Get more experience, bro. The Hidden Pitfalls of "Getting Experience": A Fresh Perspective on Career Development

This is an amazing post, if you can get the idea of it.

I had a call with the founder of a company, and before the call, I visited his LinkedIn profile and found that he has a lot of experience (in different fields), but when I talked to him, I found that his thinking patterns are not as solid as expected given the vast experience he has claimed in his profile. And I don't think it's his fault only because;

I have seen that when a student just enters a new circle or area, sometimes they get very weird advice. And one such piece of advice is to get more experience.

This advice has been so popularized or pressurized by some entities that it is sick nowadays.

Suppose you are a student named Harshit. You just entered your college, and in your college, your seniors and professors are asking you to attend this event, volunteer here and there, and get some experience.

You did all as they said, but in the end, what did you get?

You just got experience, with nothing tangible.

But for some people, getting such exposure works wonderfully; they make new connections, find new founders for their startup, and more. So where is the gap?

The gap, from my point of view, is not analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a particular individual.

Some people are good with people skills. Some people are extroverts. Some people are introverts. Some people can manage managerial roles easily (handling many tasks in one day), and some people are makers (they require deep work). And that's the exact point.

One should not generalize any single piece of advice and apply it to all their students or employees because everyone has different strengths and weaknesses.

If a person learns faster when in a deep work state, then this person should be encouraged more and more for that. If a person has a managerial type of personality, then this person can be recommended to contribute to communities and engage with a lot of people.

And second is not focusing on your goal.

If ultimately your goal is making money, then you should find out which are skills that can get the highest ROI. And if that high-paying skill is something which you love, this is the cherry on top. Then try to invest your time in that area, people like that. In those communities, this way you will have far more opportunities and learning than you can imagine.

I have a friend who loved coding; he was a CS student, and he also loved sitting alone and doing deep work. His college used to encourage him to go out, get some experience, and volunteer. He did it for 1 or 2 times and then he refused. He started contributing to open-source projects online, and by the time he graduated, a company hired him at a handsome package, even higher than IIT students (he was rejected in JEE mains when in high school).

And I know some students who don't know all these but are sincere students; their college is encouraging them to volunteer in useless activities, and they are doing so because they have no direction. They don't know where to go. And instead of letting them find such things, college is making them busy with such activities. The same college did the same thing with their seniors, and they are now working at low-paying jobs and doing it with their current students as well. So a student must be clear about their goal and know that there can be many ways to reach the same goal.

TLDR;

1. Here's a more concise summary:
2. Generic advice to gain experience doesn't suit everyone
3. Individual strengths and personalities should guide career choices
4. Analyze personal traits before following advice
5. Focus on personal goals and high-ROI skills
6. Tailor activities to individual learning styles and interests
7. Multiple paths exist to achieve career goals
8. Generic advice may lead to suboptimal outcomes
9. Students/employees should be clear about their objectives and choose accordingly.
10. Never take your eyes off your goal.