How to Stand Out in the First 6 Months of a New Job – Part 1
Life as a Product Manager is good so far. Since joining in my new role and company, I’ve been spending a lot of time learning about the business, the market, the products, the users, the processes and really everything that comes with a new company and a new role. Already before starting out, I built a pretty hefty list of […]
How I changed my career or what it took to go from Tech Consultant to Product Manager in 6 months
In today’s post I wanted to share how I changed my career, and what it took to go from Tech Consultant to Product Manager in 6 months. As shared a few times, I’ve been navigating a career change for the most part of the year. I’ve spent the past 6 years working in tech; my roles were usually on the consulting and […]
Career change update – Thoughts on my journey
As you might have seen if you’ve been following me on Instagram, at the start of the year I embarked on a career change journey. After about 6 months of actively working on it, this summer, I finally landed a good opportunity and took the plunge. A couple of months in already, and I couldn’t be happier with the change. […]
Four tips to manage projects more effectively
Six plus years in managing high stakes projects have helped me learn a trick or two in how to manage projects, deliverables and timelines effectively. I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t like to run from deadline to deadline like a headless chicken. But truth is, been there, done that. Being in a client-facing role for over six years, […]
Four tips to help you work smart, not hard
In my last post, I wrote about the best career advice I wish I was given before entering the workforce. And part of it refers to working smart, not hard, as a way to getting ahead while still preserving your health and sanity. Today, I wanted to share with you four tips that enable you to follow just that, and […]
The career advice I wish I was given
I have always been an ambitious kid and this has led me to work hard in all areas of my life. School, work, fitness… you name it, I was always ready to put in the work. Growing up and throughout my studies, I always had to balance school – and later university – and work – many times with a […]
Thoughts on work and life balance
I haven’t been too active on the blog lately. This is the biggest “writing” break I took so far. While it wasn’t triggered by anything in particular, I was a little exhausted of doing a million things. Working, taking courses, writing on the blog, applying for jobs and interviewing… and it just felt right to put it all on pause […]
Three tools to help you find your strengths
Knowing your strengths and honing in on them, is a key driver of career growth. That is why I think it’s important to spend some time figuring out what they are and then continuously polishing them. In the very first years of working, I had a tough time recognizing my strengths; it just wasn’t easy to pinpoint them, despite being […]
How to play the office politics game at work
Getting ahead at work has something to do with your performance and a lot to do with your perceived performance. What I call perceived performance is nothing new but just the good old office politics. One thing that I learned – rather the hard way – is that office politics matter. I, personally, am not a fan at all and […]
How to handle mistakes at work in three steps
Work mistakes happen. No matter how good you are, sooner or later you will mess up. And that’s fine. It’s what happens afterwards that matters most, in my opinion. When I make a mistake, for me, personally it’s all about letting it sink in for a moment, coming up with a plan of action, and then moving on. These are […]
Three tips to coach and mentor junior employees
Over the past few years, I’ve been working with teams and also had the privilege of managing people. Even though it was fairly hard at the start and I made a lot of mistakes, I also learned a lot and found ways to teach, coach, and mentor my team members. I love coaching, mentoring, and sharing knowledge whenever I can. […]
Feedback is a gift, but self-awareness is the key to unlocking it – Tips to handle constructive feedback
My take on receiving and handling feedback is a little bit unorthodox. Similar to many people, I do think that feedback is a gift. However, I don’t think that everyone sharing feedback is Santa Claus. I don’t really think you should mindlessly take in every single piece of feedback without first deconstructing everything around it and understanding the different lenses […]
Build your reputation at work, and your reputation will work for you
The best piece of advice I could probably give to anyone is to make sure you build your reputation at work. A wise person once said “Work on your reputation, and your reputation will work for you.” – or something along the lines. And they could not be more right. Ever since I’ve started working full-time (6 years ago) I’ve […]
Career Pivot – Thoughts & Fears
Since I am sharing my journey through this career pivot pretty much in real-time, I figured I’d do it all the way. As mentioned in the latest Weekly Reads, last week I’ve hit a bit of an energetic low when it comes to pushing forward and definitely experienced more negative thoughts than positive ones running through my head as I […]
What I learnt in 2020
2020 was a different year for most of us. A static year. A painful year. A year of loss. A year far from loved ones. A year when plans had to be put on hold. However, 2020 was also a year of rediscoveries. A year of growing inward. A year of change. A year of resilience. A year of hope. […]