Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

by Finn Lin | Sep 30, 2021 | Guest Blog

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

I recently visited Olympic National Park and learned about nurse logs. Wikipedia defines nurse logs as “a fallen tree, which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings.” The grounds of the forest floor is so covered with other plants that it can be hard to compete as a seedling. One way to grow is to use nutrients and resources from decaying trees.

Olympic National Park

What do nurse logs have to do with anything? Jobs are like nurse logs for your career. Take my career journey for example… Back in high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I still don’t, but I know I’m not alone with this feeling. In a society that constantly asks children what they want to be when they grow up, it feels like you have to know what your career is from a very young age. Fortunately, I’ve learned this does not have to be the case. In college, I studied computer science with a focus in human-computer interaction (HCI) because my interests leaned towards the visual, front-end side of technology. I participated in an HCI research group, contributing to a project by developing applications, running user studies, and iterating on the apps based on user feedback. While I enjoyed being a research assistant, I knew academia wasn’t for me. It did, however, provide facilitation to the next step in my career – an internship doing user experience (UX) research – just as a nurse log helps facilitate a seedling. My research project had given me the foundational skills I needed to talk to real customers at the internship, investigate what they did and didn’t like, and come up with solutions to improve the product.

Nurselogs

After graduating, I joined a tech company as a web developer. I quickly learned that I was not interested in coding, but I did enjoy the part of the job that involved working with data. This led to a role at Intel doing business and data analysis with an HR chatbot. Another tree growing from the nurse logs! Not only did the previous role help me improve upon the analysis process for this role, but my past UX experiences also helped me lead a redesign of the chatbot interface with something more modern and user-friendly. Sure enough, that role in HR became a nurse log too. Just a few weeks ago, I started a new role as a system analyst in the healthcare industry. Though I’ve never worked in healthcare, I’ve seen how all my previous roles helped me succeed. I’ll let my experiences guide me in this seedling phase. Already I can see where I could utilize my UX skills to ensure user-friendly interfaces for clinicians, my business and data analysis skills to determine what the best solutions are, and my developer skills to troubleshoot defects in the system.

My career path may not have been very defined or linear, but neither is growth in general. Whether you’re growing from the ground or a nurse log, from college education or previous work experiences, everything provides some sort of “nutrition” from one place to the next. I never would’ve thought to pursue any of these past roles of mine as a kid, and I’m glad I didn’t restrict myself to one path because I would’ve missed out on an interesting journey. I no longer feel pressured to know what I want to do with my life anymore, knowing that all my experiences will plant the foundation for the future.

Finn Lin

He / Him / His

System Analyst | OHSU

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

Opinions expressed are the author’s own.

I recently visited Olympic National Park and learned about nurse logs. Wikipedia defines nurse logs as “a fallen tree, which, as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings.” The grounds of the forest floor is so covered with other plants that it can be hard to compete as a seedling. One way to grow is to use nutrients and resources from decaying trees.

Olympic National Park

Back in high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I still don’t, but I know I’m not alone with this feeling. In a society that constantly asks children what they want to be when they grow up, it feels like you have to know what your career is from a very young age. Fortunately, I’ve learned this does not have to be the case. In college, I studied computer science with a focus in human-computer interaction (HCI) because my interests leaned towards the visual, front-end side of technology. I participated in an HCI research group, contributing to a project by developing applications, running user studies, and iterating on the apps based on user feedback. While I enjoyed being a research assistant, I knew academia wasn’t for me. It did, however, provide facilitation to the next step in my career – an internship doing user experience (UX) research – just as a nurse log helps facilitate a seedling. My research project had given me the foundational skills I needed to talk to real customers at the internship, investigate what they did and didn’t like, and come up with solutions to improve the product.

nurselogs

After graduating, I joined a tech company as a web developer. I quickly learned that I was not interested in coding, but I did enjoy the part of the job that involved working with data. This led to a role at Intel doing business and data analysis with an HR chatbot. Another tree growing from the nurse logs! Not only did the previous role help me improve upon the analysis process for this role, but my past UX experiences also helped me lead a redesign of the chatbot interface with something more modern and user-friendly. Sure enough, that role in HR became a nurse log too. Just a few weeks ago, I started a new role as a system analyst in the healthcare industry. Though I’ve never worked in healthcare, I’ve seen how all my previous roles helped me succeed. I’ll let my past experiences guide me in this seedling phase. Already I can see where I could utilize my UX skills to ensure user-friendly interfaces for clinicians, my business and data analysis skills to determine what the best solutions are, and my developer skills to troubleshoot defects in the system.

Finn Lin

He / Him / His

System Analyst | OHSU

Navigating Pandemic Detours

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

From the moment I signed my full time job offer in the fall of 2019, I didn’t give my future career another thought until the spring of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced my hand (as it did for many others). Luckily, my offer was not rescinded, but my start date was pushed back from my expectation of August to mid-January.

Though I’d worked towards securing a job in management consulting since sophomore year of college without ever examining my decision along the way, I was suddenly confronted with the strange feeling of having a relatively long span of open and unplanned time in front of me. I had spent all of my summer breaks working various internships and jobs that would get me closer to that elusive full-time offer, but now, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to work towards a specific long term goal. I didn’t have an obligation to be “productive” at all, but I felt an itch (maybe that’s just internalized capitalism, but I digress) to take advantage of the opportunity.

After a catch-up call with one of my favorite professors in May, he reached out again, asking if I might be interested in doing some data analysis work for the company his son worked at. I figured it would be a good way to build on my data skills and had good initial conversations with the people I met from the company, a small private equity resourcing business. The job turned into a mini consulting project where I analyzed the company’s data to determine an ideal customer profile. More importantly, my boss became a mentor and friend, one of the first people I reached out to when I returned to Nashville. She previously worked as a lawyer and lived abroad for years, both of which are future possibilities I’ve considered. The chance opportunity I took as a way to pass the time turned into a rewarding project and hopefully lasting connection.

As I was working on the data analysis project, my mind also began to wander to think about how I could use the time until my start date to push myself and explore something new. I majored in public policy in college and had a longstanding interest in the public sector, but to be frank, I didn’t apply to a single public sector internship while in college because money had always been a big concern for me and (at the time) many of the opportunities in that space were unpaid. However, given my newfound economic freedom, I explored fall public sector internship postings. With the help of my university’s career center and a couple of former professors, I applied to several nonprofits in the area, eventually getting an offer for a fall internship doing policy analysis for a Georgia-based civil rights organization.

It was an exciting time to be involved in Georgia politics, with several important elections and changing political tides at play in the state. Getting to see the issues I learned about in the classroom play out on the state political stage was thrilling. For the first time, I had the chance to interact and work with policy analysts and lawyers, and I seized the opportunity to ask them about their experiences being trained and working in their fields. Though I knew I would be starting my professional life in consulting, I got a glimpse into what working in law and policy might look like.

Even better, the experience gave me a conduit to more sustained involvement with both the organization I worked for and the public sector in general. When I started at Deloitte (which ended up being in early December), I had a clearer idea of what kinds of work I was interested in. I got involved with a pro bono consulting group that works with Atlanta-based nonprofits, and my current client project is a collaboration with a nonprofit in the health equity space.

When I think of my proudest moments, the examples that come to mind are always the ones where I jumped into something new headfirst and a little unsure and came out on the other side knowing something new about my abilities and goals. Of course, I’m thankful for the big moments—the graduation, the job, etc.—but I’m equally as grateful for the little detours and meanderings off of the path—the one-off projects, connections, and explorations that allow me to pick up my head and look around.

Helena Augenstein

She/Her/Hers

Strategy & Operations Analyst | Deloitte

Navigating Pandemic Detours

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Though I’d worked towards securing a job in management consulting since sophomore year of college and had never felt a need to examine the decision once I made it, I was suddenly confronted with the strange feeling of having a relatively long span of open and unplanned time in front of me. I had spent all of my summer breaks working various internships and jobs that would get me closer to that elusive full-time offer, but now, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have to work towards a specific long term goal. I didn’t have an obligation to be “productive” at all, but I felt an itch (maybe that’s just internalized capitalism, but I digress) to take advantage of the opportunity.

Helena Augenstein

She / Her / Hers

Strategy & Operations Analyst | Deloitte

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

If I traveled back in time to meet my younger self and told her that I had quit my data engineering job to take a year-long break, my younger self would give me an incredulous look. “What are you going to do with all that time?” she would ask. “Won’t you run out of money? What will happen to your career?” Throughout college, I was solidly focused on my academics and career. I powered through a rigorous curriculum and was surrounded by very smart classmates. I carried this work ethic to my full-time data engineering job in New York City. Within the first six months of my professional career, I learned how to develop jobs in Apache Spark, a big data processing software, to crunch millions of production customer data points daily. I worked in other technologies such as databases, cloud infrastructure, distributed computing, and API programming. I also learned soft skills such as writing technical documentation, interfacing with customers to understand their needs, and handling on-call dumpster fires. I enjoyed exploring new lunch spots with coworkers, playing Dungeons and Dragons in my spare time, and reading fantasy novels on my commute to work. I’d be lying if I said that my professional dreams had come true. Behind the veil of productivity and success were the doubts and burnout. My first six months of the job involved a high-visibility project that I was wholly unfamiliar with, tech- or business-wise. This project also added to the stress of adjusting to post-grad life in an unfamiliar, fast-paced city. I’ve been known to reliably deliver any project I’ve been given, and was rewarded with more requests and responsibility. I was surrounded by very brilliant software engineers who seemed to know everything in the industry, while I felt like I was always just trailing behind their shadow. The treadmill of tech didn’t get any easier with the stresses the pandemic brought.

With the doubts and burnout lingering earlier this year, I contemplated on taking an extended break. There wasn’t any reason not to, since I was fortunate enough not to have to pay loans or medical bills. I looked realistically into an extended break by forming a rough budget and researching insurance options. Even with the planning and growing excitement, I spent a lot of time doubting myself on whether this was a good idea to quit with no job lined up. How would other potential employers see this gap in my resume? Was I abandoning my coworkers? Maybe I was too stressed to think clearly, so should I first take an extra long vacation to clear my head?

HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

At the end, I asked myself, “What would my future self look back on – spending a year to take a break and do some cool things with a minor hit to my career, or to continue working myself to the bone?” Looking back at my academics and career thus far, I felt confident that I would work hard to re-enter the workforce after an extended break. I then confided to my close friends and family on this plan, and they were nothing short of supportive. Finally, I handed in my resignation. I am now five months into my gap year, and it has been a refreshing experience. I spent the first two weeks not doing much, simply resting and adjusting to the freedom. I then set myself a rough outline of how my week would go, while also not confining myself to optimize every minute of my life. This is the time to explore new hobbies, or to cultivate and refine existing ones. I took advantage of my free weekday time to enjoy the sights of NYC, or travel around the Northeast, avoiding weekend crowds in the process. So far I’ve taken online courses, volunteered, exercised my creative brain, exercised my body, and read novels. I keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues regularly – virtually or in-person. I reflected on how I’ve grown in my career, what lessons I’ve learned, and what I value most in my career and life.

2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.

PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

The treadmill of the tech industry is not easy to keep up with. Technology and business continue to evolve, which means there’s always something new to learn. Keeping up with the treadmill can also result in tunnel vision, moving so quickly that other aspects of life may blur in the process. I did end up nearly falling flat on my face as I stepped off the treadmill. However, after picking myself up, it has been nice to walk at my own pace and learn what I can do on my own terms. If you want to follow along in my gap year, you can check out my blog at www.warunlock.com!

SusanNa Dong

She / Her / Hers

Software / Data Engineer

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.

PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

If you want to follow along in my gap year, you can check out my blog at www.warunlock.com!

Susanna Dong

She / Her / Hers

Software / Data Engineer

Imposter Syndrome: Changing the Voice in Your Head

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

The Harvard Business Review definition of imposter syndrome is, “a collection of feelings of inadequacy that persist despite evident success. ‘Imposters’ suffer from chronic self-doubt and a sense of intellectual fraudulence that override any feelings of success or external proof of their incompetence.” It sounds extreme – impossible even – that someone could only be getting great feedback and still believe they’re not doing enough. I didn’t think I related to this, and always thought; this definitely does not apply to me. I know what I accomplish and that I am good at my job, so this can’t pertain to me, right?

Based on the title alone, I’m sure it’s apparent that I did indeed experience imposter syndrome. A lot, actually. It can be as small as getting a meeting from a manager that’s out of the blue and immediately expecting to get reprimanded or even outright fired. But for what? Possibly not yet answering an email I got 2 hours ago. Or I called in late to that one meeting. All of that anxiety only to get great feedback, getting asked to join a new project or even news of a raise (that’s not a made-up scenario by the way). I thought those thoughts without even realizing that that is imposter syndrome. It can be very disheartening when I have completed projects or solved problems and can only focus on what could have been done better, faster, different, without acknowledging what was done well, what challenges were overcome, or what was done ahead of schedule.

It really hit me that this was something I was silently drowning in when a new position opened, and I didn’t want to apply because I wasn’t 100% qualified. I was scared to apply out of fear of being disappointed because I didn’t believe my skills were good enough. Many people encouraged me to apply for said position, so I did, thinking I wouldn’t have a chance (though that didn’t stop me from over prepping for 3 days). And then something that I never believed would happen, happened, and I got the job. But wait…now what? Thoughts of not being good enough crept back in as I started questioning why I was hired.

You get the point – it’s constant. Suffocating. Entirely internal. But what can be done about it? Here are a few tips:

1. Talk about it! There are more of us dealing with this than I imagined. I was sure I was the only one, but as it turns out, I am not! And when we open that door of vulnerability, we also open the door to getting a different perspective of ourselves from others. It can open conversations to talking about goals, strengths, and shared knowledge. And when others know what you want to do, they will remember and recommend you for opportunities – and you gain the confidence to do the same for others.

2. Celebrate the wins. Instead of going over all the parts that went wrong or “not perfect”, take the time to acknowledge and appreciate what went well. Whether that’s treating yourself to your favorite food, spending some more time on a hobby, taking a bubble bath, buying a little something extra for yourself at Target (well, let’s be honest that always happens, but don’t feel guilty about it), or a social media post. Do something for yourself!

3. Don’t dwell on the failures. I say this entirely as a hypocrite, as I vividly remember crying in the shower for 3 hours after my first ‘F’ on a test in college, and honestly, it irks me to this day. I have since become aware of why it happened and realized what I could do to prepare better in the future. It takes active work – sometimes that includes time for a pity party – but I am getting better at rerouting my guilty, shameful thoughts into opportunities to try something new in the future.

4. Be kind to yourself. Isn’t that obvious? It sure seems like it, but once I started paying attention to my own internal initial thoughts, I realized I wasn’t nice to myself all that often. We’re our own worst critics, right? But we don’t have to be. I found myself listening to praise externally while simultaneously “correcting” it with negative feedback and negative examples in my own mind. It takes work to derail a rooted track like that, but acknowledging what is happening is the first step to course-correcting those thoughts. There’s so much to worry and stress about out there, we owe it to ourselves to prioritize self-care.

imposter_celebration_alyssa_stricklan_small

Celebrating my wins!

It’s not easy, I won’t lie. However, the outcome is worth the effort. I am by no means cured, (who even knows if that’s possible) but I can see change happening in real-time now and give myself the grace to take a moment to acknowledge my feelings of inadequacy, ask myself why I feel that way, and then go in a different direction with my thoughts. All this to say, you are not alone if you feel like this at times, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re doing great, and you’re going to be alright.

Alyssa Stricklan

She / Her / Hers

Commodity Manager | Intel

Imposter Syndrome: Changing the Voice in Your Head

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Based on the title alone, I’m sure it’s apparent that I did indeed experience imposter syndrome. A lot, actually. It can be as small as getting a meeting from a manager that’s out of the blue and immediately expecting to get reprimanded or even outright fired. But for what? Possibly not yet answering an email I got 2 hours ago. Or I called in late to that one meeting. All of that anxiety only to get great feedback, getting asked to be on a new project, or even news of a raise (that’s not a made-up scenario by the way). I thought those thoughts without even realizing that that is imposter syndrome. It can be very disheartening when I have completed projects or solved problems and can only focus on what could have been done better, faster, different, without acknowledging what was done well, what challenges were overcome, or what was done ahead of schedule.

You get the point – it’s constant. Suffocating. Entirely internal. But what can be done about it? Here are a few tips:

Celebrating my wins!

Alyssa Stricklan

She / Her / Hers

Commodity Manager | Intel

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Olympic National Park

Nurselogs

Finn Lin

He / Him / His

Trusting Yourself in Your Career Journey

Olympic National Park

nurselogs

Finn Lin

He / Him / His

Recent Posts

Navigating Pandemic Detours

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Helena Augenstein

She/Her/Hers

Navigating Pandemic Detours

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Helena Augenstein

She / Her / Hers

Recent Posts

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.

PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

SusanNa Dong

She / Her / Hers

Stepping Off the Treadmill of Tech

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

HALLOWEEN 2020 LAWN DECORATIONS – “WE’LL ONLY REST WHEN WE DIE.”

2021 TRIP TO PORTLAND, ME. CHANGE OF SCENERY AFTER MANY MONTHS IN NYC.

PAINTING MINIATURES FOR A FUN WAY TO UNWIND.

Susanna Dong

She / Her / Hers

Recent Posts

Imposter Syndrome: Changing the Voice in Your Head

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Celebrating my wins!

Alyssa Stricklan

She / Her / Hers

Imposter Syndrome: Changing the Voice in Your Head

Views expressed in guest blogs are the author’s own.

Celebrating my wins!

Alyssa Stricklan

She / Her / Hers

Recent Posts

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