Episode 019: “Process Over Outcomes” and “Dreaming in Bands”

Welcome to episode 19 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two VMware Solution Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode, we have a discussion about Process-oriented thinking over Outcomes-oriented thinking and dreaming in bands of possibilities instead of being hyper-specific. Original recording date: 2018-11-25 Topics 2:00 Process over outcomes Cultivate an attitude that rewards or chastises yourself for your process rather than your outcomes. You control your process, while your outcomes have influences you can’t control. Alan Schoonmaker The Psychology of Poker https://www.twoplustwo.com/books/poker/psychology-of-poker/ Annie Duke Thinking in Bets https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/552885/thinking-in-bets-by-annie-duke/9780735216358/ Why Uncertainty Isn’t a Barrier to Success https://www.signature-reads.com/2018/02/why-uncertainty-isnt-a-barrier-to-success/ Background: Poker boom of the 2000s Preface on the morality of gambling Important parable about odds Annie Duke – “Resulting” Best decision you made last year Worst decision you made last year Probably the first was a good outcome and the second was a bad outcome Tom Vanderbilt Traffic http://tomvanderbilt.com/books/traffic/ At-fault accidents usually sit at the tip of a pyramid of bad behaviors which we don’t remember Applying this to career management Reward yourself for good process Re-enforce your good processes Correct your faulty processes Be brutally honest in your self-assessment Alan Schoonmaker  – Principle No 1: Your greatest enemy is denial Examples Tardiness Calendar mis-management Chronic procrastination Disorganization Correct, don’t engage in negative self-talk Seek outside opinions Reward your good processes even when there are bad outcomes Scenario: Didn’t get the job Asked for coaching during the process Did a great edit on your resume Great prep for screening and early hiring-manager interviews Great mid- and late-process interviews Reward yourself for great process The outcome was ultimately outside of your control It was always about probability, not certainty Did you do everything your reasonable, ethical power to tip the odds in your favor? Practice, take notes along the way, self-assess 22:05 Dreaming in Bands “Bands of possibility” “Working at Company X is my dream job.” There’s no single dream position and no singularly wonderful company to work for. There are lots of great companies out there who share similar ethics, culture, and goals There are lots of positions rolling out from each of these companies, as they tend to be growing How should we define a dream job? Individually, but in characteristics, not specifics John Smart people, who think differently than me Mentorship Menteeship Opportunity to advance Centering around virtualization Nerd Journey 016: Reasons Not to Pursue a Career Opportunity Part 1/2 Before Applying Nerd Journey 017 SE @ VMware was John’s dream job But he became one three years ago. What now?! Get a new dream? Or should the dream have been more expansive to include a band of possibilities and a path Was it good process for John to fix singularly on a single position in a single region at a single company? NO! AWS? GCP? Cisco? Resellers? SE? Solution Architect? Pure sales? Post-sales consultant? California, Arizona, Colorado, PNW, Nevada? What’s John’s dream now? The bands of possibilities Role, location, even company Why have a dream? Too out of reach? Too much fantasy while the reality of our jobs passes us by? People might dream too far in the future without thinking about the intermediate steps It’s fine to use the word “goal” as a less lowered word Have both short, intermediate, and long term goals The further away the time frame, the more we should think about a band if possibilities Maybe a dreamer is an expert goal-setter? Having progression as a goal Be open to possibilities