Ask HN: What are books/hacks/actions for becoming an influencer at my workplace?

7 points·antonpuz··6 comments

All ideas are welcome, personal experience is preferred. Shoot.

Whatever specialized skills you excel at -- (1) hone them in at an A-list company. Then, (2) jump ship for a B-list company. It's important in (1) that you surround yourself with people with greater skill than you; these people will provide mentorship. In (2), You'll be the smartest person in the room. With less competition, it'll be easier for you to rise.

That sounds like an interesting idea, I assume the move from (1) to (2) involve decrease in salary/prestige and that's also something to consider.

Prestige, perhaps. Salary, you'd be surprised. There's many companies that are near-FANGs (but aren't literally FANGs) and will compete on total compensation. It should be noted that (2) can be done without sacrificing compensation.

"How to Win Friends & Influence People" still stands as one of the most prolific books on this topic for decades...

Also, my company has weekly Lunch-N-Learns, I give 1-2 a year on various topics related to writing, testing and deploying software just like I would at a meetup group.

Actually heard about it long time ago, and I definetely search for soft skills books. Will read for sure, thx.

What is your end goal?

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