Today marks my 4th year work anniversary at @Airbnb! To commemorate reaching this small milestone, I want to share some of the career advices that I found useful (many of them I discovered on Twitter). I hope you find these principles helpful too:
@Airbnb "Be So Good That They Can't Ignore You": One of the best way to jumpstart one's career is to be really good at what you do. Over time, people will notice and give you more opportunities. It's obvious, but Cal wrote a whole book dissecting this topic: calnewport.com/books/so-good/
@Airbnb "The Power of Compounding": You don't become good by just saying it. Everything in life compounds, be it skills, relationships, or wealth. See @JamesClear's post jamesclear.com/the-1-percent-… and be prepare to work and get better everyday until the dividends arrive
@Airbnb @JamesClear "Escape Competition Through Authenticity": Since building good skills take time, it's best to focus on things you naturally are drawn to. Some call passion, but I like @naval's explanation better - Naval explaining this in person
@Airbnb @JamesClear @naval "Building Career Leverage": If you are luck to have specific skills, then you can start building leverage. I didn't know there are different kind of leverages until I read @eriktorenberg's tweetstorm: bit.ly/36NIy8p, he called them "Personal Moats"
@Airbnb @JamesClear @naval @eriktorenberg "Competition is for Losers": @peterthiel argued that if you want to create and capture lasting values, don't build an undifferentiated business. I think the same principle applies to one's career as well. You can read more about his whole framework at:
@Airbnb @JamesClear @naval @eriktorenberg @peterthiel "Avoid Optimizing Optionality": If you are privileged enough to have many options in life, be aware that sometimes having too many options isn't necessarily a good thing. You should read "The Trouble with Optionality": thecrimson.com/article/2017/5…
@Airbnb @JamesClear @naval @eriktorenberg @peterthiel "Avoid Optimizing Optionality" continued: If you are in your 20s and are having a paralysis on career choices, you should read @jeanqasaur's advice for people in their 20s: , it's short, but powerful, and I wish I have done that earlier
@Airbnb @JamesClear @naval @eriktorenberg @peterthiel @jeanqasaur Obviously, without applying these principles to your own career and internalizing your own experience, these are just words. Nevertheless, there are a lot of good stuff out here, so keeping looking, exploring, and reflecting!
@Airbnb @JamesClear @naval @eriktorenberg @peterthiel @jeanqasaur Last but not least, some people to appreciate: @elenatej who hired me, Vaughn Quoss for giving me my first ML project, @ricardobion for empowering me to become a tech lead, @cukyperez for taking me to work on Airbnb Plus, and @jtfeng for showing me how to be a kickass Data PM :)
