How Learning New Skills are Enormously Pivotal to Your Growth
17 May, 2021
null null
null at Red Hat
Problem
Starting my career as a developer in the IT field to becoming a Principal Product Manager, I think it’s safe to say that learning, growing and sharing my knowledge are what keeps you going. Being a manager has also made me a mentor. In that regard, I find many mentees to be in a common dilemma: what does it take to be successful in the IT sector? The constant transformation of the IT industry has put many into a problematic situation, and each option looks equally bad.
Actions taken
Based on my experience as a developer, I always keep telling myself how it is important to keep adding and learning new skills. Even though things were ridiculous around me, I always tried to find something interesting and pursued in that direction. All it took for me was to investigate what I needed to have to go in that way.
It is very important to identify the skills and experiences that I bring to the table. The best way to do this is through education and experience. When I speak of experience, it can come from some voluntary activities or even from the role I am in now. The ultimate goal is to grow and keep growing.
What's worth mentioning are the unique benefits of one-on-one meetings and training. It is not an organizational requirement, but one-on-one meetings are something that I believe we should exercise. This enables anyone to open up and provide an ideal environment to exchange feedback.
Personally, my signature move is to socialize. Whether it is career events, lunch & learn, or exchanging post-work pleasantries, I never shied away from my interest to grow in my career. Sharing my willingness to grow and understand different areas of the spectrum helped me, and I believe it will help others.
Lessons learned
- Push yourself to your boundaries to realize what you are capable of. This helps to develop strengths and helps to feel empowered than ever before.
- Feedbacks might be a bit overwhelming, but in the longer run, it is helpful for learning. It is no surprise that good feedback helps to boost one’s self-esteem.
- It is important to have a mentor who confirms the powerful positive effect of professional situations. Besides, they help to reduce risks and mistakes at the end of the day.
Discover Plato
Scale your coaching effort for your engineering and product teams
Develop yourself to become a stronger engineering / product leader
Related stories
8 May
Weiyuan Liu describes his experience moving up from an individual contributor, tech lead, and engineering manager.

Weiyuan Liu
Director of Engineering at Zillearn
4 May
Brad Jayakody outlines the roadmap to maintaining a healthy balance between technical debt and team growth. However, just as balancing acts go it is important to have a strong foundation.

Brad Jayakody
Director of Engineering at Motorway
13 April
Anuj Vatsa, Engineering Manager at Carta, describes his journey of becoming an Engineering Manager and shares some tips for easing into this new role.

Anuj Vatsa
Engineering Manager at Carta
4 April
Hendra Wong, Engineering Manager at Inflection, shares the best practices for successful career growth and finding opportunities.

Hendra Wong
Engineering Manager at Checkr
16 March
Omar Mekky, Sr. Director of Engineering at Swvl, shares how he tackled the challenges of being a manager of managers and addressed them to help his managers lead and scale their teams.

Omar Mekky
Sr. Director of Engineering at Swvl
You're a great engineer.
Become a great engineering leader.
Plato (platohq.com) is the world's biggest mentorship platform for engineering managers & product managers. We've curated a community of mentors who are the tech industry's best engineering & product leaders from companies like Facebook, Lyft, Slack, Airbnb, Gusto, and more.
