I’ve been keeping busy...
Working in the startup world, it’s likely you’ll experience a bout of unemployment at some point. Maybe you’ve been burnt out and need a self-imposed break, or funding gets cut for your team, or your company just can’t raise funds. In any case, it’s pretty common and the smaller the startups are that you work in, the more likely to be the case.
I’ve been lucky that I have planned for this ever since I was a new teacher which, as it turns out, you are also pretty likely to get a pink slip as a new teacher - at least in California, because of seniority. (Side note: My buddy Kelli wrote an awesome piece on how she built an emergency fund, I highly recommend it!)
So this time around, my main focus was finding a job at a large company where I could predict a little more stability. To that end, I’ve kept pretty busy trying to beef up my resume, network, and just plain stay sane. Here’s a quick list, but look for follow up details for some projects to come…
- Resume and tech career consulting for others looking to make a move.
- Judged the University of Washington Business Plan Competition. It’s fun to see all the students’ ideas, plus keeps my product and marketing skills sharp as I ask the companies questions and try to assess their value.
- Took a workshop on Managing for Innovation and Engagement, which was amazing! Highly recommended - if you’re in Seattle, UniquelyHR is offering another one in June.
- Crammed for tech interviews with podcasts, books, and tutorials. Look for another post on what I used!
- Read some useful books - The Phoenix Project, Rocking The Boat and The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
- Assisted with mentors and events for 9mile Labs
- Wrote up product assessment for Pivotal Tracker and became familiar with transpose
- Deployed an AWS instance!
- Participated in Cascade Bike Club rides and repair classes
- Class, workshops, meetups, oh my! Again, look for another blog post featuring Product Tank, and a very informative Amazon Restaurants big data workshop.
- Facilitated and led training courses for Junior League of Seattle, included Branding and the Art of Storytelling.
- Prepped for interviews, including company strategy, product evaluations, and diving deep into how my experience matches the needs of each company.
- Information interviews as MUCH as possible, for advice on many topics such as companies to research, what skills to hone and how to be an advocate for diversity in tech.
- Stay up to date on industry trends, including attending Google I/O Extended, watching the WWDC keynote, and staying connected with my favorite companies.
Phew, that’s a long list and I’m sure it’s not even all of it. Would love to hear your thoughts, questions, advice, or ideas! How do you stay busy and beef up your career skills?
