I recently came across a podcast called Network Collective which is know into its 6th episode. Of course these days there are millions of podcasts but this one in particular is interesting because it touches on a few points with which I agree.
The topic for this 6th episode was “What I Wish I Had Known” and the conversation is around what guests, with many years of work experience, know now but they wish they would know in the beginning of their careers.In summary:
- Dedicate more time to the construction of your network of contacts and meet new people. Build a personal network instead of a computer network
- Focus on learning technology earlier in your careers instead of when we are older, married and with kids (its much harder)
- It’s normal to not know, saying “I don’t know” and looking for/asking for help. No one knows everything!
- Understand your company’s business. Why are the ongoing projects running?
- Study and understand very well the basics and fundamentals instead of memorizing commands
- “Don’t leave too quickly and don’t stay too long”
- Assume risks early in your career.
- No worries about us besides ourselves. We are a 1 person company
Many of these may be closer to your heart than others but with me, the one that had the most impact in my career was knowing how important it is to understand the business we support. What is the reason we do what we do and that we get certain instructions?
These messages serve not only for us tech guys/engineers but also for managers who many times don’t take enough time to make the people they manage understand why certain requests are made. Don’t assume we are all just a bunch of people who understand nothing! You will be surprised.
You can listen to the podcast:
If you like faces watch them on youtube:
What is “Network Collective”?
Network Collective is a bi-weekly video roundtable where data networking engineers talk about industry trends, challenging projects, and what it takes to do network engineering day-to-day.