It’s Thanksgiving, and it’s a time to count our blessings. I am very thankful for the people who have given me opportunities, those who have said ‘yes’ to me; but at the same time I am very grateful to those who have said ‘no’ to me, too, because they have changed my life in ways that I never expected.

Thank you to my parents, who said no to me when I wanted to enter a Chinese high school when I was 12. Because they refused, I went to a school where English was more heavily used and which allowed me to improve my command of the language. At the same time, I was able to navigate the then nascent World-Wide-Web much better with better English, becoming a digital native before that term was even coined.

Thank you to the scholarship organizations who rejected my applications and squashed my dreams of studying in the UK when I was 18. I wanted the prestige and glamour of a UK education, but instead I received 4 wonderful years of education at Nanyang Technological University, where I learned about the drive, ambition and resourcefulness of young people from Asia. I also became an exchange student in Europe, traveling through old German towns and dog-sledding across a frozen lake in Norway – an adventure that I did not even dream of when I started university.

(Dog-sledding in Tromso, Norway in 2011 towards the end of my exchange semester)

Thank you to the over 20 banks and over 10 non-bank companies who rejected my job applications when I was graduating from university. Joining a bank was the conventional route for an Economics graduate, and most of my class and thousands more applied for Management Associate or Graduate Trainee roles in banks and the big-name companies. I went through dozens of interviews but none went through. But it was because of this that I stumbled into market research and analytics, giving me the basic training that I need for my role as a data analyst in LinkedIn.

Thank you to the pharmaceutical companies who said no to me when I tried to go the ‘client side’ route after a stint on the ‘agency’ side. While I have always been interested in the tech industry, I wasn’t confident enough or bold enough to actually make the leap, so applying to ‘client side’ was a safer road. But I was rejected multiple times, and eventually LinkedIn said ‘yes’ to me.

Looking back, I have received countless rejections over my life so far, and certainly many of them were at major turning points that have a big impact on the path my life would take. But every single major rejection I faced had forced me to think beyond the safe, conventional options, and they have broadened my horizons in ways I never expected. My imagination and aspirations are never as good as what life can throw at me, it seems.

So thank you to all those who have said ‘no’ to me in the past; it was because of them that I can eventually say ‘yes’ to the things that turn out to be much better than I could imagine. If you have recently faced a big rejection, take heart and have faith that there is something better down the line.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When you want to learn a new skill, do you think of looking up a course and hoping that it will teach you? Does ‘learning on the job’ sound like a cop-out to you, like companies just want to save cost?

Last week, I wrote a post about how my skill set became outdated in a year. Some of my friends have asked me how to learn something new while holding down a full-time job. This is something that I still struggle with to this day, but along the way I have learned some hard-won lessons, and I want to share them with you.

These are by no means universal rules that apply to every situation, but they are what I’ve discovered over the years as I picked up Excel, SQL and Tableau, and will continue to guide me as I learn Python, Presto and Hive/Pig for my job as a data analyst in LinkedIn.

Learning on the job, I’ve discovered, is very different from learning in an academic setting. And having been skilled at academic learning and taking exams, I struggled to adapt when I first started working. I used to request for company sponsorship of course fees, and resent the mantra about ‘learning on the job’, because I thought it is a cop-out by employers who did not want to invest the money to train their employees. Now I realised that it is much more nuanced than that, and that learning on the job can be very efficient and satisfying.

So how do you learn fast on the job?

1. Understand your own learning style – but adapt to your lifestyle too!

Every one of us have our own learning style, and what this means is that we don’t learn the same way. What works best for someone may not work for you no matter how hard you try. My learning style is visual and read/write; this means that I like drawing out concepts and flow charts, and I love reading. The traditional academic model of lecture slides and reading lists work fantastically for me.

But now that I work as an analyst and I work with code, charts and emails the whole day, it is very hard to summon the will to do extra reading online or practice code in the evenings after work. Learning the same way I did in university was challenging and unsustainable, and so was practicing code in the evenings.

What works for me is to work around my lifestyle – I watch course videos in the evenings because the input is more auditory, and it was easier to stick to it because it doesn’t tax the same muscles as my day job does. And if the coding language is not something I am using at work, I reserve the practice to a couple of hours on the weekend to space out the coding from work and learning.

Leverage the style you learn best in, but work around your lifestyle to make it sustainable.

2. Build your own learning ‘stack’ – yes, you need a stack

The ‘tech stack’ is a common jargon in the tech industry; it basically refers to the building blocks that one uses to build a product or provide a certain function. For example, a very popular stack for web development is the ‘LAMP stack‘, which refers to Linux operating system, the Apache HTTP Server, the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and the PHP programming language.

You need a ‘stack’ too when learning on the job. I used to look for the best (and free/cheap) course online and sign up, hoping to become proficient by completing the course. But simply completing courses and assignments without actual long-term application doesn’t work very well. I took some courses in R, but because I didn’t have many reasons to use it, it never really stuck.

What worked for me was a stack of resources that covers the foundational concepts, gives me the chance to practice, allows me to poke beyond the ‘curriculum’ and ask questions about how it affects my work downstream. For example, my current stack for learning Python includes:

• LinkedIn Learning courses on Python – for on-demand conceptual explanations, exploring other techniques without committing to a full course
• Datacamp – to practice code and get instant feedback on what is wrong
• A project or use-case at work that uses Python – a sufficiently complex project that lets me go beyond the basics
• Internal Python wikis and knowledge base – for practical tips like how to plug into the internal database, a list of use-cases in other areas, and more
• Colleagues who work with Python – a god-send who answer random questions and also stimulate new ideas
• Stackoverflow or just Google – for random questions when I get stuck

You see that only the first two items are what people typically think of when they think about learning new skills. They are necessary but not sufficient. If you want to learn fast, you need a stack to help you absorb, apply and push your limits.

3. Copy, prod and poke before you build

The value of reverse-engineering is underrated. Very often, courses will urge you to write your own code and build something. That is necessary and fun, but again, if you want to learn fast it is much easier to do so by getting your hands on a complex end-product and reverse-engineer it.

When I had to rebuild an internal Tableau dashboard, I learned a lot quickly by just poking under the hood of the existing dashboard and dragging things around to see what are affected. It gave me answers to questions I didn’t know to ask. Likewise, when I first saw the full script that powers the LinkedIn Recruiter Index (LRI), I was blown away by what scalable code looks like. I learned more from reading through the LRI code than months of SQL practice.

Even if you don’t have examples at work, you will surely find some online. Explore Github, Tableau public galleries, blogs, or just google for examples. Then poke under the hood.

4. Find a community of mentors and fellow learners

I mentioned ‘colleagues’ as part of my learning stack, and they are an essential component. Being able to talk to people who are experienced helps provide more than answers; the tangents and side-tracks in the conversations can give you new ideas and ways of thinking. I am lucky that I work with a bunch of very talented folks in LinkedIn, and I benefit by just hanging out with them.

Sometimes they are mentors, but often they are also fellow learners on the same journey. Having fellow learners help speed up learning too – when you try to explain things to each other, it forces you to crystallise your thinking and articulate them, and this makes the learning stick better.

If you don’t have such a community at work, find one outside. It could be LinkedIn Groups, Meetups.com, or just the forums at the courses you sign up at. Sites like Stackoverflow has good communities too, though part of the benefit I derive from a community is the ideas from spontaneous interactions, and these are easier to cultivate on a face-to-face setting.

5. Expect to feel stupid, frustrated and uncomfortable

Most people emphasise the cool new things that you will learn because they want to encourage you. That is all well and good. However, if you start your journey expecting only to learn cool new things, then at some point you will crash, and you will crash hard.

Learning new things involve, by definition, doing things we have never done before. This can make us feel pretty stupid. When we were students this was easier to accept because people didn’t expect us to know much. But once we become working adults, and particularly as we become more experienced and good at what we do, suddenly becoming a beginner again, suddenly feeling stupid, can be hard to swallow.

This often makes the learning journey an emotional roller coaster, like this:

You start with an eagerness to learn, and you feel great when you begin to master the basics (which are by definition easy). But when you move beyond the basics, inevitably you struggle to understand new material or to apply them. You will likely become frustrated and may feel uncomfortable or stupid, as if you are a failure for not getting it.

You need to manage your expectations and your emotions, or you may end up giving up. By expecting this up front, you can change your self-talk from, “This is too hard. I have no talent in this, I’m never getting it.”

To something more sensible: “Oh, I feel stupid now because I don’t know how to do this. But this means I am about to really learn something new. This is normal. I can do this.”

I don’t think people talk about this emotional journey enough, but it is crucial if you are learning something completely new. Manage your own expectations and take care of your emotions.

Learning on the job is different from learning in school

Most of us unconsciously associate learning new things with a classroom-like setting, and we think in terms of courses, assignments or getting certified. If you need certification for a promotion or job switch, then by all means yes, focus on learning strategies that help you ace a course and get you certified.

However, often you need to pick up something quickly to do your job better, and you need to do it while holding down a full-time job. What I shared above are what I learned from my struggles to adapt from a good student in school to a fast learner on the job:

• Know your learning style but adapt your plan to suit your lifestyle
• Build your own learning stack to help you absorb, apply and push boundaries fast
• Copy, prod & poke before you build via reverse-engineering
• Find your own community of mentors and fellow learners
• Manage your expectations – expect to feel stupid, frustrated and uncomfortable

What was your experience with learning on the job? I’m very curious to learn what other strategies are out there! Feel free to share in the comments section!

I joined LinkedIn in October 2016, and have recently passed the one-year mark. Looking back, it was amazing how much things have changed. I expected a fast pace of change when I joined the tech industry, but even so, I was surprised at how ‘fast’ fast can get.

Half my team have changed roles, with more headcount added beyond that. Multiple projects were started, iterated on, abandoned, or pivoted into something else. Countless new product features or updates have been released and the assorted pre- and post-sales narratives changed and iterated upon. My business line itself has launched into a new narrative.

Most importantly, the skill set I joined LinkedIn with had become hopelessly outdated.

I spent my first couple of weeks in LinkedIn furiously trying to pick up SQL. But soon after I found myself picking up Tableau and rebuilding an automated internal dashboard for our sales teams, learning not just about building a dashboard but also about how to scale up data processing and analysis.

Recently, Presto was introduced and it is expected to become the mainstay for my team moving forward. With the coming enforcement of a new EU data protection regulation, GDPR, I find myself needing to learn some Pig/Hive to plug some of the back-end compliance requirements. These aside, I have recently picked up Python for a project, learning how to code as I went along.

I can hardly believe that just a year ago, the only data processing/ analysis I did professionally was with Excel (I learned a bit of R but never got to use it in my job). Perhaps it was just my timing that coincided with internal upgrades and external regulatory changes. But I have a feeling that such rapid changes is more of the norm rather than the exception.

Technical skills aside, I find myself challenged as well in terms of mindset and thinking.

Scale is a highly valued attribute in the company and my team; one of the first piece of constructive feedback I received from my manager was that I wasn’t thinking big enough. I want you to think bigger, to think bolder, he said.

To think that before I joined LinkedIn, I used to be told that I was too ambitious, that I bite off more than I can chew. And yet here I was, being told that I wasn’t ambitious enough. That was a rather surreal day that made me realise how differently things work in a tech company.

I won’t lie and say that I am not intimidated. I am intimidated – by the sheer speed and scale of how fast things change, and by the endless list of things I need to learn to keep up.

But I am also thrilled. Thrilled that I am learning so many new things in such a short period of time; that I am challenged to deploy new tools and techniques to drive the biggest possible impact on the business; that the organization is flat and open enough that innovation is not confined to HQ but rather demanded of in all parts of the world, and if your idea works, it will go global. It was hard to imagine driving global impact from Asia in many other companies, but here I was given that opportunity.

It also helps tremendously that as an organization, there are plenty of resources to learn new things – we have full access to LinkedIn Learning, which has a rich library of courses on a wide variety of subjects; there are internal wikis, mailing lists, office hours, learning sessions over VCs, weekly tips, etc. Sitting next to very talented folks also help a whole lot.

Looking back, it has been quite a year. There were many moments of self-doubt, incredulity, and frustration, but just as many moments of pride, sense of accomplishment and pleasure at learning something new. The wonderful people I work with are worth another post by itself, but suffice to say that they make coming to work every day fun and inviting.

In the end, I am happy that my skill set became outdated, and that I acquired another new set of skills in the same year. I wonder what things will look like, a year from now?

“You need to come closer,” Miyue said, beckoning her first love, whom she had not seen in years. They are all so much older now. “I can’t see you clearly.”

Zixie hesitated, keeping his face neutral. “You can see me clearly even in your sleep.”

Miyue smiled uncertainly. “I don’t think I can even see myself clearly these days.”

That was one of the many moments in the Legend of Miyue show that laid bare life’s many truths; growing up changes you. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes you’re caught off guard by the person you’ve become.

I’ve finally finished watching all 81 episodes, and like all good stories, it leaves you breathless, changed, and looking at the world in a new light. I can go on and on about the brilliant characterisation, the beautiful sets, the intricate plot and many other things to try to convince you that it is a good show that is worth your time. But I’ve done enough of that, and it’s time to look back on the journey the show has brought me on.

(Spoiler alert!)

On Boldness

For once, ‘epic’ is not an exaggeration. The story began before Miyue was born, and it ended with the legacy she’s left behind – a much stronger Qin state that was the foundation for the first emperor of China to unite all states decades later.

Miyue’s defining character trait was her insistence to take life into her own hands; no matter what society says about people born into her station, or about what women should or should not do, she worked to live the way she wanted to, and did it without compromising her integrity and values. I admire her sense of agency, but what was more inspiring was how this made her a brilliant political tactician – her moves were unexpected and bold because she was not constrained by the need to conform.

“You are indeed smarter than me, but you cannot best me,” Miyue told Chulizi, the most senior and respected official in court, “because I can stake my life on a bet, and I can endure suffering.

“Even if I was born into a royal household, I was always bullied and grew up with nothing. I do not conform, and I do not hold bias. I can bet everything on one move, and I can forgive and forget with one smile. These, you cannot do.”

Her boldness came from her experience with failure and destitute, from knowing what could and could not be lost – material things could be lost and regained, intangible things like discipline, values and self-respect could never be lost. It reminded me of JK Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech, where she talked about how ‘rock bottom became the solid foundation’ on which she rebuilt her life:

“Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. … The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive.”

It’s one of the ironies in life that you are more well-positioned to win when you start by losing, because it makes you unafraid. I am very cautious by nature, and I am afraid of many things. But fear holds you back – and I am tired of it. Miyue’s boldness and courage inspire me, and I want to be more like her.

On Ambition

Another irony in Miyue’s life is that her only wish was to have a happy family, and yet she ended up achieving things that the most ambitious men of her era could only dream of. While married to the King of Qin, she became inspired by a greater purpose – a quest to unite the people across the warring states and to bring about peace. To that end, she sacrificed many easy ways out, many chances to have the simple family life that she longed for.

At one point in the story, she had to choose between her first love, who had stayed single for her all these while and had promised her a home in her motherland; and going back into danger to risk everything to fix a broken nation-state, to help fulfill the dream of uniting the land.

I knew what she would choose, of course. But it doesn’t make the choice less relatable – it feels like a choice that many of us have to make at some point in life, and for women in particular. A career is perhaps not quite comparable to a larger than life purpose such as uniting the land, but I can’t help drawing the parallel. Having achievements and a body of work to call your own outside of family is important to me, and even more so is the chance to become part of something bigger.

It is a very personal choice, but I cheered when she made the choice to go back to serve a larger purpose. If I ever need to make that choice, I wish only to have her courage.

On Family

Family is a complex concept in this show about royal families. So many of those ties are in name only, and so many of the bonds were between people who had no blood relations. But it was very clearly Miyue’s priority, and it was both her greatest strength and her greatest weakness. Her kindness and caring forged very strong bonds that saved her life time and again, but it also led to choices that undo her hard work and broke her heart.

Her family also often wanted different things – her brilliant mind often led her to choices that others could not understand or accept, and she often had to persuade them in different ways, or tried to marshal loyalty. She did it compassionately and without being manipulative, and it was enlightening and educational to watch.

Life is often about compromise, but it doesn’t always have to be. Like her favorite refrain,

“If you don’t try, how would you know?”

If

I haven’t been this inspired by a story in a while. It has been a brilliant ride – and one day I will build a story like this.

In the mean time, Miyue reminded me of a poem from my school days – ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. She may be a woman, but she has certainly embodied the spirit of this poem – and I can only work harder to do the same:

If you can keep your head when all about you

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!