Ponchik News: Design+ Strategy

You might find yourself in a moment in your career when you are thinking of what’s next. That’s an interesting twilight zone: you feel like you ready to give up old, but not sure what the new is. That’s where I found myself not so long ago. Truth be told, career decisions are very personal - and I doubt all ‘one-size-fits-all-your-parachute-color’ approaches. However, I think there are great thought partners who can inspire and create some support. Here are some sources that can help frame and navigate your thinking.

1) Amazing long-read piece by Tim Urban of Wait But Why: How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You). https://waitbutwhy.com/2018/04/picking-career.html

2) Can Newport’s So Good They Can’t Ignore You is an amazing amazing book. Cal is a super nerdy Computer Science professor and MIT grad. He is also curious about productivity and decision making patterns that humans fall into. He introduces the idea of rarity and value as a part of career growth. When someone asks me about their professional development or jumping ships, that’s the first book I recommend. https://is.gd/69bItc

3) Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means roughly ‘something that makes you wake up in the morning’. Thomas Oppong’s schort piece on Medium outlines how one can apply this concept for their life and their career. https://medium.com/thrive-global/ikigai-the-japanese-secret-to-a-long-and-happy-life-might-just-help-you-live-a-more-fulfilling-9871d01992b7

4) Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions is a great book to help you think more objectively about decisions (including career ones) that we humans make all the time, but which, frankly, computers tend to be better equipped to make. https://is.gd/Ap5keR

5) Designers, if you don’t already read Julie Zhuo of Facebook, start doing it now. Julie has one of the best design leadership blogs out there, and she shares some good thoughts on career among many other things. Here is one of highlights: https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/how-to-think-about-your-career-abf5300eba08

6) HackerNoon’s piece on becoming a product manager. Chances are, if yo work with very scalable matters (like technology) in any capacity, you’ll have to interact with product managers. You might even be in a role of one — knowingly or unknowingly. Here is a great article that can save you a lot of time (and money) navigating your work with or development of PM skills. https://hackernoon.com/forget-the-mba-heres-the-fastest-way-to-become-a-product-manager-b3a230a7c055

7) Cherry on a pie. Inc.com's collection of 25 inspiring and infamous leaders’ pieces of advice to anyone thinking of a career move: https://www.inc.com/business-insider/25-successful-leaders-give-their-best-career-advice-for-millenials.html