5 Things I wish I knew before my first job

Note: Republished from https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/5-things-i-wish-knew-before-my-first-job-gautam-singh

It’s unfortunate that in colleges we are not trained (enough if any) on behavioral and psychological skills needed to excel in corporate culture. When I landed with my first job my experience was a mix of excitement, fear and frustration. After 12 years into my career I wish I knew some of the skills back then.

Express at the cost of making a fool out of yourself

When I joined my first job it was with a small product based company and most of my colleagues are experienced professionals, so I constantly lived in fear of making a fool out of myself. Now I realize that by not expressing I was doing exactly the same, making a fool out of myself. Early in our carrier mistakes are kind of expected but as we progress up the ladder mistakes are not received with the same openness. So express yourself and express with passion. That means also expressing your disagreement, but remain vigilant (not fearful) of how it is perceived.

Take time to socialize

Constantly look for opportunity to expand your social influence. Which means going and talking to people around you even if they are not part of your team. This is important throughout your carrier but early in your carrier it’s highly important. This is the only way you find out what’s going on outside your project which will help take advantage to opportunities that otherwise you wouldn’t perceive.  Do not take it for spending hours on coffee and smoking breaks, though once in a while if its required to expand your acquaintances, do it.

Bragging is good and important for growth

I used to be head down hard working guy who beliefs that “work speaks for itself”. Turns out, I was wrong. You are known for what others hear about you and not for what you do. So if you feel good about doing something, tell others, ask feedback. Actually asking feedback is a diplomatic way of telling others how awesome you are.

Go beyond hierarchy

When I say go beyond hierarchy I do not mean bypass your direct supervisor/manager that would be a recipe for disaster. But stay connected with everyone irrespective of their roles in organizational hierarchy, send them linked in invite, add them to your instant messenger, let them know if you are doing something exciting especially if it’s not part of your day to day responsibility. Some organizations and individuals (usually insecure ones) are strict about hierarchy, so understanding your work environment and playing within the boundaries is important. In my experience I have seen few managers that were highly insecure and would not appreciate their direct report to bypass hierarchy. One thing that you can do avoid hard feelings is to share credit.

Do not bad mouth

This is kind of obvious but if we understand the yearning behind bad mouthing managers it greatly help differentiate from others. When we get into a new environment and culture the human psychology is to create a sense of belonging and to create companionship. So we comply with everyone in the organization and fall in trap of bad mouthing our bosses. What we do not realize that by doing so we give in to the status quo and unconsciously form an excuse not to make an effort to change. So the key here is that we want a sense of belonging and obviously bad mouthing is not the only way to achieve it.