweet-talk yourself into a role. But at some point, you have to put in the work and prove to those who bet on you that they didn’t make an error in their judgment. Prove to yourself and to others that you are deserving of a seat at the table. A seat that you won’t simply occupy but from which you will be a valuable addition to the table – it’s easy to get displaced. It can be scary but the fear should be a push to put in the work.

Do good work always

You know how you’re given a ‘small’ task or assignment to work on and you just do anyhow because you think it doesn’t count? Stop it. I’ve found that we’re constantly marketing ourselves, even though we’re not aware of it.

Personally, I’ve had to recruit people for a task and I realized that there are certain people who stand out, even over others who may need the role more. The reason is based on observation, I feel they are more competent. This may not be true but it’s the way they’ve positioned themselves. I believe others may also have had similar thoughts about me when recruiting for a task.

In our daily interactions, there are subtle things that stick for people and they begin to associate you with them. All the small things count. This does not mean you have to constantly market yourself and not take a chill. It just means you should be more conscious of the ‘vibe’ you give off.

You would make mistakes

This is almost inevitable. While it’s important to stay committed to producing excellent work, there would still be times when you will mess things up. It may be your fault or someone else’s but it’s bound to happen.

When this happens, remember to forgive yourself and learn from the experience. For someone committed to always putting the best foot forward, it’s easy to beat yourself up and worry about mistakes. Remember that it’s all a learning process, and even the experts make mistakes too. We are human. We need to be kind to ourselves.

Blow your own trumpet, tell your own story

It’s easy to do the work and not get noticed. If you do this in a bid to ‘be humble’, you are only doing yourself a disservice. With the advent of the Internet and Social Media platforms, it’s easier to share your story. There’s also the opportunity of reaching a global audience.

One platform for ‘blowing your trumpet’ career-wise is LinkedIn. It’s easy to view the platform as a nuisance and everyone putting their best foot forward. I used to dislike the platform too but understanding the purpose of a thing helps to utilize it better. LinkedIn is essentially an online CV – if you polish yourself well on your ‘offline’ CV, why should you do otherwise simply because it’s social media?

Hindsight is 20/20 + Make well-informed decisions

This is a very personal one that I keep reminding myself of in several areas of my life. As someone who ‘overthinks’, I tend to look at past decisions and imagine how I could have done better. Looking at the past year, there are several things I wish I did differently.

But the more I think on them, the more I realize that the decisions I made at those points were the ‘best’ given all the information I had at hand. Only now in the future am I seeing ways I could have been or done better. One thing I take from this is to do my best to make informed decisions so I know my part was done. It’s not been so easy, but I’m working on pondering less on all the things I didn’t do or did wrongly. Directly or indirectly, those decisions set me up for the opportunities I now have so that’s actually a great thing.

Building a career is not the easiest thing but the rewards are well worth it. Here are some lessons I've learned so far. Click To Tweet

Here’s a summary of everything in this post

You may not start in your dream role/career, and that’s fine
It is okay to not have it all figured out
Plans change, and that’s fine too
Mentorship is important, both vertical and horizontal (ie, more experienced people + your peers)
It is easier to get ahead than to stay ahead
Do good work always
You would make mistakes
Blow your own trumpet, tell your own story
Hindsight is 20/20 + make well-informed decisions

I am constantly relearning these lessons, picking myself up anytime I fall. I saw a thread on Twitter that has lots of gems as well. Check it out here. Building a career is not the easiest thing but the rewards are worth it.

I would love to read about any career lessons you have from the past year. Share with me!