okay this video is kind of spontaneous and the real reason behind it is I've
been getting asked a lot of questions around Landing a job in Tech or your career in Tech
navigating it and I'm seeing you make a lot of the mistakes that I've made and it brought
up the question Tiff why not share some of the biggest mistakes I've made in my Tech
Career thus far some of the biggest failures including some really embarrassing moments that
I've had to face so hopefully you don't have to that's what we're going to do today also
do you like my new setup if you haven't seen that video I'll link it down below where I go
through my desk setup my office setup I'm really excited about it anyways let's jump into it
as I mentioned I've seen a lot of comments recently around careers and navigating your
first job or second job or even maybe you're further along in your career and you're like I
just made this massive mistake why didn't someone warn me about this so I wanted to really candidly
share with you some of the biggest mistakes I've made in my Tech Career and when I say candidly I
mean candid I'm just gonna be very honest with you with some of the mistakes that I made along
the way the first one being networking and I share this one actually in a short form video recently
and I really want to hone in on it as the first Topic in this video because honestly the majority
of us watching this really hate networking and if you're one of those anomalies anomalies yeah
anomalies that enjoy never can leave down below because I want to know who you are and why do
you enjoy networking actually I don't mind it but when I first started out in my career networking
was such a painful thing to do and it was because I was so nervous are people going to like me for
who I am are they going to ask me something that I'm stumped on you know I'm supposed to
be this technical person what if they ask me a question I don't have the answer my I going to
look dumb all these thoughts kept on coming in my head and really affecting my ability to put
myself out there to network and it also brings up the question well where to network there are
so many places out there do I have to go to in person do I do online are people burned out from
going online to network where do I start this isn't a question that's just occurred now it is
something that I think has been asked throughout time in many different forms so I'm going to share
with you some tips that really helped me with networking first being recognize what kind of
person you are and what I mean by that is how you communicate best for me when I get in very large
settings especially around people that I'm not as familiar with I get really nervous my face gets a
little bit red or a lot red and I stumble on my words I feel myself get more nervous and then
in turn I get more nervous and I recognized early on that I don't do well in big crowds now this is
something that throughout the years with practice I am now much better at but initially when I was
first starting to push myself to network it was a big struggle for me and how I overcame that
was recognizing okay there's other people like me I'm not alone I'm not the only one who feels this
way so why not try and network and meet people in a way that I feel comfortable with which for me
is one-on-ones which is coffee meetups or coffee dates whatever you want to call it and so that's
what I started to do I remember the first person I networked with was a cyber security engineer
actually at Shopify here in Toronto at the time and I didn't know her at all but I reached out to
her I actually reached out to her via social media which I don't advise you to do I would do LinkedIn
instead of social media but she was very active on social media and I just said hey you know I'm
going to a boot camp that's located right next to Shopify I have a few questions for you about how
you got to become a software or a cyber security engineer what your role entails could I take you
out for coffee at a time that's convenient for you as simple as that really honing in on your
eagerness to learn that you want to connect finding a time and place that's convenient for
them if you're doing just virtually than just a day and time that's convenient for them doing all
that heavy lifting you could say so that they just have to show up essentially and you carry
the conversation or have the questions prepared and I think that's one of the biggest things I
really wanted to hone in on is for networking find what style works best for you whether it be in you
thrive in large settings because maybe it's not so personable and so one-on-one or maybe you're
like me and you would like that one-on-one and kind of more intimate settings now actually I'm
going to move on from this topic of networking because there's a lot more mistakes we need to
cover but if you're interested in networking and want more advice and insight on that and maybe
you think I should make a separate full video for that leave down in the comments another
thing I did a huge probably the biggest mistake that I made when I first started job hunting and
it really applies though to regardless of where you're at in your career is I settled the first
job I ever took let's get personal here I never fully shared this story I don't think the first
job I ever took I was so excited to have a job I settled I settled on salary I settled on position
on title on everything now I'm very grateful for that job it brought me a ton of opportunity and I
had a really great time there but looking back I definitely can see that I settled because I
was so anxious and just wanted a job the first thing that came my way I accepted and looking
back that's a huge mistake because before you even start job hunting especially when you are looking
for one of your first jobs it's easy to feel like I just want a job especially if something hasn't
come around for a few weeks or a month and you just are so grateful that you end up taking it
this doesn't have to be a mistake you can look at it from many different angles but now looking
back I was extremely underpaid okay I'm gonna be really candid here I was paid when I first started
my first job right out of University went to a coding boot camp I think I was paid 40 000 dollars
Canadian which would be like 30 000 U.S so it was I was very I was underpaid if you look at numbers
where you should be paid when you join a company when you start out but I'm so excited again that
I just I just took the job the problem the biggest mistake with this though isn't even about taking
money out of the equation take title out of the equation it's that if you are going to end up
settling at any point in your career you're going to start resenting where you work you're going to
realize hey I'm really underpaid I deserve more or why is this person making so much more than me and
this person doing so much more than me and in turn you're going to want to leave that company sooner
than expected because you're unhappy and that's a huge mistake because you want to be able to grow
and nurture your relationship with that company build experience there before moving on to the
next now in my case I stock it out but I gotta be honest as much as I enjoyed the work enjoyed
the team and all of that the back of my head it was always you know how I made a mistake how I
shouldn't have settled and definitely would never do that again and and another mistake
that I made when I was first starting out and I sometimes catch myself still doing which is not
good is pretending that I know more than I do now this doesn't come up in interviews because it's
very clear I think during interviews as to your knowledge and I'm not talking about that what I'm
talking about is when you are talking to people or yeah having different conversations with people
pretending you know sometimes everything they're talking about when maybe you don't because the
reality is that is okay and you actually sound more intelligent asking questions about what
they are speaking about then trying to pretend you know everything just because you don't know
something that they are specifically talking about doesn't mean you are dumb doesn't mean you are not
as smart as them it means you're not as versed in that subject as they are that's all it means
and by asking questions and getting curious it means that you want to learn you want to hear
more about what they're talking about and I think we often do this or I often did this especially
early on in my career because I was scared that people would think oh she's not that technical oh
she's not that smart you know she doesn't deserve to be here so in turn I've just nod my head agree
and then spend more time than I probably should trying to look up what they were talking about
or making mistakes along the way that didn't need to be made because of that and I think
that's one of the biggest things that I hope you can get comfortable with is ask asking questions
being honest and upfront with your knowledge in a specific subject when they come up throughout
conversations and that's something that it takes practice to do especially asking questions and
being vulnerable like that because it puts you in a position where you're saying hey I don't know a
ton about this subject but you're also being put in a position where you're showing you want to
learn and try and look at it from that perspective otherwise it can be a little bit overwhelming
saying I don't know and following up with a very specific question or curious uh you know prompt
there's nothing wrong with that it's actually a positive thing and if anyone ever ever tries
to make you feel silly for asking a question any question it's definitely a huge red flag you don't
ever want to be around people who make learning or trying to solve different things not enjoyable
or feel like you're being pushed down and that's really important as well those are my three main
areas that I want you to always keep in mind when you are looking for a new job or growing in your
career networking more I know it's painful at times but it's so so important especially as
more competition continues to come not settling not being afraid of saying no or this is not what
I had in mind knowing if it's ego or if you are settling that's important line to to understand as
well but not settling especially when it comes to your career and the last one being open about your
knowledge when you are having these conversations and as I mentioned these typically aren't in
interviews you can't really fake those interviews but when you are landing the job and growing your
skills being open to not knowing everything but rather looking at it as a standpoint of you are
a curious person Forever Learning and through that you are going to excel so much more all right I am
so curious to hear where are you at in your career are you starting out are you further along are you
job hunting if you're job hunting leave down below maybe someone will read it who is hiring at the
moment uh if you have any questions leave them down below as always I answer every single one
of your questions hit that subscribe button and I will see you all soon thanks everyone
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