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Career

Understand how your job works, once you understand your career, create projects that will force improvement in specific skills

Explanatory Knowledge

Before Interview - Get familiar with all the terms with that domain​

  1. Why you should master your career
  2. Building rare and valuable skills
  3. The productivity pitfall - Having a great career comes from being able to deliver value others can't
  4. Career Capital (Job / Working)

Negotiating power in your career. Have a lot of it, and you get to call the shots. You get to decide whether you prefer more pay or more flexible work. You can choose work arrangements that "aren't allowed" by your company, because you can deliver on things others can't.

Increasing Career Capital​

  • Deliver a product so high-quality, that your customers will swallow the price tag.
  • Fix problems at the company nobody else can, that your boss is willing to tolerate that you want to work from home (even though nobody else does).
  • Multi-skills person are great, like a video editor with coding experience, so he can easily edit coding videos. Like me, have experience in both management coding DevOps, hands-on, ai data etc, very broad knowledge but with depth in two or more fields

Two ways to increase value​

  1. Increasing scarcity and value of what you offer
  2. Doing the same work - but doing a lot of it

https://grow.google/grow-your-career

How to build a career in 7 steps​

  1. Do great work
  2. Share it publicly
  3. Cold email people 2 steps ahead of you
  4. Talk about your work and trade ideas
  5. Host events and meet in-person
  6. Become friends
  7. Rise together

8 Skills that pay off forever​

  1. Speaking Up
  2. Being Patient
  3. Being Consistent
  4. Stop Whining
  5. Managing Your Time
  6. Know the Real You
  7. Listening Wisely
  8. Having Confidence

9 Types of leverage​

  1. Skill (somewhat commotized)
  2. Management Ability
  3. Experience in a specific domain
  4. Relationships and distribution
  5. Cash
  6. Data
  7. Assets
  8. Technology (somewhat commotized)
  9. Brand

Guide To Work In A Company 2024 | Must Watch | Salaries, Equity, Raises, Negotiations - YouTube

Salary​

Story 1: High CTC, Wrong Age

Aakash is 36 Experience 12 years CTC: 60 LPA. The number came from one big jump at the right time.

Good project. Urgent role. Aggressive offer. Now he’s interviewing. Most roles at his level pay 35–40 LPA.

Hiring managers like him, then pause. “At 36, this CTC puts him too senior.” “At this cost, we expect leadership depth he hasn’t had a chance to build.” Aakash isn’t rejected for lack of skill. He’s rejected because his CTC aged him faster than his role.

Story 2: Low CTC, Wrong Age

Anjali is 35. Experience: 11 years CTC: 14 LPA. She started during a bad market. Took safe jobs. Stayed loyal. Missed corrections.

Now she applies for mid-senior roles.

Feedback is subtle: “At this age, we expect a higher CTC history.” “If she’s good, why is the number so low?” Anjali isn’t under-skilled. Her CTC froze while her age kept moving.

CTC and age move together in the market’s head.

When they fall out of sync, growth stalls. Too high → expectations spike. Too low → credibility drops.

Both lead to the same place. Fewer calls. Fewer options. Longer waits.

References​