In 2018, a manager took a chance on me and it completely changed my career trajectory.

There was this manager, Nick. Anybody who knows Nick, likes Nick.

He was running an impactful Big Data projects at ExxonMobil. My role was much less strategically important, and I wasn't all that fulfilled doing internal web-dev support engineering.

I connected with Nick at some internal networking events. I can't recall exactly the first time we met.

Nick was looking for someone to proactively take on a relatively unknown space within ExxonMobil: Building out API's to interface with Big Data systems.

Over the course of several months, we collaborated on moving me into that role. Patience was hard. My role at the time was starting to weigh down on me.

Finally the day came and it was formally announced that I would be moving into Nick's team to help build the API's associated with this Big Data project.

My API skills were shallow, but I had demonstrated a hunger for growth and a technical aptitude that could climb the learning curve.

Nick took a chance on me.

Moving into an API software engineering role was eye opening. I worked harder and longer hours compared to my previous roles at ExxonMobil.

That career opportunity completely shifted my career trajectory!

I gained experience in scaled API engineering, cross-functional collaboration across multiple organizations, hands-on system design problems, technical roadmap creation and management, overwhelming on-call experiences, and building / managing a team of engineers.

It was the refiners-fire of my early career.

But here's the real lesson with that experience:

Give others a chance. It could change their lives. I want to find ways to "pass it on" by giving others a chance. So many people have so much to offer, they are just looking for that opportunity to show it.

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