4/1/2024 - 4/5/2024 - 9 things i learned from my first big boy job

I couldn't think of 10....

So i’ve been in my role for a year now (technically i started in May, but got signed on in April…), and it’s been absolutely mind blowing how many things i’ve learned in such a short period of time. Being in the corporate world and having a big boy job was pretty much all i wanted when I was grad school—now that I’m here, these are the 9 things I learned about my first, quote on quote “big boy job”.

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1. You’ll be more upset about how upset you’ve gotten: Going into my first job was a doozy. Switching managers, compensation was a mess, roles were not clearly defined, and throwing myself pity party’s over it all. I was justified to feel this way, my colleagues validated my experience and expressed that the injustices were vast. Looking back, I regret that I acted that way, I regret that I let a “job” get to me and ruin my mood. Yes, things will suck, yes you’ll feel lost all the time, and yes no one will help you (unless you ask). After a whole year, my one regret was I got more upset about how upset I got. I wouldn’t trade the experience I gained in this role for any other here at Cisco, and for that, i’m grateful
2. Market Dynamics trump individual performance: Talented people are packed in like sardines here at Cisco. Every person I met in my first role (and I mean every person) is thoughtful, smart, hungry, and has high character. After the conversations, my reaction was always “d#mn, they’re smart, fingers crossed that I get to be like them one day”. So, naively I thought, if you have all those aforementioned talents, you’ll be saved from a “rif” (reduction in force). That is not the case, the market is ceasar, and points his thumb up or down on whether employees are saved or not. No matter the level of competence or talent, if you’re on the wrong side of growth—you’ll be kicked off the bus. I sucked for 4 months in the role and was ripe for being fired, but since I was on the right size of growth—my role was spared. Talent? or market dynamics? I think you know the answer….
3. Curiosity is severely underrated: When you’re wet behind the ears in a new role, your superpower is being the dumbest person in the room. You get to ask dumb questions and be obnoxiously curious for a good 6 months—then that new role glow starts to wear off. Being curious, I argue, is the greatest weapon in a sellers tool belt. However, if you’re curious with all things, you just learn so much and can teach it to others—which ultimately is the goal. Curiosity led me to present “prospecting strategies” in front of 200+ sellers when only being in the role for 6 months, and it skyrocketed my brand. Like the Dos Equis guy says, “stay thirsty my friends”, my tag line is “stay curious playa”.
4. Have low expectations for others but keep em high for yourself: I had so many instances where I was blown away by the lack of urgency or effort in situations I found myself in. I used to get so pissed when my co-workers didn’t share the same enthusiasm with me. “what do you mean you don’t want to present to the APJC team at 10:00pm!” (true story btw). Then I realized, everyone has got their own thing going and holding them to the fire won’t solve anything. My favorite quote about expectations comes from a pick up artist named Neil Strauss (weird I know), Strauss said, “unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments”. I needed to detach from other people’s effort and focus on my own, because my bitterness was palpable. The moment I flipped the pressure onto myself, I started to make some traction and was having more fun. Look inward first, the answers will probably be there.
5. Follow the fastball, listen to those who’ve done the work: Even though talent is ubiquitous @Cisco, you still get the occasional bad advice. When you’re new to a role, you wanna talk to everyone which is good! (see above: be curious). BUT, be careful whose advice you actually take, bucketing the information into “I can use this” or “what even is that” is probably healthy. The leading indicator for whose advice should be pocketed and digested should come from someone who can throw a fastball (no, not an actual fastball….). Short example, I had someone tell me, “we need 50 dials a day and 70 emails, sales is a numbers game….” Meanwhile, this person has never done sales (like ever) and has been a director for 15 years. No hate..(ok a lil) but when was the last time you prospected? in short: let me see your fastball. Find those who’ve done the work and get mentored from them—I guarantee they’re not dialing for dollars…. ps. I book meetings off cold calls i.e., dialing for dollars ;)
6. You get what you put in: Early career roles are kinda watered down, you can go as fast or as slow as you like. But therein lays the problem, you can as fast or as slow as you like…. Effort is one of those weird things that is hard to measure, but you can kinda sense whose putting in the work. I vote going hard, like stupid hard, in your first role. Put as much as you can in—it’ll pay dividends on the backend. Colleagues will respect you, managers will notice you, and you prove yourself as a competent employee.
7. Busyness is a trap. Find leverage and …uh…leverage it…: I did a bunch of dumb sh#t when i first started (cringing at my first discovery meetings, "where do you see your business in 5 years" lol bro..) and the dumbest thing I did, by far, was not being protective of my time. Having a packed schedule, me thinks, was the mark of a productive employee—but at the end of the week I had nothing to show it for it. When I found out how to leverage my time, my efficiency increased and success followed. Sales is very much a team sport, and no one likes a ball hog…Boy let me tell you that ball was glued to my hands. Once i learned to leverage my team (are you sick of the sports analogies yet?), work became more enjoyable. Leverage is important for long term success—find it fast.
8. You don’t want easy, you want growth and skills: When you first start a job, find the hardest, scariest, and hardest thing in your company (did i mention it should be hard?). The reason? You learn the most and grow from it. Young people have pretty much one thing going for them….and that is…TIME. You got so much time to try things and do hard sh#t, why not do it. Even if you fail, you can’t say you wasted time, because you got so much of it! So do the hard thing, immerse yourself in the confusion, the self-doubt, and lack of skills, because on the other side you’ll respect the person you become. Look for the hard not the easy.
9. Bloom where you are planted: I suffer from SOS….no, not the Jonas Brothers song…My cross to bear is shiny object syndrome. Everything, yes ev-er-y-th-i-ng looked better than my role….I was so caught up in what my friends at MongoDB were doing and obsessing over working at a sexy company like Cyera that I wasn’t focused on my role and my growth. My problem was I thought the grass is greener at other companies and in other roles—and my role is moving me backwards….With that mindset, yes, I was regressing…What changed? Well, after being miserable for 3 weeks, I listened to a podcast that Andrew Sage was on (VP of SMB here @Cisco), and said he suffered with SOS too. He felt that he was regressing, not moving fast enough, and wa generally unsatisfied with work. But then he learned one simple philosophy, “bloom where you are planted”. In sum, where you are now is where you’re supposed to be, and all the learning is not in the future, at a different company, or different role—it’s here, it’s now. Love that! Totally changed my mindset, Is show up everyday pouring myself into the here and now. Bloom where you are planted folks!

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Uff, that was a beefy list. Making this was super hard, there are so many things I wanted to include, but for the time being, I think this summarizes my first year in a big boy job. Who knows, maybe after another year, I can write 10 things I learned….But for right now, i’m loving the journey and the experience—blessed to be here.