The Role of Luck in Your Career
We can easily get demoralized in today’s tech job hunt. We can feel that luck is never on our side. If you feel that way, this perspective on luck might improve your worldview. The following framework from Swyx can help us put an optimistic spin on our current job searches.
Accidental Luck is completely random, like where a plant's seed happens to land. Privilege plays a large role.
Active Luck comes from constant motion and exploration. Taking action and trying new things increases your chances of finding opportunities.
Prepared Luck happens when you notice and capitalize on a chance occurrence that others would miss. Your unique background equips you to recognize and act on opportunities.
Magnetic Luck draws chances to you based on who you are. Your passions make you a leader that opportunities are attracted to.
While we can’t control accidental luck. We can impact active, prepared and magnetic luck.
If you are feeling a bit exhausted and overwhelmed by your current job search, consider the following bits of advice derived from the Luck framework.
Try new things. This could be networking, a special project, creating a video or writing an article that takes you outside your comfort zone. Call it a catalyst for active luck.
Capitalize on opportunities at work or through your network. Volunteer to take on a new project. Prepared Luck.
Double down on what you are passionate about and you might be in the right place at the right time. Magnetic luck.
Give it a try this week. Take a small step towards putting yourself in a position to be lucky.
Special thanks to Kyle Westaway for the inspiration.
