Book Wise But Career Foolish

There are certain very important concepts and skills that you simply won’t learn from a textbook. The lucky few may have mentors along the way who can help teach these by sharing their own experience. But most folks pick these up through trial and error, maybe making some misguided career decisions along the way.

I can’t help but smile every time I remember a story that illustrates this. A young engineer (let’s call him Sam), around two years out of college dropped by my office to ask for career advice. He had quite a conundrum.

Sam was a very friendly and likeable intellectual type of guy. He was the stereotypical computer science straight-A student, looking very neat with his glasses, and going above and beyond at his first job out of school.

He told me how great everything was going in his team – he was working on a pretty interesting project and his boss and teammates were very happy with his work. But he was clearly grappling with some sort of difficult decision. “So,” I asked him, “what’s weighing down on your mind?”

“Well,” Sam started, “my friend who graduated in my same class and started working at the same time as me just switched to a new role at a different company.” He looked up at me expectantly.

“OK,” I responded, “what’s weighing down on your mind?”

“Well,” he stammered, “isn’t it… well, if he did it then doesn’t that mean… well, should I also switch to a new role at a different company?”

This is when I gave him a big smile and asked, “what do you want to do?” This very smart and productive young man was just about to throw away a great job because of his friend’s Facebook post...?

This is one of the most typical misconceptions I see in early career professionals. They are very intelligent and book-smart, but nobody ever taught them how to define their own priorities and tackle important decisions at various pivot-points on their career path. Very often this results in them following others’ paths without really knowing why, feeling unfulfilled, and losing out on great opportunities that were right under their nose.

I’m sure you may have had similar thoughts to Sam, I certainly have! It’s hard not to compare yourself to friends, former classmates, colleagues. But whenever you catch yourself judging yourself negatively, or reconsidering your own career choices, make sure you move forward with any decision based on your own goals and priorities. After all, people tend to share only a polished version of their announcements, you don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes in someone else’s life.

A great saying that captures this sentiment is: Don’t compare your blooper reel to someone else’s highlights.

We spent the rest of our session figuring out Sam’s personal goals and aspirations, and discussing various options and how well they may fit. It turned out that his current role was a great fit for his skills and working style, and in fact gave him a lot of interesting challenges, opportunities for growth, and work satisfaction. In spite of his friend’s career decisions, Sam was in the best place he could currently be. (Later that year, I learned that his boss seemed to think so as well when he gave Sam a promotion and a raise.)

Key Takeaway:

When you are approaching a career decision, make sure you are crystal clear on your own goals and priorities.

Action Steps:

1. When you catch yourself comparing your career with others, ask: what is it that I want to do?

2. If you don’t have clarity on your career / life goals, take the time to define these (write them down and make sure to give each a rank or priority)

3. If you don’t know where to start, think of a trusted person who could help guide you or give you honest feedback (depending on your personal relationships, this could be a more experienced colleague, friend, or even a parent). Buy them a coffee this week and start a chat about goals & priorities.