For every junior engineer I mentor, I tell them many things.
One of them is, “Don’t end up like me.”
They’d laugh – “I’ve never heard any engineering manager say that.”
I’m serious. Took me ten years of setbacks and dead-ends to grow to where I am. If they don’t like what they see, then don’t take the steps I took. I’ll them what routes to avoid because I’ve already taken a deterministic route. All the decisions and actions I’ve made culminated to where I am today.
I prefer if a junior engineer identifies elements from my path they’d like, like a focus in image processing. Then I can tell them how to get there, what books to read and fundamental papers.
I have no desire for a junior engineer to take my path. I want to see them grow beyond me. I have multiple reasons – If they can take another route, I can form a stellar team to cover gaps. Or they’ll surpass me in other areas and everyone will have more to learn from them.
Whatever skills they’ve picked up, my hope is they carry them on to the next organization or team. And teach others what they’ve learned. And my request is they keep this mentality going as they train the next generation.
I don’t want to see them spend 10 years to only end up like me.
Even if they desire a similar path, I hope I can shorten the timeframe by a few years. Every year shaved off a career timeline gives them time they can spend on another direction.
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