I Wasted My First Two Years in Tech on the Wrong Things
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I Wasted My First Two Years in Tech on the Wrong Things
Adlet Balzhanov<br>Jan 12, 2026
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I would have been forever grateful if someone gave me this advice when I was just graduating.<br>The "Now What?" trap
Many engineers very early in their careers think they should become Engineering Managers at any cost. They take on any task or do any favor just to get this role. Meanwhile, along the way, they don’t even think about questions like: “What is a day in the life of an Engineering Manager like?”, “Am I okay with having eight different 30-minute meetings each day?”, “Do I prefer focusing more on technology or on people?”<br>Moving into an Engineering Manager role from an individual contributor position is not a promotion, believe me, it’s a career change. Whether you get it at 25, 30, or 35 years old doesn’t matter. You still have a career ahead of you until 60, let’s say.<br>Invest in Life Outside of Work
Fulfillment comes from relationships and community, not just career progression. I would apply the same effort to life progression (hobbies, friendships, romantic relationships etc) as professional roadmaps and goals. I would definitely summarize this by saying that getting along with someone at a younger age is much easier than later in life.<br>Ride the "Escalator" of High Growth
Prefer roles in fast growing companies where the “ladder” acts like an escalator. Even if you do the same work, the escalator will carry you upward and lead to promotions and salary increases. Because the company is growing, it needs to create new roles and promote people. You don’t need to climb the ladder by investing heavily in politics.<br>Don’t Be the Best, Be the Only
Many engineers focus too deeply on a single programming language/framework/technology memorizing documentation and following every tweet related to that specific skill. Yes, if you go deep enough, even down to the internals, you can become highly valuable in that area. However, I would always choose to be a unique combination of abilities. Say, 30% data structures, 40% invested in getting to know the people in your organization, 20% database internals, 10% writing skills, and so on.
In short, early career decisions don’t need to be rushed or optimized for titles alone. Treat your career as a long game: choose growth environments, build a life outside of work, and be intentional about what kind of work actually energizes you.<br>If you found this helpful, please like or share it with a friend and consider subscribing if you haven’t already .<br>Thanks for reading,<br>Adlet Balzhanov<br>📌 FREE to join: weekly newsletter, helping 3,000+ Big Tech engineers level up fast. Read by engineers from Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and more
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Discussion about this post<br>CommentsRestacks
Billsobey<br>Jan 12
Liked by Adlet Balzhanov
Great advice. Applicable to many career types, too.
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1 reply by Adlet Balzhanov
LB
Jan 12
Liked by Adlet Balzhanov
This has been my experience too, but I would add, don’t chase “new and shiny” things. Sometimes the most interesting work, problems, and people can be found in legacy systems or well established services.<br>- A happy IC
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1 reply by Adlet Balzhanov
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