One thing I wish I’d known earlier in my career in tech
If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: don’t try to figure everything out alone. Early in your career in tech, it is easy to feel like you have to solve every problem by yourself. I didn’t have a mentor when I started, and I learned many lessons the hard way, sometimes the expensive, stressful way.
School never really suited me. I often felt out of place and frustrated. Traditional learning didn’t stick, so I took a different path: three years as a computer graphics artist intern, learning animation and mastering ActionScript 2 and 3. It was unconventional, but it worked for me and taught skills I still use today.
After that, encouraged by my boss at the time, I opened my own agency. Youth and energy are important, but experience matters even more. I learned that not all investors have good intentions and that running a business on your own can be much harder than expected.
Later, I moved to a new country, started over with no network, and worked my way through agencies in London as a project manager. Building a career from scratch in tech without connections is challenging and often felt like an uphill battle. Along the way, I learned how much easier things can be with guidance.
What stands out now is how different that journey might have felt with someone to talk things through with. Someone who had already seen the patterns, who could help me sense-check decisions, or simply say, “this part is hard, and it’s not just you”.
This comes up a lot in mentoring conversations. Not because people want answers handed to them, but because they want context, perspective, and a place to think out loud without being judged. Especially early in a career, when you’re expected to make big choices with very little information.
I didn’t have that support when I needed it most. That experience shapes how I show up now, and why mentoring matters to me in a very practical way. Mentoring helps people navigate challenges and grow without carrying all the weight alone.
