The Best Career Advice I Ever Received

This post in the PM Career Insights series addresses the question, "What is the best career advice that you’ve been given?".

Throughout our lives, we encounter various pieces of career advice. Yet, occasionally, we come across advice so impactful it shapes our professional journey. As someone often approached by aspiring and current product managers seeking wisdom, I'm frequently asked, "What's the best career advice you've ever received?" This post delves into that transformative advice and explores its broader significance.

My career began at DUNYA NEWS , where I joined as an online journalist during the final year of my undergraduate engineering degree. At that time, the concept of a news website was still novel in Pakistan, and the team primarily consisted of Urdu-speaking journalists. I was among the fresh graduates recruited by minhaj S. , the director for digital and online content, who sought individuals proficient in English. Our training was conducted by experienced journalists, teaching us to translate Urdu news stories into English.

During my tenure, I worked alongside esteemed journalists, such as @Tariq Mateen and @Ashar Zaidi, who had transitioned from GEO News Live TV . Curious about the career path ahead, I sought advice from Ashar Zaidi. His guidance was simple yet profound: First, choose a domain where competition is scarce, and second, pursue an area that genuinely piques your curiosity. He emphasized selecting a field not merely because it's lucrative or popular but because it aligns with your natural inclinations and the market's needs.

Ashar illustrated his point with his own career choice. While many journalists in Pakistan were drawn to politics and current affairs, he ventured into sports journalism—a field with fewer experts at the time but one he was passionately curious about. This strategic choice enabled him to become a prominent sports journalist.

Inspired by Ashar's advice, I applied this principle throughout my career. For instance, my role as a copywriter at GreenTech led me to explore search engine optimization (SEO), leveraging my technical background to excel in a domain unfamiliar to many copywriters. This curiosity and unique skill set opened doors to digital marketing, a burgeoning field globally and especially in Pakistan. Despite lacking formal marketing education, my expertise in SEO and social media marketing caught the attention of Telenor Pakistan, leading to a position in their digital marketing team—a stark contrast to my earlier unsuccessful applications for telecom engineering roles.

This approach has guided my career decisions, including my transition to product management. My technical background and marketing experience allowed me to work closely with engineering teams, influencing product development. Recognizing the nascent stage of technology product management in Norway, I seized the opportunity to specialize in this area, differentiating myself through a blend of user understanding, market insight, and technological acumen.

For those interested in the detailed evolution of my career, I've shared more in previous posts. But the essence of my journey underscores the importance of strategic domain selection and the pursuit of genuine curiosity. It's a testament to the power of combining market demand with personal passion, a strategy that can illuminate the path to a fulfilling career.