Tiny Thoughts: What You Control
Labor Market
The labor market is a market like any other. Demand for tech labor was very high during 2021, everyone was hiring and money for growth stage companies was cheap. Therefore total compensation packages were high.
Given the higher interest rates and uncertainty that created, companies froze or reduced their hiring plans for 2022-23. Some even laid people off. This decrease in demand and increase in supply of workers is likely putting some short term pressure on compensation.
This market functions just like the stock market does. There are temporary periods of euphoria and despair, but in the long term it’s likely demand for tech workers stays strong.
Now might not be the best time to look for a new job in tech, but people are still hiring. Spend time investing in your skills, building your network, and learning to think of your career as if you were the entrepreneur of a 1-person startup.
You can’t control the market but you can control how you spend your time.
Internal Success
Focus on the things you can control. Measure success and set goals for yourself that are fully within your power to influence. For example, if you are a salesperson, you can’t directly control how many customers will convert but you can control how many phone calls you make in a day.
Set process-oriented goals rather than outcome-oriented ones. This can help reduce stress. You can always hit your daily goal of making 50 cold calls but you can’t necessarily achieve the get 1 sale per day goal.