Goodbye IBM - Ending my 2+ year journey

You know who my hero is? It's me in 10 years - Mathew Mcconaughey

There's a phrase I always hear when talking to friends about past memories - especially when we're talking about school.

"Oh man, if I could go back in time, and still know what I know now".

I can't really time travel yet, so I'll do one worse. I'll reflect on the lessons I've learned during my time at IBM, and the things I would tell myself if I could speak to the Victor just starting his role.

A. Give yourself time - Confidence comes with familiarity
You're starting your new role - and more often than not, the sheer amount of information that is thrown your way is overwhelming. You know that, but you know who else knows that? Your employer. Work smart and work hard, but don't stress if you're not nailing everything immediately. It's okay to fail -learn from your mistakes, and avoid them the next time around.

I would always take my work home and try to understand it that day- and sometimes you just can't. There are too many pieces of the puzzle you need to see, before you can see the complete image. Take it one day at a time, it's okay to not know everything.

B. You're defined by your body of work

I spoke to a CFO 2-3 weeks into my role. He asked me how I found it so far - I responded "Challenging". He asked me what was so challenging, I told him the amount of info - as well as the report I was working on submitting. That's when he asked me what would happen, if I didn't submit on time - the answer was that I would just resubmit a day late. No major consequences. Internally I had placed so much pressure on myself to complete everything perfectly, I didn't see a path where I made any major mistakes.

Through my 2 years, I did make major mistakes, but as he told me - "you're defined by a body of work". The pool of work grows as you work, and one or two mistakes don't taint the entire pool. Two drops of red into a blue pool, leaves a blue pool.

C. You need to be your own spokesperson

I struggle with this one a lot, and I really wish I could have improved on it more and earlier. I get really nervous and anxious when it's time to 'toot my own horn' or even speak up to authority regarding myself. I would sit at my desk silently and work. I lucked out - I had two executives I could speak freely to, and they really helped with being my proxy spokesperson(s).

Reach out to execs for advice on this- they've been down this path. Many execs are in their respective positions because they are good at what they do AND they are good at letting other people know. Both- not just one. If I want something similar, I should learn from them.

D. Show more confidence in your emails

This one's very personally tied. I can only guess it's tied to my upbringing and the way I was raised. I was taught to rarely speak to authority - adults are always right, you just say okay. As a young child, I was praised for being quiet and timid. But starting my professional career, I was almost scared to send emails, to the point where I would have excessive "please" and "thank you's" - because I knew they were going to people who were more senior than me. Going over them now, they seem out of place. There is a sense of nervousness and lack of confidence in my emails.

I would start work emails with "Dear". So glad I fixed that early on.

I'm back from Montreal - this post is late, but my next one will be up on Friday. Thanks for reading.

Hung up my IBM badge onto the cork board I used in my introductory post: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@edrameth/my-introductory-post-onto-steemit

Cheers,

Victor.