Steph Wong's 2022 Career Lessons Wrapped

2022 was full of unexpected challenges and new opportunities. I crossed my 5 year mark at Google, landed a new role, got promoted, and won several industry awards. But before I even got a chance to celebrate, I started to move my goalposts, scheming how to surpass the next peak. Then I realized, "Stephanie, you're doing it again. 2022 flew by and you didn't pause to reflect on your progress." So I sat myself down for some introspection, and started to see how much I have grown - professionally and personally. I've learned what's important in my career, how to advance sustainably, and cultivate amazing relationships along the way. Let's call it, "Steph Wong's 2022 Career Lessons Wrapped."

1. Doing good work does not automatically lead to success.

Do the right work for the business and for yourself. Find that sweet spot between your personal priorities, skills growth, and the needs of the team.

This is hard to achieve and shifts all the time, but try. Document it. Make sure people know about it, and the role you played. And have regular, open and honest conversations about professional growth and performance with your manager. You'll slowly watch your work be celebrated while you grow.

2. Know your truth, know your values.

Know what you bring to the table, know the BS you can or cannot handle, and stick to them. If you find yourself in a role/project that doesn’t align with them, be open to the possibility of something new. This may take time (needing to do a current job well, along with available roles, other non-trivial personal / professional circumstances, etc.), but don’t be afraid to find the space and time to define your values and align your work to them.

3. Know when to stay, and when to leave.

Sometimes riding out a change can present new, exciting possibilities, and leaving too soon results in regret at not seeing an opportunity through. But only you know when you’re plateauing or the environment around you is failing. Don’t let years pass; be deliberate. If you’re not sure when to join a new team or take a risks, ask yourself if that change feels both scary and exciting (you want both). I face this decision every 3-4 years when I feel I've stopped learning or I want a new challenge. If things don't pan out, you always have full agency to pivot again.

4. Beware of the passion paradox.

Those who focus too hard on future successes instead of enjoying and cultivating their passions are less likely to reap the rewards of those wins. Focus on the process rather than the results because if you don't enjoy the process, what's even the point? You won't have the tolerance or resilience to get to the top. Take pride in small achievements along the way. Be patient on the road toward mastery. And Adam Grant agrees:

Passion is not a perquisite for progress. It's often the result of progress.

5. Trust the first pancake principal.

People often ask me if I'm naturally good at content creating or speaking on stage. The truth is it's a practiced skilled like most things. You should see my first videos versus what I create now! The first pancake principal is something Colt McAnlis coined and it's changed the game for me. The first pancake you make is usually bad - the griddle's too hot, the batter's too thick, or you flip it too late. But that doesn’t stop you - you eventually master it. If you spend too much time doing a single type of work or focus on a single technology you stagnate. Focus on getting volume out the door, embracing pivots, working with others, and understanding where the point of diminishing return is. Don’t worry about perfection, focus on growth through iteration. Each time you get more skilled and create better work. This takes all the executive pressure off your shoulders. You just get to focus on cooking good pancakes.

6. Pace yourself.

Cram mentality may have worked in school, but when you think about going the distance of your career those little bursts of burnout add up. Figure out what your healthy pacing is, get into that groove, and slowly raise your output. This system keeps you growing, solidly. You will always feel like you’re taking on a bit too much, but looking back, you’ll realize you’ve easily doubled your effectiveness and have more self confidence. When it’s time to go up for promotion, that process feels healthier, more natural, and much more understood - It’s a path you’ve been slowly running on for a while now.

7. Don’t put your career on autopilot.

The only things that are certain in life? Death, taxes …and performance reviews. Months in advance, plan a risk mitigation strategy, write specific goals, keep track of your work and praise you receive, keep a tight relationship with your manager, and get endorsements from people in higher positions. Don’t wait until 2 weeks before your review to assess yourself. It’s too late by then to do meaningful work to fill in gaps and get the ratings you want.

8. Change is the only constant.

You either plan for it, or you get rolled under it. So float like a jellyfish, sting like a jellyfish. Your career will require restarts, many times. Most often, these changes are forced upon you. Identify what you’re still good at and use it as a mental anchor. Stop doing things of no value in a new environment. Identify what’s valuable in the post-change world, and start making plans to use your skills, and value, to start doing those things.

9. Culture is a non negotiable.

It’s a shared way of doing something with passion and having full trust in the people you work with. Without it, everything falls apart. Remember the team leader isn’t the only one responsible for upholding culture, but also every single person on the team. Be accountable, reliable, transparent, and actively collaborate/support others. Actively contribute to culture, celebrate it, and look for teams that prioritize it.

10. Results matter, but relationships last.

In the long run, no one remembers results, they remember relationships. Job titles are temporary, how you treat others will be remembered. Treat every stakeholder, collaborator, manager, and teammate with that in mind. At some point, you’re probably going to be asked to do work you don’t want to do. Remember that you’re always building stronger relationships. Value constructive feedback, value human interactions, and treat everyone like a client.

11. If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

This is an age old adage but still proves to be true. When I first took on creating a landing the Developer Engagement role, it was daunting. I was reminded time and time again, you don't need to take this on alone. You can lean on others, and outsource when needed. It was up to me to tap into the product, marketing, engineering, PR, and other DevRel folks I knew to provide me with their expertise so I could synthesize that information. Over the span of months I forged strong enough relationships with buy-in that I formed a working group that had stake in the success of my role. Suddenly the insurmountable mountain ahead felt achievable. None of it was overnight, but by month 18 the role led to the creation of a number frameworks, landings, and awards I've achieved with the help of others.

If you are tasked with an initiative, learn how to forge relationships, influence without authority, get buy-in, seek advice, and execute together.

12. Be competitive with yourself and not others.

This is a tough one to embrace. In a world where we are overwhelmed with career and life highlight reels online and in the workplace, it's hard not to compare yourself. Yet social media has also shown me the infinite paths a career can take. I've seen people go from theater acting to software development (eh hem Chloe ?? Condon ), finance to impact venture capitalism, engineering to full time Youtuber, product management to LED light interior designer. Along the more traditional corporate route, I regularly look up profiles to see paths to CEO, COO, or entrepreneur. There is no "conventional path" anymore. I constantly have to remind myself of this - trust in your own journey and seek out what excites you. Be competitive with yourself and only yourself. The rest doesn't serve you unless it fuels your inspiration.

13. Practice selfish altruism.

Seek out projects and activities that produce the most net good for you, and ALSO produce net good for those around you. Magic will happen. Your career will take a massive leap forward, your impact and influence will suddenly grow. You’ll find yourself the glowing center of praise and a network of friends who will drop everything to give back. You’ll be a positive influence on folks earlier in their career; You’ll quickly become a mentor, a consultant, a symbol of the counterculture of the corporate world around you.

14. A good manager tries to keep you on the team, a great manager expects you to leave one day.

I have been lucky to have great managers who want to see me succeed and use my role as a stepping stone. They tell me the potential they see in me and where they see me going, including leaving the team to do bigger and better things. One thing they want to make sure: that I walk away having grown. This has done wonders for my confidence. I have to attribute the challenges and stretch goals I’ve taken on to them. As a leader, remember: Continuous recognition leads to desired behaviors. Servant leadership is powerful. Keeping a team happy isn’t easy, but almost everyone on my team has stayed since they joined years ago, including myself, thanks to our leaders who focus on the needs of others before their own. It’s a long-term approach to leadership that requires empathy, awareness, and commitment to the growth of people.

15. Imposter syndrome is a trait of high achievers.

Perfectionism and procastrination are a defense mechanism against our fears, anxiety, and shame. Committing to consistent, strategic effort is the 80/20 rule here. Refocus your energy less on your perceived shortcomings and more on whats going to get you to the next level. Channel that energy into iterative small improvements, not perfection. Remember you often overestimate what you can achieve in 1 year, and underestimate what you can achieve in 10. Learn to enjoy the journey, not only the destination.

16. Being resourceful is a skill itself.

You don’t need to be an expert in everything. In fact, it’s impossible to. Over time you’ll recognize your craft and what you bring to the table. Don’t be afraid to lean on others for their expertise, whether it’s reviewing your work, sharing work they’ve done, or taking on part in the project. In fact, it’s a key trait for leaders to be able to delegate or lean on others. Just remember to recognize them, show gratitude, and offer your expertise in return.

17. Find a mentor. Be a mentor.

Mentors are so essential to giving you clarity in moments of ambiguity, change, or frustration. The best way to find one is all about relationship building, offering real value to them, and letting your work shine. Vidya Nagarajan once told me, “Build yourself an advisory board.” In other words, who is a part of your first network? The people who have your back and you trust for advice, and transparency along the way. Then pay it forward by mentoring others. Trust me, it's rewarding (plus the top will feel pretty lonely unless you pull others up along with you).

18. The best form of knowledge sharing is storytelling.

Whether its personal pitches, design docs, your own performance review, or content, stories are what we turn to when tech is too complex, decisions are too large, and the best choices are hidden from us. Know how to tell a powerful story, take creative risks, and use it to your advantage in all circumstances.

19. Don’t underestimate the importance of communication in tech.

It’s how you represent your work, yourself, and build real relationships. Even in engineering, communication is how you advance your projects, work with others, and break through roadblocks. I think it’s one of the most - if not the most important - strength in your career.

I owe it to my own mentors and managers who taught me many of these lessons. And to be frank, I'm still internalizing and practicing these lessons. 2023 will present a brand new set of economic and career challenges that many people in my generation have yet to see, but we should each trust in our resilience and willingness to constantly grow. Remember - it’s a marathon, not a race. Bring it on 2023!