Question of the week: What's the best career advice you ever received?

Abadesi
42 replies
The best career advice I ever received was: "Don't be afraid to ask for opportunities and put yourself out there. The worst that can happen is that someone says no."

Replies

Rick Turoczy
"It's perfectly okay to make it up as you go."
Julie Chabin
"You can't get what you don't ask for" is probably the best advice I ever received. Also, it's up to you to be ready for new opportunities.
Dan Edwards
Product Hunt
Product Hunt
Believe in yourself.
Dan Edwards
Product Hunt
Product Hunt
This came from a close friend when I was feeling very down about my career and opportunities were not materialising. He said a lot of positive things that day, but these 3 words stuck with me.
Kevin
similar to @syswarren "Asking won't hurt you." -> I've always been curious and straightforward asking people (even CEOs) for jobs/help. Also: "Job titles are useless in your next job, the only thing that counts is your track-record." (speaking of "Head of xyz" as a 1-person-"department")
James Sun
You don't get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate.
Rahul
Product Hunt
Product Hunt
One of the best thing I read in Pragmatic Programmer book is "It is your life. You own it. You run it. You create it."
Emin Henri Mahrt
Always come with at least one suggested solution for a task given, not with a problem.
Jack-Edward Oliver
1. Find the smartest person in the room and glue yourself to them. 2. When you're the smartest person in the room, find a new room. 3. After some time, make your own room, and fill it full of smart people.
Kushaan Shah
At 25, you’ll be likely be doing something wildly different than 21. The job you have at 30 may not even be invented yet. The best advice I’ve always gotten is to give yourself permission to move away from sunk costs - it’s tough when you’ve invested in learning something or invested time into something to move on to something new - but so many rewards come when you change the vision of who/what you are.
Amrith
"Believe in yourself more so than you think you do."
Lyondhür Picciarelli
“Never fear being expensive. No financial metric can account for your utmost dedication and all-in skillset. There is no possible price for real problem-solving worth and contributing value. Know yours profoundly and truthfully. Negotiate by these terms, not by coins”.
Tkachenko Arthur ~UA~
I don't have it :(
Mario Arabov
Personally, best career advice was that if you don't know how to do something, just go out and ask others, read and learn. Everything is doable, never say "no" right away. We've collected some feedback from our community regarding career choices and I think is worth a read: https://blog.lama-app.com/2018/0...
Hai Nguyen
"You don't have to impress people right when you enter a company, they will likely return only envy and doubts. Give the best of yourself when you're about to quit." I know this piece of advice is quite controversial, and I still question it occasionally. But somehow it works.
Kavir Kaycee
"Face all odds bravely in life"
Dario D
"Doing job that you really like is more important than earn more money".
Max
AIVatar
AIVatar
Back in my visual effects days my creative director always used to say "Suggest 3 options to the client. The one they reject, the one you're okay with doing and the one you would enjoy doing. When they land on a second one, you can convince them the third one is better".
Ayodele Patrick Ogunlana
(1) "If you try to make it perfect, you'll never get to launch." ~Nothing is ever perfect, that's why software keep releasing new versions and gadgets and devices gets replaced all the time.~ (2) "You should never be afraid to make mistakes, cause its the one thing that's inevitable in the life of an entrepreneur." ~Hopefully, you get to realize this soon enough so you can stop beating yourself too hard for an error.~
GJ
Freshworks Inc
Freshworks Inc
"Do what you can't" - Casey Neistat