Compound Career Interest
One of the biggest reasons people don't start something is that the road to success is long and hard to visualize.
For example, I've had a retirement saving goal for the past few years. That target number is pretty big - much more than I've ever made in a year - and I only save a fraction of my paycheck each year to boot. So how can I ever get there?
The financially savvy among you will be shouting, "Compound Interest!" right about now, and you're right, but compound interest applies to more than just money.
Compound interest applies to skills, experience, relationships - just about any valuable asset.
For example, knowing how to play piano very well is a great skill on its own, but it can be hard to make a living as a musician. If you layer on the skill of teaching though, you've got a long-term career.
Similarly, knowing how to write is a great skill, but it's also difficult to make a living as a fiction writer. That said, you can layer writing skills with a network in the world of publishing to exponentially increase your chances for success.
This stacking of assets, network, and knowledge is why your career potential grows exponentially even if you don't focus on just one area of expertise. This is especially true in areas where the conventional wisdom is to "master your craft" instead of finding a workaround.
So, when you feel like you'll never reach your goals, instead of getting down about it, keep compound interest in mind. You might be getting closer than you think.
Sponsor
Software Engineers: Get Paid to Write
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Startups
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"I’m not saying that you should deliberately try to think of weird ideas, but rather that you should be willing to explore weird ideas in the process of making your users happy."
Software Engineering
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I enjoy talking with them about their specific goals, but I figured I would compile a starting point here as well. Here's what I recommend.
Leadership
How to be a Great Technical Interviewer
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