Career advice and the need for mentoring

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At the ServerlessConf this week, during the lunch break, one young guy approached me and asked for some career advice: “how did you know you wanted to do what you do?”, “what tips can you share with me to be successful?”

Wow, I was surprised and this type of questions was unexpected. Do I look old and wise now? :-) But why not?

I took the time to think about it and here are some ideas I shared with him:

• Keep being curious and never stop learning. Read, read, read. Engage with different people and share ideas. Try new stuff and learn.

• Even if you specialize in one particular field for your job, try to understand what’s happening in other domains. It is very likely you will find great ideas that could be applicable to your area of expertise.

• Find a mentor, someone with many years of experience who will be happy to share his point of view and listen to you. That’s the basic: it should be an on-going discussion and not a lecture.

• Without a doubt, the most important: Find your Why. I am a big fan of Simon Sinek. I read all his books and keep watching his videos on YouTube or TED. If you want to have a sense of fulfillment, find your Why and find jobs/work for companies whose Why is in line with your belief. Not an easy one but it must be your aspiration!