From Geek to Star #10 - The approachable Geek

If you missed the previous episodes, you can access them online here.

🗓️ This Week – Episode 10: Nurture your curiosity and your relationships 

On the path to becoming a T++ Engineer - a deep technical expert with well-rounded skills and recognized impact - we’ve already explored Soft Skills, Hard Skills, and Industry Knowledge.

This week, I will  turn to another core trait that often goes underestimated: Nurturing your curiosity and your relationships.

In Newsletter #3, “When Good Work Goes Unnoticed,” we talked about how impact alone isn’t enough: visibility is essential for recognition and growth. But how can others understand your value if you yourself struggle to connect your technical work to the broader business?

That’s where curiosity and relationships become your crucial allies.

🔍 1. Nurture Your Curiosity

Before trying to “map your value” within the business, take time to explore how your company actually works.

• What are the moving parts?
  

• Who owns which outcomes?
  

• Why do decisions happen the way they do?
  

The more you understand the inner mechanics, not just of systems but also of people and context, the more naturally you’ll start to translate your work into impact. Also, think about how your work can be understood through explanations based on “general knowledge” out of your industry.

💡 Analogy in Action:

Years ago, I visited Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority museum (highly recommended if you live in Singapore or if you happen to travel there by the way). I was struck by its 50-year city planning vision and how well the city maintained its infrastructure over time.

That visit gave me a metaphor I often used with the leadership of the company I was then working for: designing our IT architecture with long-term urban planning in mind, versus the chaos of cities built without a plan. That analogy helped non-tech leaders see the value of proactive system design and technical debt management in a comprehensible language for them.

When you stay curious beyond your field, whether it is urbanism, sports, cinema, geopolitics, history…, you expand your metaphor toolkit. That’s what gives you storytelling power, not just technical depth. It also helps you to connect the dots in your work as sometimes you will see some patterns in a completely different situation which can actually relate into the context of your company.

🤝 2. Nurture Your Relationships

You won’t gain full business perspective or visibility by staying within your tech silo. You need people: peers, colleagues, managers, non-tech functions, even external partners.

Start simple:

• Say hello.
  

• Have a casual chat: “What are you working on?”, “What’s your biggest challenge right now?”
  

• Sit with someone new at lunch.
  

• Don’t skip business town halls and write down what you don’t understand. Ask someone after.
  

Sounds familiar? Yes indeed, these were also the advice of the last newsletter about developing your industry knowledge. As engineers, we know that re-usability is good 🙂. These practices not only bring you business knowledge but also build up and maintain healthy relationships beyond your tech circle. 

They help you learn how the company operates. And they help others understand what you do and how it matters.

🌱 Relationships compound over time. For example, even when a headhunter contacts you and you’re not interested, take time to reply. Recommend someone else. Stay helpful. Over time, that goodwill builds trust that may return at the right moment.

As with curiosity, nurturing relationships must stay authentic. Not political, but human. So nurture relationships with people you appreciate and share common important values with you.

🌟 Why This Trait Matters for T++ Engineers

The more you nurture your curiosity and relationships, the more you develop:

• Empathy with decision-makers
  

• Insight into where value is created
  

• Language to communicate your contributions
  

Your visibility will grow not because you talk louder but because more people will understand your impact.

That’s the real meaning of the quote:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Your career builds up over years, not days, but it needs to be nurtured every day, step by step. 

🙌 Let’s Hear From You

Have you had moments when curiosity or a conversation unlocked a new perspective?

Or when a small connection turned into a big opportunity?

Hit reply and share – I’d love to hear how you’d explain it. I read every note.

Also, follow me on LinkedIn for behind-the-scenes reflections between newsletters.

✨ Stay curious, stay connected!

From Geek to Star by Khang | The Way Forward