Mistakes I made in my first job

A thread...

I assumed speed of response equals intelligence.
I was always eager to quickly finish my work, because I wanted to known as "he gets things done super fast".

We are not paid to get things done fast.
We are paid to get things done right.

I figured I was so low in the hierarchy that if there was an error in my work, someone above me would catch it.
I thought that was their job - to identify errors in their team.

If you wait for your managers to catch your errors, they are now doing your work.
Not theirs.

I thought my smartness and hard work would compensate for the fact that my work had errors.
After all, once told about those errors, I fixed them and fixed them quick.

But that meant, whenever I shipped my work, my manager still had to go through it. They couldn't just trust it.

"If I can't trust you, it does not matter how smart you are"

- My first manager

I thought if my manager wanted to share feedback with me, they will reach out.
And if they didn't reach out, everything was going good.
I thought my feedback was their responsibility.

My feedback was MY responsibility.
I had to seek it.
I had to make sure I received it.

I hung out only with colleagues from my department.
Rarely making the effort to know the rest.
It was HR's responsibility to organize team bonding activities, not mine!

Very quickly, during meetings, conversations became Us vs Them
As if we were working for different companies.

Spend time with people from different functions.
And when facing a conflict, ask yourself, "what is it that they know that I do not?"

If I had committed to a plan but had to change the plan midway, I changed the plan. Because that was the right thing to do.

But I didn't inform anyone, because I was doing the right thing and they would understand!

They didn't understand. Because they couldn't read my mind.

We know ourselves through our thoughts
We know others through their actions

If you want people to know you, convert your thoughts into actions.

I felt that if I continue doing good work, I will automatically get acknowledged and thus get promoted.
I never asked anyone, "What do I need to do to be promoted?"
I never asked, "Am I ready for the next level?"

Doing good work does not equal readiness for more responsibility.

I always thought of my salary in terms of how much do I want.
Want for my desires, my ambitions, my future.
So the company was unfair, if it didn't pay me what I wanted!

Company pays a salary as cost for doing a task.
It is our job to check if that cost fulfills our wants.

During lunch and tea breaks, it was easy to side with the crowd and blame the management for everything.
It was easy to play the victim and remark, "they don't know anything!"

I never even tried to understand their side.
And what they might go through everyday.

Commentary will always be easier than playing on the field.

I was given a task and I finished the task.
And because I finished the task, I assumed the job was done.
I never stopped to ask myself, "Why was I given the task I was given? What was my task meant to achieve?"

I focused on the output.
Not the outcome.

Output = what you are supposed to do
Outcome = what you are supposed to achieve

Own the outcome.
Not the output.

If my manager wasn't inspiring, wasn't respectful, wasn't competent, I called it an organizational failure.

I never stopped to ask if my manager's behavior was inline with the company's leadership.

There was a difference. It was my manager at fault. Not the organization.

If we see something happening in the organization that is in conflict with how the leadership behaves, it is our moral responsibility to raise our voice.

If we see it in line with how the leadership behaves, then the issue is systemic. You are better off moving on.

Whenever my manager tried to show me a way to do things, I mistook it as an imposition from their side.
They were not giving me the autonomy that I needed.
They were sniffling my independent thinking.

I failed to see the difference between guidance and prescription.

I started my first job right after dropping out of my PhD. I had no qualifications to be in the job, nor any understanding of what it entails to work in a corporate setup.

Reflecting upon these mistakes made me learn far faster than any other experience could have.

Because I had just dropped out of my PhD, I considered this job to be a blessing. So I never allowed gratitude to leave me. I was perpetually grateful for the opportunity.

Today I realize the difference it made.
I never cribbed!
No matter what!

I always told myself, this is my choice.
To work here is my choice.
And I accept the environment I think I deserve.

The company had its flaws. In those flaws, I realized the joy of working with teams, the beauty of structure and planning, the power of micro-decisions.

The first job is precious.
Our understanding of leadership, of teams, of our own capability gets shaped up in the first job.

Treat it with gratitude.
And constantly ask
"What is it that they know that I do not"