Be a doer, not a talker (Part 2)
I just reread a post I wrote from a little over a year ago title Be a doer, not a talker. A year later, it's refreshing to see myself taking my own advice. I've worked incredibly hard the past year - both in designing and building an app at work that I'm super proud of and in teaching myself Swift in my spare time and building the first app that I connected, designed, and built entirely myself (coming soon to iTunes!). About 2 months after I wrote this post I made a major gamble on taking a job working on a new stealth wearable product. It will not see the the light of day, but I've learned so much in this experience that it was all well worth it. And finally, my crazy decision back in 2012 to leave my comfort zone and my family and follow a girl to California has all been worth it. So glad I followed my heart - we get married in less than two months :-).
#4 - Work very hard—a surprising number of people will be offended that you choose to work hard—but not so hard that the rest of your life passes you by. Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you’ll probably end up in a pretty good place.
#10 - However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along you should take it. Don’t be afraid to do something slightly reckless. One of the benefits of working hard is that good opportunities will come along, but it’s still up to you to jump on them when they do.
#17 - If you think you’re going to regret not doing something, you should probably do it. Regret is the worst, and most people regret far more things they didn’t do than things they did do. When in doubt, kiss the boy/girl.
#25 - Remember how intensely you loved your boyfriend/girlfriend when you were a teenager? Love him/her that intensely now. Remember how excited and happy you got about stuff as a kid? Get that excited and happy now.
Be a doer, not a talker
That's #32 on Sam Altman's list of things learned before turning 30. There are many of these lists out there, but this is one of the best ones I've seen in a while. Here are a few that really resonated with me:
#4 - Work very hard—a surprising number of people will be offended that you choose to work hard—but not so hard that the rest of your life passes you by. Aim to be the best in the world at whatever you do professionally. Even if you miss, you’ll probably end up in a pretty good place.
#10 - However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along you should take it. Don’t be afraid to do something slightly reckless. One of the benefits of working hard is that good opportunities will come along, but it’s still up to you to jump on them when they do.
#17 - If you think you’re going to regret not doing something, you should probably do it. Regret is the worst, and most people regret far more things they didn’t do than things they did do. When in doubt, kiss the boy/girl.
#25 - Remember how intensely you loved your boyfriend/girlfriend when you were a teenager? Love him/her that intensely now. Remember how excited and happy you got about stuff as a kid? Get that excited and happy now.
See the full list here.
The Internet Still Amazes Me
It's been a while since I last wrote, yet I've had three random encounters with my blog in the past few months. Each has left me a little weirded out (random people are reading my writing?), but mostly just excited that someone else has taken interest in my perspective despite no attempt to publicize my writing or even write regularly.
First, a woman emailed me asking if there was ever an end to the sciatica pain I started experiencing in the summer of 2011 and wrote about here. In short, there is hope for it to lesson, although more than 2 years after I wrote that I am still experiencing pain. Oddly, running my first ever marathon is what reduced the pain for me most (still can't explain that one). Then, someone asked if I would sell them a print of the Zakim Bridge photo that I took in Boston a few years back. I was flattered, and ended up sending the photo in exchange for them making a small donation to the charity of their choice. I still think that is one of the coolest photos I've seen of that bridge, and it looks pretty great printed on 
canvas above our bed. Today, I exchanged a few tweets with a developer here in San Francisco that is struggling with the same thing I have been: Is it better to specialize or generalize? I've decided to not go for a dev or design bootcamp and instead continue looking for a product manager or technical project manager position in an industry I'm passionate about. I enjoy all the elements of building products (whether it's design, leading others, getting into the details, planning, or executing) too much to focus on just one area. I know that when I do find the right role for me (and I am crushing it there) I will share some good laughs with my boss about any hesitation they had in hiring me.
This all brings me back to how much the internet still amazes me to this day. It makes it so easy to connect with random strangers around a shared idea, struggle, or photo by just putting a few words up on a blog or writing a 140 character Tweet. The transparency that more and more companies are now embracing (see the Buffer "open salary formula") is becoming the standard way that young and innovative companies are doing business. I love it - sharing what you have learned or struggled with in order to help others is a beautiful thing.
Saying Goodbye to a Job
Earlier this month was my last day at a job I've been in for almost 5 years. I started in the role only 1.5 years out of college with practically zero experience and leave my team (after some luck and lots of hard work) as a Senior Manager who was in many ways responsible for the day to day responsibilities of 10-15 people on any given day. That is "not your typical" jump in a large and conservative company and it has been a great ride to say the least. Saying goodbye to a job I'm leaving voluntarily is really hard and awkward. My day-to-day routine and the people I see and talk to more often than any friends or family (weird and depressing thought, huh?) are suddenly not going to be part of my day-to-day life. I will really miss most of my team members both in the US and India, everyone has been incredibly supportive, helpful, and hard working. It's especially awkward to be leaving people behind with the general understanding that I'm leaving to pursue newer and more exciting opportunities and yet they will be left behind with the same old challenges. Everyone has their own unique situation, but in some cases, many of the reasons that I'm moving for also apply to my team members, but I can't just outright say that.
Here are some other random observations:
- Saying goodbye to team members you've worked with for 5+ years over the phone and/or video conferencing because they are thousands of miles away in India really sucks. Super impersonal and cold
- One takes for granted what they know until you start to do knowledge transfer and you realize what others may not know. Ouch
- Being a "lame duck" manager isn't so much fun as suddenly you can't make the decisions that you are used to making on a day-to-day basis
- Over the past five years I've probably spent about $5+ million of my firm's money in the large projects I've delivered
- Transitioning away from being a Subject Matter Expert and a "go to" guy for answers to being the new guy that knows nothing will be a really humbling experience that I've already started to mentally prepare for
- My new job will be the first job I've ever started where I go into the job having a key set of competencies/skills that I will be expected to know from Day 1 and not just learn on the job. Let's hope my assessment of these skills matches the expectations of my new employer