Future-proofing yourself
I hope you all are doing well and welcome (if you aren’t new then again) to Dozen Worthy Reads. A newsletter where I talk about the most exciting things about tech that I read the past couple of weeks or write about tech happenings. You can sign up here or just read on …
Recently, Substack released a new feature called Pledges. I am floored that a few of you found my writing to be worth … paying for! Thank you so much!
A HUGE shoutout to Appfolio (the company I work at!) In this insanely horrible tech market where they could have avoided paying out bonuses or shortchanged employees, Appfolio did right by their employees and paid out bonuses. Maybe Big Tech can learn a lesson or two on how to treat their so-called “family members” better!
You may have had the experience of being asked this interview question “What is your superpower?” Do you remember your answer? I remember mine and I can safely say that while my answer is great (and true heh!) it would not have prevented me from getting laid off had I been in the wrong company on the wrong team at the wrong time. This is what happened to thousands of outstanding freaking smart employees at all the big tech companies in the recent few past weeks!
The Pareto principle states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. If we extrapolate that to workplaces and employees then that means that 80% of employees produce not too much. If we extend that analogy then I think an employee is nothing but a SaaS subscription for a company. In other words, you are somewhat useful but can get canceled at any time. Elon Musk’s Twitter has laid off some crazy % of their workforce and it's arguable whether Twitter will survive. Still, if it does then does that mean that Pareto’s principle is indeed correct and most of the tech workforce is just the 80% padding doing trivial things? I don’t know for sure but when I started my career I sure worked like a dog! What I am thinking out loud is - Have a significant amount of tech workers just become lazy and entitled? Maybe Big Tech has just become complacent and risk averse and allows employees to become lazy and entitled?
To be clear here, with such a contentious topic, I am not saying that laid-off people are somehow not as invested or not as good at their jobs but what I am saying is that the companies did not think the value generated was worth the compensation.
This got me thinking about future-proofing as a concept and also myself against layoffs
How do I future-proof myself?
Back in the day, I used to work on Oracle Databases and every single day there were new databases in the market. At times I felt like the skill has become so fungible that I better get a business degree and make myself not “layoffable” (is that even a word?). The sad truth is everyone (almost? Maybe not Zuck?) is expendable. My point is that while there is no such thing as guaranteed employment at any company you can future-proof yourself.
Scott Adams has articulated this brilliantly in the Dilbert Blog where he says:
If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:
1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.
The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try.
The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.
I always advise young people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice. If you add that talent to any other, suddenly you’re the boss of the people who have only one skill. Or get a degree in business on top of your engineering degree, law degree, medical degree, science degree, or whatever. Suddenly you’re in charge, or maybe you’re starting your own company using your combined knowledge.
Now that last paragraph might seem like - well aren’t a lot of tech employees engineers + MBA’s but they still got laid off? It seems like a lot of the laid-off employees got jobs pretty fast. Per the WSJ
About 79% of workers recently hired after a tech-company layoff or termination landed their new job within three months of starting their search, according to a ZipRecruiter survey of new hires. That was just below the 83% share of all laid-off workers who were re-employed in the same time frame.
Nearly four in 10 previously laid-off tech workers found jobs less than a month after they began searching, ZipRecruiter found in the survey.
I sure hope that this is true cos every time I look at my LinkedIn it seems like it's a fucking blood bath.
So I think it's important to know how you differentiate
When I took the “Write of Passage” class with David Perell he described finding your “Personal Monopoly” (in the context of writing) but the message stands true be it writing, work, or as a friend or partner. What makes you unique? As John Fio articulated in his conversation with Patrick O'Shaughnessy the things that are going to be valuable are the things you can’t teach or copy. With ChatGPT making waves about taking away people’s jobs, is there a more perfect time to be thinking about this?
Framework
Like a typical product guy, I like frameworks so let's use a framework to dig deeper
What is the product?
What are your key differentiating features for which you are worth the asking Price (your salary)? Knowing what differentiates you will help you understand what are the areas you should invest in because there is so much stuff to learn but you can’t learn it all. Startups seem to appreciate generalists but as they go the generalists quickly find they have no room. This does not mean startups are a bad place to work. There is just a startup “type” which is also a unique differentiator. For example, you can be an expert at growth and startups and so that might be your top 2 things. Sticking to what we’re good at is magical. Career compounding is magical.
What is the potential?
Past performance is not a predictor of future results. This statement works as a standard disclosure for the stock market but not for employment. A lot of people think that they only need to showcase their potential when they join a company but I’ll argue that if you continuously showcase your potential you will open yourself up to serendipity and learning and future-proofing yourself. It's essential to be careful here though. I used to be the kinda guy who’d say yes to 100 things (the Yes Man! Yep that was me) at work, and at school, and inevitably do most of them half-assed. A key lesson I learned:
Never Half-Ass Two Things, Whole-Ass One Thing
Another example: Seek career optionality. Start adding value to the world, not just to your company. Accept that public speaking engagement, share your knowledge on LinkedIn, and start a blog. It can be a win-win for your employer too if you can find a co-marketing opportunity where you can add value. Career optionality takes years to materialize so start early. Optionality showcases potential; I mean would you buy a product you’ve never heard of?
What is your perception?
Time gives you perspective. If you knew me at work a decade ago you would really wonder if I am the same person. Let me put it this way, I was good at my job and that made me cocky. Ultimately that doesn’t work out. I always wanted to win every battle however small not because I loved winning battles but because it was right for the company. The perception of me was not “this guy is so smart and good” but it was “man this guy is hard to work with!”
Haha, imagine when I heard that from my boss, who at the time, if I am being genuinely honest, was doing about at work as much as a dead housefly. Guess who did better career-wise? The dead housefly!
The most successful people I know are the ones that have built good strong relationships rather than just trying to prove that they’re right each time. Being right is alright but not being an asshole beats that any given day. The key lesson as the song goes …
You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
People may be kind and nice when you are in the room but what they say about you when you are not in the room is much more important. I’ve been backchanneled (where a hiring manager reaches out so someone I have worked with to get feedback offline) so many times and gotten an offer because people generally spoke well about me!
To be clear, this does not mean you don’t have a backbone and don’t have grit! Back in the day when I worked with databases, I worked with these two gentlemen who had the most grit and the best work ethic I’ve ever seen. If we ran into a problem the three of us relentlessly sat for 24 straights (and more at times) to resolve the issue. I am not saying that this was good or expected, it just demonstrated grit.
I’ve lost that deep level of grit for a variety of reasons but I am figuring out how to replicate that facet from my past life!
How do you position yourself?
Can you be the only person who does what you do? That's super hard but if you are an engineer or a product manager or a designer. This does not mean that you can’t differentiate yourself. When I finished business school I was reluctant to choose a specific domain to stick to. I believed (somewhat innocently, and still do!) that I could be an expert in any domain in a matter of a few months. Maybe I can but remember compounding? Focusing on one domain will allow you to compound much faster and that is a great way to future-proof yourself!
How do you present yourself?
When I was in bSchool I had this crazy idea of becoming a consultant (thank god I didn’t, I would have been the worst fit!) and I was interviewing with a company called A.T. Kearney. This was one of my first interviews and I remember the interviewer was being rude (just to test me out!) and I failed. I knew it was coming and yet I failed. I presented myself badly! The key point here is that future-proofing requires you to exude confidence not just while interviewing but while doing the job as well. Think of the best leaders you know. What stands out? I’m sure you’ll say confidence!
I want to close with one final thought. We all value our careers and career growth so much. We want that growth SO MUCH that we oftentimes never stop to think why we want it. So many people I know are secretly miserable in their jobs but keep grinding day after day. There is something to be said about having a job where the only goal is to wake up and want to go to work :)
And finally quick disclaimer: None of the above are in any way form or shape investment advice and these thoughts are my own personal reflections and not a reflection of any past or present employer. This is intended to be a thought exercise. Nothing more, nothing less.
Stay safe, be well and have a great week!
