The Insider Guide to Careers
Insider information, secrets and tips about getting hired and building careers. For employees and job candidates.
If you have part 1 of the writeup, this is part 2.
It takes time to build a career:
Arvind Krishna earned a doctoral degree from UIUC in Electrical Engineering in 1991 and joined IBM after graduation. He has been a lifer there.
Satya Nadella did an MS in CS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and joined Microsoft in 1992 after a stint in Sun Microsystems. He later finished a part-time MBA in 1997 from Chicago Booth and used to fly to Chicago every weekend for many years. By no means was Satya an outstanding student in his early days, but he did become one ater in life in his workplace.
Sundar’s career was more roundabout as he had an undergrad and Master’s degree in Metallurgy and Material Science. After his MS from Stanford in 1995, he worked in Applied Materials for five years and then went for an MBA from Wharton. After 2002, he joined McKinsey as a consultant and then joined Google in 2004 as a product manager. His career zoomed after that. Sundar was well into his thirties when he got a software role. Sometimes, things happen slowly, but when it happens, it is the best thing that happened to you.
A good understanding of Computer Science, whether through formal degrees or informal self-learning, will be essential for students evaluating careers. Whether startups or big companies, there will be a wealth of opportunities. Do not place too much importance on the current job market. Things will change, and this, too, shall pass. I remember in 2002 when it seemed like all tech companies and startups had collapsed in the dot com crash. Humans place too much importance on local events and easily miss the big picture. Like how the tech sector boomed after 2002, the next boom is only waiting to happen soon.
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