[Thread] Why Career Advice is generally bullsh*t?

Have you observed this trend of getting scammed?

Early career professionals ➡️ Online Courses Colllege Kids ➡️ FAANG/MAANG didi/bhaiyya School Kids ➡️ JEE cram schools

Here’s why career advice is generally bad.

1. Those who share career advice online are generally out there trying to shill you paid courses. They tell you what you want to hear so you pay up.

2. Any career advice that works will lose its edge over time. Because it becomes widely adopted, and that’s precisely because it works.

Example: If everyone is building a portfolio website then it becomes the defacto standard. I’m not saying that don’t build a portfolio website.

What I’m saying is, that it becomes less effective over time because you building one is not a clear differentiator.

Imagine sending a letter by post to an early stage company’s founder where you want to work, he might be more willing to schedule a call with you because you chose an approach that they might not have experienced first hand ever.

Also, I’m not saying that the above said approach will work, since it’s unproven you’ll have to experiment and evaluate if it works.

Maybe a good heuristic is to “do what it takes to stand out” and that means being creative with how you navigate work life.

3. Those giving advice generally impose their thought model onto you. They make assumptions basis what they think is right.

This is not a bad thing but it does not account for your specific constraints.

Finally, if you do want to ask for advice.

1. Ask “How” questions to those not much older than you, since they are executing in the trenches.
2. Ask “Why” questions to much older folks, you try to get closer to their first principles, which is the base level truth that cannot be divided further.

Avoid asking “What” questions to anyone, generally it’s good to think them through yourself.