Success in early career isn’t just about working hard—it’s about working smart. While experience takes time, there are strategic moves that can help you accelerate your growth, stand out, and climb the career ladder faster.
In this article, we’ll explore practical ways to gain an edge, build credibility, and achieve your goals early on. Trust me this is not a piece of advice you usually hear!
‘Learn x in 10 min’
‘Become expert in y in 30 min 🕓’
‘Build your next big business in 10 min using ChatGPT’
We have all seen flashy titles and opened videos on YouTube to consume content at least once.
Why do these titles attract more views compared to other long-form content videos?
We’re conditioned to consume short-form videos due to the high availability of social media content in the form of shorts, reels, etc. To be honest, if you’re reading this post (which is in text format), thank you!
This gives you instant gratification but, does not help you learning anything new.
To be clear, short videos can be helpful, but only to some extent.
For example, you really can’t learn the Java language in 30 minutes to code a good Java web app. Sure, you can print ‘Hello, World!’ though.
We tend to follow the crowd and search for quick wins while learning hard skills. For hard skills, there are no shortcuts, period!
So, what should one do to get success in early career!?
🚀 Early Start = Early Success
As basic as it sounds, focusing early in your career on crucial growth skills and activities will give you a head start.
In the initial years, hone your skills, whether it’s a coding language, cloud architecture, or any frameworks important for your job profile.
You get plenty of time and comparatively less significant tasks in early career. Utilize the remaining time to up skill and learn skills that matter.
Master the art of cutting through the noise!
A lot of content is available over internet which is mostly redundant and not valuable to you. Focus on what’s important and prioritize it.
📈 Keep Expectations in Check
Yes, I’m talking about promotions. If you try to minimize the time for promotions, you’ll be disappointed if you don’t get promoted.
Just because someone else at your level got promoted, it doesn’t mean you should too.
Since promotions include many factors beyond your control, focus on actions you can control.
🎯 Reframe Your KPIs for Success in Early Career
Instead of setting a time frame for a promotion (or a career goal) and working towards it, identify the key skills required for the promotion and acquire those skills first.
The right skills will take you to your goal eventually, or even to the next stage you haven’t envisioned yet.
The process is more important than the results. And if you take care of the process, you will get the results.
– MS Dhoni
🏁 Stick to One Resource for Learning Basics
With increased content availability, it is overwhelming and easy to get carried away with the tons of content produced every day.
Rather than juggling multiple resources, stick to one good website or video series when you start learning a topic or concept.
For example, if you want to learn Python from scratch, there are options like:
- MOOCs (Coursera, Udemy videos)
- YouTube videos
- Blog posts
- Course content from websites like GeeksforGeeks
Most of the content across these resources is the same. To learn the fundamentals, just pick one resource and complete it to the end.
I’m sure there are shortcuts to improve productivity. In fact, productivity hacks are great for automating mundane tasks we carry out during the job.
However, these hacks alone won’t help you see success in early career. Hard skills combined with soft skills will take you to great places.
Invest wisely not just in what you consume, but how you consume it!
That’s all for today. See you again!
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