Career Archives - shm notes & posts

Career Reflections

Handling a negative performance review, healthily

13 February 202313 February 2023

In which I outline a step-by-step plan for processing a negative performance review. Open for tips on dealing with work grief.

Now that we’ve fully exited the holiday season, it’s that time of year again: performance reviews. Now I’ve gotten a range of performance reviews, and I remember my first negative one and the grief that I had to work through. Years of therapy and other experiences have perfectly poised me to write about the best way to work through a negative performance review. Alternatively, you can picture your reviewers face on a punching bag and have at it. This is a bit more productive though. . 1. Realize that part of a negative review is almost always the fault of...

Career

Leaning In and Falling Over: A Review of “Lean In”

19 August 202029 October 2021

In which I depict how leaning in falls flat. Open for a critique of corporate feminism and its blind spots.

Leaning in is an interesting concept. It revolves around the empowerment of women, a message that is hard to refute—at least, in theory. Sheryl Sandberg’s message, outlined in the book, “Lean In” is to empower women and raise them to new heights in any and all of their ambitions. The problem with much of Sandberg’s message, ironically, is that it’s not ambitious enough. The book uses a form of ambition previously defined by men and rooted in selfishness. She acknowledges the differences in men and women and yet never changes her definitions for success that were by and large defined...

Career Health Reflections

The value in writing, even when you’re a “bad” writer

18 June 202024 January 2023

In which I talk about the value of writing. Open for a reminder on why you should pickup a pen.

Writing is hard. Anyone who says otherwise is either blindly confident or has never tried. There are a plethora of benefits to writing, regardless of whether you consider yourself a writer. Going through the writing process stands to benefit not only the writing itself, but other facets of life as well. The only way out of your thoughts is through them. This is one of the benefits of meditation as well. Allowing your thoughts to flow through you underpins many of the methods of mindfulness. And it makes sense—have you ever tried to make yourself stop thinking of something? At...

Career

Tips on writing a resume in the US Tech sphere

14 December 201924 January 2023

In which I outline what I believe makes a good resume. Open for tips on making a good first (paper) impression.

Disclaimer: I am not a recruiter or a career coach, however I did: - attend multiple resume workshops while at the University of Southern California hosted by FAANG (and the like) companies - get multiple offers in the past two years from Uber, United Airlines, and Visa - get recruited by Amazon, Google, and various start-ups One page resumes only Tech positions often get hundreds of applicants. Hiring managers typically know what they're looking for, and as such won't take more than a couple minutes at most to read your resume. The way I've learned it: resumes should be one...

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