A student messaged me.

He felt stuck. He didn’t know which tech career to pursue, even after taking our quiz.

If you’re feeling the same, today’s article is for you.

I break down why generic career advice from Google doesn’t work.

Next week, I’ll share:

• What you should do instead

• Clear next steps after reading this article

A MESSAGE FROM THE GENERALIST'S THINKBOX

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Generic career advice from Google - and why it doesn’t work

1. Know yourself - prevents you from finding opportunities

Understanding your interests and passions is important, but can prevent you from pursuing opportunities you would end up loving.

Example: I’ve always been super artsy and creative. Numbers are NOT my thing.

Just look at these paper games I made as a kid - no numbers involved.

So I thought I’d hate data analysis…until I was forced to learn it for my marketing work.

The results?

I LOVED uncovering insights from data. I didn’t even mind cleaning data, because using Excel formulas (taught in EntryLevel’s Data course) saved me so much time.

Check it out here:

The takeaway?

You’ll miss out on opportunities you might love if you choose a career based on what you think is best suited for your strengths.

Don’t forget other factors when prioritizing careers to pursue. More on prioritizing career paths in next week's article!

2. Do an internship - makes you demotivated

It’s hard to find an internship without experience.

I’m sure you know the struggle.

It’s even harder if you don’t have any projects. You apply for hundreds of jobs, only to get ghosted.

There are more effective ways to get project experience.

Psst: if you missed my hot take about unpaid internships, check it out here: https://blog.entrylevel.net/p/hot-take-stop-offering-work-free

3. Find a mentor - feels intimidating

Yes, finding a mentor is important.

But it can be intimidating.

Like should you find a mentor in product management? Or product design? Or something else?

So many decisions to make - you end up just doing nothing.

There’s a better time and place to find mentors.

I’ll outline the steps for you in next week’s article - keep an eye on your inbox!