#259 How Side Hustles Can Help Your Career Amount

Notes:

“I did something that’s out of the norm, which is what I suggest a lot of people do.”

This is what our guest for today suggests new SEs looking for work do: start side hustles and include them in their resumes. It landed him his first SE job and it might help you land yours. In this episode, we dive deeper into Ryan Friess’ SE career and learn the art of leveraging side hustles to secure SE jobs.

Ryan Friess is an experienced sales engineer who has worked for information technology and services industry for years. Currently, he is a Senior Sales Engineer at ID.me.

Key Takeaways:

Ryan’s journey from being a computer engineering graduate to becoming a sales engineer
How Ryan landed his first job
What affiliate marketing is
The wisdom of including your side hustles in your resume
How Ryan learned what a sales engineer is
The difference between consulting and sales engineering
The disadvantages of consulting
What a channel SE is
Why technology resellers could be a better place to look for your initial SE role
The difference between a channel SE and a regular SE
Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE)
The importance of side hustles
Ryan’s different side hustles
How Ryan finds time for side hustles
How to answer the question, “Tell me about yourself.”
Why an SE should be a go-getter
How to pursue career growth
How to turn down a job offer effectively
How to use job offers to get raises at your jobs
How to overcome shyness
Why introverts make better SEs

Quotes:

“I did something that’s out of the norm, which is what I suggest a lot of people do.” — Ryan Friess

“I think our culture nowadays is when somebody asks you about yourself, you just list your job history, which doesn’t really tell them about anything about yourself. That’s not what’s going to make you stick out. What’s going to make you stick out is your personality, your Why? Why are you even working? Do you have a family you care about? Where? What do you like about where you live, your hobbies, your side hustles, your volunteer work? And it’s amazing when you share that stuff that ends up being the bulk of your conversation, especially the initial one with a hiring manager.” — Ryan Friess

“If you’re a go-getter in one aspect of your life, you probably will be a go-getter in multiple aspects.” — Ramzi Marjaba

“If somebody rejects you during any interview process, treat that very humbly, and learn from that experience. And you can even ask the hiring manager if they’re willing to share what was it about another candidate that you didn’t have.” — Ryan Friess

“If you ever decide to use an external offer to get a pay raise, be prepared to leave.” — Ryan Friess

“A lot of people that are naturally more extroverted, just keep on talking and talking and talking, whereas a more introverted leaning person takes the time to actually listen and hear more of what the other person is going to say.” — Ryan Friess

“The area you lack be aware of it and try to improve it.” — Ryan Friess