From Geek to Star #21 - Fail to prepare is preparing to fail

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

🗓️ This Week – Episode 21: continuous improvement is also for you

Last school year, my eldest daughter had a year in which she had to go for a demanding international exam. The kind of exam you can not just prepare at the last minute working round the clock for a few weeks, but that you really need to prepare all year long. One of her teachers, who is highly competent and demanding with the students, used to tell them: “Fail to prepare is preparing to fail”. 

Such is the professional world we are living in today too. Whether in leadership roles or in operational roles, whether people have been in their companies for decades or for just a few years, I see more and more positions made redundant overnight, or moved into other countries. And at the same time, discussing with super strong tech people who are already leveraging AI incredibly, I hear from these same people that they themselves find that everything is moving at lighting speed and that it is sometimes difficult to keep up. 

No one among us can be certain where he / she will be tomorrow, but one thing is certain, it's that having several strings to one's bow is a much safer bet to be able to rebounce if needed. 

🏹 Add more strings to your bow

First, take any opportunity you may have at the workplace to upskill. If your company is generous in training, dedicate regular time in your agenda to take on some training. For example, you can block 25 minutes daily in your agenda to follow an online training made available by your company. Often we tend to think it is not possible to dedicate this time, but it really is a matter to block that daily slot in your agenda and to think of it as an investment on you.

Second, be intentional in your daily work and interactions with all the people / activities that you have. I've shared in the past newsletters on SHINE (Soft skills, Hard skills, Industry knowledge, Nurturing skills for network and curiosity, Experience). Keep SHINE in mind as you go through your interactions. Example: you cross paths at the coffee machine with this colleague of sales that you barely know. Instead of just saying “how are you doing” and then just minding your own business, you can engage in a 5min dialog: “hi, how are you doing? We’ve not discussed much before, I am Khang from the Infra Sec department. I think you are from Sales, what are you focused on more precisely?”, etc. It does not seem much, but going the extra mile in your interactions is adding a little step one after the other to build up your knowledge wall.  

Third, it's good to take a step back from time to time from the rat race and assess where you are from a career path and where you see yourself next. This is an introspective work really worth doing from time to time. Sometimes it is not easy to do alone - I would advise you to have one or more mentors you appreciate who can take some time to help you reflect and also advise with their experience. 

As I shared in newsletter 20, the SHINE framework helps you to identify your upskilling path depending on your career aspirations, such as it did for me this summer as I used it to decide on my next improvements. Feel free to book a 20min discovery slot if you want to discuss with me to evaluate if I can support you in this exercise to define your way forward and your SHINE. 

🙏 I’d Love to Hear From You

What is your approach to stay relevant in these fast moving and uncertain times?

Reply to this email, I read every note.

You can follow me on LinkedIn for more reflections and “behind-the-scenes” thinking between newsletters. Don't hesitate to engage discussions there in the comments to also start showing and sharing your thoughts publicly - this will help your own SHINE. If you want to know more about how I can support you 1-1 to thrive in your tech career, have a look at my offerings here.  

P.S. Referral Pilot 🚀

Forward this email to one engineer friend you appreciate and who may benefit from this as part of the “sharing is caring” mindset! Put a nice forward word, a good opportunity to connect or re-connect. 

✨ May the Shift be with you!

From Geek to Star by Khang | The Way Forward