Category Archives: Work

#237 Barriers to entry

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If you want to start a career, change your career, or spread an idea, a few things will come in the way. These barriers must be studied and overcome if you are to make progress.

  • Knowledge: Do you know enough about the domain to be useful? If you want an entry level job, it may be easier, but portraying yourself as qualified when you are not can get you off on the wrong foot. Read extensively and become articulate on the domain.
  • Degrees and certifications: Some professions have established education roadmaps to separate the wheat from the chaff. These are not foolproof, but they will ensure you have understood the vocabulary, at the very minimum. Get certified, but don’t bet your career on it, you need real life experience to back it up.
  • Small, controlled market: If the market is small, you need to be very, very good to make an impact. It will take years of apprenticeship to break in. Get ready for the grind.
  • Attitude: Is your strategy “hit and run?” For example, there is a huge demand for data scientists, but are you in that profession to make a quick buck? Or, are you willing to put in the work to truly become a data scientist?

There are probably more barriers, you can share what you’ve faced in the comments below.

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#236 Meeting deadlines (not)

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Early in my career, my bosses asked me, “Why did you not meet your deadline?” Being very sure about myself, I offered some variation of the answers below:

  • The task was too easy, so I let my guard down. The task turned out to be more difficult than I expected.
  • I was too busy with numerous tasks, and overcommitted without thinking.
  • I don’t care, you need me, I am indispensable.
  • I never agreed with the deadline in the first place.
  • I never agreed with you as a person. No, I was not passive aggressive, I have valid reasons for not believing in you.

This line of thinking is career limiting.

Meeting deadlines is a sign of two traits: ability to plan and reliability. Find a way to set a deadline that is realistic, ask for help in planning, ask for help to remove barriers to performance, reset expectations in a timely manner, and consistently meet your deadlines.

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