“You can do anything you want in life!” That line is such bullshit. Especially when it comes to your career and especially if that career happens to be in a STEM Field (Science, Technology, Education and Math). That line should come with a bunch of stipulations. When it comes to your career, you can do anything you want …
- if you’re rich
- when you’re young
- if you’re not a woman or minority
- when you come from a place of privilege
- if you’re willing to sacrifice money and comfort
- when you don’t have kids or a family to take care of
- if someone is willing to believe in you or take a chance with you
There’s a famous scene in the movie Toy Story where the main character who is a actually a toy believes that he is real and that he can fly. He tries to prove this to everyone by jumping off a staircase and ends up crashing. The song I Believe I Can Fly plays along in the background during this epic failure.
I was reminded of this scene recently as I begin the hunt for a new job. Job hunting is always so insightful as it gives you a very personal view into numerous companies. You get a glimpse of their processes and technology and insight into how they work. In sum this helps you take a pulse on the greater industry and how and where you fit. I discovered something interesting about myself recently during this process.
As a Black Engineering Manager who is closer to 40 than 30 to some potential employers I was only capable of what I had previously done. To others they saw what I might be capable of. This was a huge aha moment for me! I always strive towards goals that are just out of my reach, it is what has helped me progress so far in my career over the years. I always took jobs that required me to grow.
There were numerous opportunities in front of me that if given a chance I knew I could excel at but were not things I’d done previously. They too were a stretch but the older I’ve gotten the more people wanted to put me in a box. I now needed to depend on someone else to see my potential. I could not in fact do whatever I wanted even though I knew I could! I had never really run into this before. I had absolutely no control over these potential employers, how they viewed me or my worth.
It gets even worse when I talked to companies who only saw what I had previously done and wanted me to do more of the same. I could have done those jobs in my sleep. What they wanted someone to do in 40 hours a week I could have done in 10. They only saw their current need and getting that filled and were not thinking about the their or my future and both of our potential.
I’ve always hired people for potential and growth. We are all constantly improving so I would always keep this in mind. The industry changes every year, every day — it was more important the trajectory someone was on over their entire career versus what they knew at that specific moment in time. This is probably why I ended up building more diverse teams than what is typical in The Valley. This view was not shared by more than half the companies I’d talked to.
They only saw what I was currently doing or had done in the past and assumed (incorrectly) that’s all that I was capable of. I have big dreams when it comes to my career and any place that I’d work would have to be a big dreamer along with me. They’d have to look past what I’d done and we’d have to look to the future together.
I don’t think there’s anything that I can’t do as long as there is someone that believes that with me.