I have been in the IT industry for a while now (at least think so!) that does not super qualify me to give advice. But I think the lessons that learned would be helpful for people starting their journey. Few things I learned..
- Focus on long term goals, don't just look at short term gains, when you are starting your career you would hear the person whom you studied with has got into something exciting and you immediately start comparing yourself and there is always a temptation to quit a move to the next exciting thing
- Be a Generalist as well. In one sense it's true that in the long term specialist do win over generalists. But I have observed is that generalists tend to live a bit more holistic life.
- Your personality matters and don't stay too long thinking a miracle is going to happen. It's one of the mistakes I have made. I struggled a bit in a place I did not enjoy but kept things would change for the good. But I think that rarely happens, if it's in your power make that calculated jump
- Build great relationships at work: Ultimately this matters, no matter how talented you are if you are bad at this you will be stuck. Learning to build those crucial relationships both above and below your designation makes a huge difference. As someone has said life is all about relationships the rest are just details.
