This is so spot on! Unglamorous work also has the benefit of being low-competition. If everyone else is chasing the shiny thing, it's much easier to do the grunt work unencumbered. Bonus points if you turn the boring work into the next shiny thing.
So true re low competition. Ahhh good call on the turning boring thing into the thing everyone praises - I remember someone junior at Google doing a whole bunch of boring AB testing on longtail emails that no-one cared about and it ended up getting rolled out globally and they got a promo off that alone
Great points. So hard to navigate this early in one’s career. The whole “don’t ask for the most interesting work too early” thing is huge. I work with lots of junior folks who wonder how to get more interesting work and I try to tell them to figure out a goal and stick with it. Sometimes that’s to move to another team or department in which case don’t get caught up if someone is promoted above you in your department. Advice I have needed at various points myself. To your point, you need to seem as reliable as you are which can be even easier to lose sight of, especially when you put your head down and focus on doing the work. Thanks for sharing this.
This is so spot on! Unglamorous work also has the benefit of being low-competition. If everyone else is chasing the shiny thing, it's much easier to do the grunt work unencumbered. Bonus points if you turn the boring work into the next shiny thing.
So true re low competition. Ahhh good call on the turning boring thing into the thing everyone praises - I remember someone junior at Google doing a whole bunch of boring AB testing on longtail emails that no-one cared about and it ended up getting rolled out globally and they got a promo off that alone
Great points. So hard to navigate this early in one’s career. The whole “don’t ask for the most interesting work too early” thing is huge. I work with lots of junior folks who wonder how to get more interesting work and I try to tell them to figure out a goal and stick with it. Sometimes that’s to move to another team or department in which case don’t get caught up if someone is promoted above you in your department. Advice I have needed at various points myself. To your point, you need to seem as reliable as you are which can be even easier to lose sight of, especially when you put your head down and focus on doing the work. Thanks for sharing this.
That's such great advice re 'pick a goal' and using that to help you not get bothered by other things. So true.
Love this! And also LOVE that you got to meet Carly Rae Jepsen!!!
Hahaha ICONIC 2010s