4 Things I Wish I Knew Starting a Tech Career Now

I would have been forever grateful if someone gave me this advice when I was just graduating.

The "Now What?" trap

Many engineers very early in their careers think they should become Engineering Managers at any cost. They take on any task or do any favor just to get this role. Meanwhile, along the way, they don’t even think about questions like: “What is a day in the life of an Engineering Manager like?”, “Am I okay with having eight different 30-minute meetings each day?”, “Do I prefer focusing more on technology or on people?”

Moving into an Engineering Manager role from an individual contributor position is not a promotion, believe me, it’s a career change. Whether you get it at 25, 30, or 35 years old doesn’t matter. You still have a career ahead of you until 60, let’s say.

Invest in Life Outside of Work

Fulfillment comes from relationships and community, not just career progression. I would apply the same effort to life progression (hobbies, friendships, romantic relationships etc) as professional roadmaps and goals. I would definitely summarize this by saying that getting along with someone at a younger age is much easier than later in life.

Ride the "Escalator" of High Growth

Prefer roles in fast growing companies where the “ladder” acts like an escalator. Even if you do the same work, the escalator will carry you upward and lead to promotions and salary increases. Because the company is growing, it needs to create new roles and promote people. You don’t need to climb the ladder by investing heavily in politics.

Don’t Be the Best, Be the Only

Many engineers focus too deeply on a single programming language/framework/technology memorizing documentation and following every tweet related to that specific skill. Yes, if you go deep enough, even down to the internals, you can become highly valuable in that area. However, I would always choose to be a unique combination of abilities. Say, 30% data structures, 40% invested in getting to know the people in your organization, 20% database internals, 10% writing skills, and so on.

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In short, early career decisions don’t need to be rushed or optimized for titles alone. Treat your career as a long game: choose growth environments, build a life outside of work, and be intentional about what kind of work actually energizes you.

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Thanks for reading,
Adlet Balzhanov

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