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Today's Tech Career Landscape: Alana Variano '08, Principal Product Manager, LinkedIn
92 Plays1 year ago
Join us for a wide ranging discussion on today's technology careers, how to gain the knowledge and skills employers are seeking, staying current in an ever-changing industry, and more. Alana Variano '08 is a Principal Product Manager of Consumer and Platform products at LinkedIn, and the newest member of the iSchool's board of directors.
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Transcript
Introduction to Infovercity and Host Lex
00:00:01
Speaker
a Hello and welcome to another episode of Infovercity, coming to you from the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. My name's Lex, I'm a sophomore studying Applied Data Analytics at the iSchool, and I'll be your host for today's episode.
Guest Introduction: Elena Variano's Background
00:00:16
Speaker
We're here today with Elena Variano. Elena graduated summa cum laude in 2008 from the iSchool, with a bachelor's in Information Management and Technology and a minor in Marketing from Whitman. Since graduating from the iSchool, she's held product management roles at Morgan Stanley, American Express, Bloomberg, and now at LinkedIn in New York City. She's been working in the content and platform space at LinkedIn for four and a half years, including generative AI projects.
Reflections on iSchool and Board of Advisors Role
00:00:41
Speaker
Elena has recently been named to the Board of Advisors at the iSchool, and that's what brings her here to campus today.
00:00:47
Speaker
Welcome. yeah I'm so excited to be here. It's so fun to be back on campus and exciting to be, you know, part of the board of advisors for the iSchool and just playing a role um to advise and, you know, give points of view for my experiences and even just seeing students on campus, interacting with them like this morning. I went to People's Place, which, as we mentioned, is you know still the same price as it was in 2008 when I graduated, which is really saying something. yeah And talking to the students there, they're interviewing for a job. And I'm like, oh, what are you interviewing for? How's that going? And just giving a couple tips. like I just told them, um
00:01:31
Speaker
you know When you're interviewing, one quick thing is like there's something called the STAR method and the R stands for like results. and It's the one thing that often as you're interviewing, you forget because it's like closing the loop. Well, what happened? What did you learn? What were the results? and so I was like, don't forget. Don't forget to close loop. and They were like, oh, that's great. Yes. It's just fun to be back and have that energy, and see that energy on campus. um So excited to be here. Yeah, and how does it feel being back in the high school like nostalgic about taking classes and all that? Oh, yeah I spend a lot of time in this building in the high school
Experiential Learning and Continuous Self-Optimization
00:02:11
Speaker
in my four years not just like taking classes But also, you know working I worked in undergraduate research. So I spent a lot of times in Heinz Hall um Getting to know like a lot of stuff faculty and the administrators and just the amazing team here at the iSchool and how they're here to really support students, not just in class, but also like to gain more experiences. And I think that was something that was really fundamental to my
00:02:38
Speaker
you know My success is not just academic here, but the academic, the social, and the experiential opportunities that you can get from Syracuse and the iSchool in particular. so you know When you're in class, you figure out things, you learn a lot, you see, oh, I like this or this is really interesting, I want to go deeper on that. But then when you have the opportunity to apply things you've learned, to work with a team, you know work on a specific problem, and you really start to realize where what you like and what you you want to do.
00:03:15
Speaker
yeah And then also what you might what you need to like learn a little bit more about and where to ask for help.
Adapting to Technology and Lifelong Learning
00:03:22
Speaker
And I think that those are critical skills they use like for the rest of your life, for sure. we're always optimizing ourselves. We're always trying to grow and be better and trying to make the most out of our time working with people, you know, and finding those pockets, um you know, of work and life that bring us joy, even though, you know, we're working. Yeah. Yeah. And are there any like skills or anything that you have learned in the iSchool and your courses that you took here that you use in your everyday life or at work and stuff like that?
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I think you know a lot of people reflect back on classes they took and they're like, oh, well, did I use like differential equations or did I use this and I actually. think about that all the time because there are so many things that I've learned at the iSchool that are applied to my life and my job like every day. And I think one example is um when I took computer programming here at the iSchool, we actually learned how to code by hand in writing. So the exams were on paper, not with a computer. And
00:04:30
Speaker
when you When you learn that way, you learn the syntax and you actually learn how you know how to code in your head and like how to explain things or how to structure things. And that really helps with like repeat boarding or conceptual picking. like You don't have to go walk away and have your computer and and think about the problem. And I think that that has helped me in a huge way. and I think that that really goes back to a lot of the things that you learned at the iSchool, which are about fundamentals. yeah and These fundamentals have different applications in like different kinds of hardware and software and all these things. and and The actual pieces change, the fundamentals rarely change. right You just need to build upon your fundamentals and then apply them to situations.
Essential Skills for Competitiveness in Tech
00:05:24
Speaker
That's where I think that
00:05:26
Speaker
What i learned here has really helped me to be successful and adapt in the ever changing landscape of technology and the world because things change so fast. and so yeah Yeah, are there any things that you use to like get ahead of those like quick changing things? like Any tips that you would have to getting ahead of the trends that are always changing? Yeah, I think you know there's a couple things that are really big. One is just like staying informed. you know I remember my roommate was um in the house, and they had to read like all the newspapers every day, and then they were quizzed on them. I'm not going to go to that level because that was a new house thing for sure, but there's a level now. Find the sources of news and information and research that you find really interesting. Say you're really interested in hardware, you're really interested in generative AI, or you're really interested in like visual design.
00:06:28
Speaker
you know or maybe multiple of these things hopefully multiple of them like find the hubs of information for those things and then make a commitment to yourself like that you're going to read those sources and stay up to date on them and then the more you stay informed the more you'll start to also create your own point of view on these things because you'll come from a place of like confidence and information and At that point, you'll say, wow, this is interesting or wow, this is really like strong signal that this or this is going in that direction. and like Wow, that's a clear indicator that there could be opportunity there, things like that. and so I think there's this like independent research side to your career that continues throughout your whole life.
00:07:23
Speaker
right because You have a lot of guidance from friends, professors, career services when you're here. And once you leave college, you need to make your own board of advisors, really. you It's self-driven, right? and so When you're in charge of everything, the most important thing is that you know what you want. Yeah. And you know what matters to you, right? Maybe it's you love to travel, or you love working with a big team, or you want to work with hardware and software, or maybe just hardware, or, you know, you want, you want different things. And those things can change over time. And so the more that you reflect on what matters to you and what you want out of your career, the better you can ask for advice from other people. Because people want to help you, but only if you have a point of view on what you
The Importance of Understanding AI Fundamentals
00:08:21
Speaker
want. yeah right so That would be my advice is to just kind of commit to researching and reflecting on like what is happening in the industry and your interest areas, but also like continue to reflect like, do i still am I still interested in this? but Oh, well, has it evolved to something else? yeah so
00:08:43
Speaker
So are there any skills that you think that current iSchool students should like learn or work on or skills that you wished you had like when you were an iSchool student? Oh great great question because i think that skills something that you can set a baseline on and that you continue to build and develop on the face of your life. So i think there's two categories to those skills. The first set of skills i think are like core fundamental baseline skills and then the second ones are i think are new perspectives on skills that are just what's happening in technology right now. So core fundamental skills, I would say
00:09:18
Speaker
working with other people. How are your collaboration skills, project management, and that really dives into communication, presentation. And those are skills to work on for the rest of your career. Yeah. But when you get to a certain point in your career, it's more about fine tuning them. Yeah. And I think about it like a Peloton bike. You know, when you're on it, it's like, 10 turns, 10 turns. And then as you get into the class, it's like one turn, half a turn, yeah right? Because it's tougher. So I think about skill and growth and fine tuning a lot. Like I think about tune turns on the Peloton bike, yeah where it's like one turn. It really might be like four or five turns, five turns this way. And then as you want, it will be like quarter of a turn this direction.
00:10:12
Speaker
and And that's, I figured that out just a couple of years ago. some feedback back And I was like, wait, how many turns of the dial is this feedback? And then yeah realizing that, yeah, can you set that baseline is just editing it over time, everything becomes like really reasonable and much easier. So think about those fundamental skills early on, like what are things that we need to maybe take a couple turns on the bulletin of icon right now. And College is the best time to do that because you have people really involved and invested in your success. You have professors, have a good support system. first yeah um Exactly. and it's like I remember being so nervous about public speaking and I took I state 444. It helps so much and also seeing how everyone else had big things to work out as well.
00:11:09
Speaker
that i thought to myself wow like we all have something really big to learn here but they're all a little different yeah you know we can help each other and that continues through the rest of your career as well so yeah fundamentals i'd say the first package of skills and then the second with all these changes that are happening especially we've seen in the last year year and a half with like generative ai and how things are changing understanding the fundamentals of AI yeah are critical and good critical. Like if if I was in field right now, I would really flex on that in a big way. And there's a lot of fundamentals of AI that will be applied as AI continues to progress. But now there's a lot about like,
00:11:56
Speaker
you know What's an LLM? How does that work? How do you develop a model? How do you train a model? How do you apply these fundamentals to a business situation or any other kind of problem area? and What are you going to do with that? so If I was back in college now, I would just go deep on those areas because it's exciting and it's very much the future.
Combining Tech with Other Interests for Opportunities
00:12:22
Speaker
um and Yeah, I think that that always would be big things. And with that, like diving more into generative AI, are there things that you think in the future are going to be big like after your AI, um the next like big thing that students should look into like studying or like leaning more into that field for anything? Yeah, so I think there's a lot that we don't know
00:12:47
Speaker
Yet of what what will happen because yeah, jenny i but I think there's a couple of things to call it there one is that You know, everybody's role everybody's daily life is gonna change in a big way how much? Depends on what you're doing depends on where you live depends on, you know your access to um You know these tools in a big way and how they're applied to your area um but it is clear that anyone who can adapt will succeed. Yeah. Right. And then the other thing that's really interesting like the CEO of Nvidia was talking about this at a conference, which is like become an expert like you if you are going to study technology, and you're going to be a technologist. also consider like diving into another area as well, like creating that balance, right? So then you can become an expert in something or have a strong interest in a secondary area, and then also in technology. So you can have that. So maybe that's an interest area in like marketing. or policy yeah or data or things like that. So then you can have this narrative about yourself and application. And I know so many of us have multiple interest areas. yeah And so so if you're if you want to study like life sciences, what if you're studying life sciences and AI?
00:14:08
Speaker
Whoa, think about what you could do in a lab. Think about what you could do in research, right? Same here. You could do like law and technology. I mean, come on, there's going to be a lot there. So I think that if I'm And I had a minor in marketing from Whitman when I went to SU. But I think if I started now, I would really be like, okay, technology and AI is the fundamental of everything going forward. So what do I want to supplement that with? Like, what's my secondary interest area? yeah Maybe it's finance. Maybe it's biology. Maybe it's chemistry. I don't know. But like, if you put two of those things together,
00:14:48
Speaker
Whoa, what's going to happen? Amazing things. and That was a lot of what um you know he was talking about at this conference, is that he said if he was going to go back to school now, he would study life sciences and obviously technology there because of how many discoveries
Integration of Generative AI in Workflows
00:15:05
Speaker
could be made. and I think that's a really exciting thing to say, yeah which is we're at the crux of a point where how many discoveries are going to happen because of access to this. so And like with these changes in AI and how like things are um kind of growing from there, do you see any changes with like what you're doing at your job now? like
00:15:26
Speaker
any progression or any transitions from what you're currently working on with this transition. So I write a lot about Gen AI as I'm learning it myself and in my newsletter, I called it the generative drive just because it's like who the drive to all that stuff. And i've I've been writing a lot about how I've seen some products be integrated with Gen AI and like, you know, over the past year, especially like I love Canva. For example, I was just, oh, Canva's incredible. And just, they started off with just like some basic genuine futures, yeah right? Like, help me write this. Or, and then it was like, oh, you you know, a basic prompt that creates an image. stuff for presentations and now they've just added a whole new slew of features that basically remove so much manual work like oh expand an image to fit this space yeah so you don't have to do all this weird copy pasting or like Photoshop work you know which takes a lot of time yeah this other
00:16:29
Speaker
add on. So really what I'm seeing is existing companies, but also net new companies saying, hey, there's this problem, or there's this time, like, there's this high effort area that maybe not everyone has the skill how to do, or you need to outsource that, that we can actually just take care of in this product. And I think what's so interesting about that is it's like, that helps everybody be so much more productive. yeah yeah So I think you see things and then like Microsoft's co-pilot, you see technology like this just integrated into core places of what you're already doing. So what I'm seeing is that and is that integration into existing products just trying to help you speed up your workflow, solve problems for you that are very clear. I think the other thing
00:17:26
Speaker
that I'm doing that I encourage people to do is like really just try like try one of the LLMs and just try to use it to solve problems that otherwise you might be Googling. Yeah, you know, just be like, okay, so maybe you want to make an itinerary for a trip or maybe you need some help formatting something, you know, or you want some help, like, what are a couple other headings I should consider for an outline? Just help me like structure something because it's actually very good at structure. um And then see how it can help you
00:18:09
Speaker
be better. Yeah, faster. So another thing that was really interesting, like somebody I love to read what they write often on LinkedIn, but off of LinkedIn is Ethan Molek, who's super interesting. um He's at um at UPenn, like a professor at UPenn. And he writes a lot about generative AI. And he he like posted this incredible, it was months ago, um about a research study that they did with a consulting firm. And they took look all these consultants.
00:18:42
Speaker
they gave them access to generative AI tools. and They wanted to see how it helped everybody be better at their job. and It was so interesting because it helped like the bottom set of performers level them up significantly. like and If you think about that, it's like, oh, what were they doing? you know Probably written communication, formatting, and it's just like, wow, if that can help you to be better. you know it's and I think just try testing that out. know and you But you still obviously need critical thinking skills as you guess. guess It's a supplement.
00:19:22
Speaker
right it just It's like phoning a friend, but maybe your friend's asleep.
AI's Impact on Jobs and Adaptation
00:19:29
Speaker
That one's just a really smart friend with the whole internet at their fingertips. Yeah, so with that, what are some like good implementations? You talked about um like the Canva implementation of AI, but what are some other ways you'd like to see AI implemented, whether that's like apps, um companies, or just like everyday use for AI? Yeah, I think that we're kind of in this interesting stage with AI where people are testing a lot of implementation, you know, and then a lot of the models are really good at ah at a number of things. um But that the real like automated
00:20:08
Speaker
step change I think is is yet to really happen. I think about a future where right now jo say I'm making some changes to where I live and like decorating and trying to find things that work in a space, right like a certain size, a certain price point, a certain color, and it takes an incredible amount of time. yeah Usually, for something like that, you would like hire a decorator or whatever, spend hours on Pinterest trying to find something. And I think about a future where I could put my um requirements and upload photos of the space, right? yeah I need to buy a new light fixture for my bedroom.
00:20:47
Speaker
because the one I have is like really quite awful. And it's like, what if I could say, okay, the room is this size, right? I'm looking for something like this color. um I don't want it to be too big. like I want it to be around this price point. I want it to be made well, you know like these kind of requirements. And then pictures of the room. Yeah, and it could give me a list of five, say 10 light fixtures with reviews, recommendations, and only to buy it. Yeah, like you think about a flow like that and how much time it would save you from just googling for hours. Yeah, so with that you think like some of like jobs like you said like designers interior designers creators stuff like that. Do you think that would
00:21:33
Speaker
they would implement those as well? Or do you think that would more be taking their job? As you said, like you would, in some cases like that, you would hire an interior designer, you would hire someone to help you with that task. But when you're using the AI to do that for you, do you think that would be something that they would work with or that would be a replacement of them? So I think like, When you really think about new technology, right? like I know Anderson Horowitz like wrote a big paper yeah about the future of AI and like
00:22:04
Speaker
looking back at all major technological step change advances and how when the telephone came out, it was like, what but about mail? What's going to happen to society? right and Then like the bicycle, the car, you know the light bulb, all of these things, it's like, well, what's going to happen? like Look at all the mobile phones. yeah right We've evolved and adapted for every one of these major step changes in technology that impact our lives and economic stages, and we'll adapt to. So I think back to the question of the interior decorator, think about how something like that could help them meet their clients' needs, save them a lot of time. you know It's like, oh, maybe they're having a hard time finding something that met a price point as well.
00:23:01
Speaker
the designer will still have a point of view yeah on the set of options. you know And it might help them find things that were even. hidden to them before, right? Like, oh, this isn't like a warehouse deep, you know, on the other side of the country, but it's perfect. And like, it could speed them up, make them better, you know, and then they would still end up maybe calling that person and saying, hey, can you send me a video of this, yeah you know, light fixture that's deep in your warehouse. So
00:23:35
Speaker
I think that whenever there's a new back to like what Anderson Horowitz had written about, there's always that initial reaction of like fear. yeah But I think any time you're in that point of view, like in that place, that goes back to this self-reflection of like yourself and what you want to do and what's important, and then just say, okay well yeah Am I going to adapt? Am I going to learn something now?
Elena's Career Journey and Balancing Life
00:23:59
Speaker
you know so I think it's an exciting time to be in any industry just thinking about like the powerful nature of what's to come.
00:24:09
Speaker
And so taking a step back from like the future of AI, how has like the changes that have happened in the past, like since you've graduated, those big technological changes, like you said, the mobile phone, um things like just changes throughout um just technology and society in general, how have those kind of shaped your career path so far? Yeah, that's a great question. So I graduated in 2008, you know, into the financial crisis. And things were tough then, you know, like, um, luckily, I got a job at General Electric, I was in like a rotational leadership program, and moved around the country learning a lot of new skills working for incredible people in like Atlanta, and I was in Albany, I was, you know, in Schenectady, New York, I was all over the place. um And
00:24:59
Speaker
so much has changed since then, but so much changed throughout that time. yeah you know And the biggest thing was staying current, having a point of view and then saying, what do I like? What do I want to do? So like I remember you know, 2010, 2011 when mobile, and I know that's probably really hard for a lot of people to consider about a time before you had an iPhone. But when I was in college, I had a Blackberry, and it, you know, it was slow. There were no apps. There was email, and that was great. You know, it makes me feel really old, but um like, I remember thinking to myself,
00:25:40
Speaker
Wow. like There's so much you can do on your phone. like Look at the app store. Look at the future. This is this is it. and I remember being like, I want to work on this. no question, what will it take? What will it take? And so I was like, okay, what experiences do I need to learn? What skills do I need to learn to stay current, but also to to work on this? Because it was so cool. It still is so cool. So I think that same point of view and way of looking at things is important even now with any step changes. Like, well, what skills are important? Okay, how do I get those skills? What should I learn? And I think it goes back to that, like,
00:26:22
Speaker
growth mindset yeah and like being interested in learning. Yeah. and so Looking at your like career path and how you've come from post-graduation all the way until now, is there any advice that you would give yourself, like whether that was um starting out in college or like right after graduation, anything that you would have wanted to know to help you in your career path and just to further you or prepare yourself for like what your journey was? Yeah, I think it's a great question. I think, you know, we all see our futures differently and have different goals and they change over time. And I think the biggest advice I'd give to people now is like, your career is a marathon. You know, yeah college has a definitive start and an end, but your career and jobs like continue, you know, and, and so,
00:27:18
Speaker
the mindsets that you set, the boundaries that you set, like how you see yourself and how you treat other people are constant ah constantly important, really. yeah And I think that like one CIO that I used to work for like many, many years ago told me, he said, Elena, your next job probably doesn't exist yet. yeah And i I reflect back on that like a lot, actually, because I think about that a lot of the roles I've had or like the role I had, you know, the job, the actual job task I had when I graduated college versus what I had like five years after that. Yeah. Like that job really didn't exist yet. Yeah. And like the growth of it. Yeah. Growth of it and like the kind of work and the technology. And when you think about it that way, like, Oh, your next role probably doesn't exist yet. You, you look at everything a lot different with the mindset wise learning. And so I think I would tell myself like, Hey, you know, there's going to be time for everything. Yeah. Like,
00:28:28
Speaker
Enjoy, go on that trip, you know, um, go visit someone like enjoying hobbies because in the end, like your, your career, again, there's a marathon and like, you're going to want to have that balance in your life, um, between things you love, whether it's like cooking or, you know, playing the guitar or whatever it is, and it actually being bounced in that way.
Setting Personal Priorities and Work-Life Balance
00:28:56
Speaker
makes you better in your career. It makes everything just more balanced. And I think like sometimes when you're in college, you're very focused on like, okay, graduating grades, getting the job, and that's so important too. But also it's like, okay, well, what makes me happy? What keeps me balanced? So I think that's an important thing to just
00:29:19
Speaker
I would tell myself that for sure. And I think that it's, I know it's very practical advice, but we all talked earlier about like, what to study here, at like when, and I think the other thing that I advice I would give to mostly to other students um is to not forget to spend time learning Like how to interact with other people how to communicate how to how to write in like a cold call kind of email yeah like but Networking fundamentals and these all take a lot of practice Um, but those skills are critical like in your whole life not just like in your job, but yeah like everywhere so
00:30:04
Speaker
even though those aren't like learning a language or how to code anything or how this works, they're just as important. Yeah. So more of like the funding fundamental like soft skills. Yes. Yeah. I think you have to look for a balance between your hard skills, your soft skills, and like sometimes you might be a little like, okay, this, but how do you continue to just advance both of you Were there any like major roadblocks that you had, whether that was with those moments or just in your journey as like your career has changed, any major things that really like had a stop in your career? Do you think that you really had like an issue recovering from it? Yeah, I think like
00:30:49
Speaker
There are moments, I think, in your in your life in general. And I think, especially when you take your job as a piece of your life, right but not your whole life, there are pieces of your life where you have to make some really hard decisions. yeah You have to decide what you want to prioritize. You have to decide where you want to prioritize your time. You want to want to prioritize your resources. you know And things like, am I going to move? Where do I want to live? right like ah Do I want to be close to family? Am I cool taking this job? like That's hours away from family. Am I going to move back? like All of these kind of things that you need to decide. and i Similar to like negotiating for a job, it's something that I like to do. Someone gave me this advice a long time ago. She said, Elena,
00:31:38
Speaker
take a blank piece of paper, put your phone away, turn off the TV, like walk away from everything, like sit on a park bench or something, and just write down what matters to you in multiple categories. These are the non-negotiables. These are things you're willing to negotiate on. right and Then these are things that like maybe are a little bit more, go through, read through it, and then like make a couple iterations and then like say, OK, it's locked. Yeah. And then as things go on, like reflect back on that and you're looking at it and you're like, huh, location was a non-negotiable. Yeah. Right.
00:32:21
Speaker
And you're just like, well, I wrote that down. Like, why did I write that down? That was really important to me. Like, it makes you, it reminds yourself of what you've said is the most important thing. And I think anytime you deal with like a challenge or even like, again, like a negotiation of any kind, because in the end, a challenge is in a way like a negotiation with yourself. Yeah. Right? You really have to reflect back on what are non-negotiables. And for a lot of people, you know it's family, location, happiness. you know For a lot of people, it's like, okay, this is my threshold for money. This is this. But everybody has a different set of those things. And I think that the most important thing is that you
00:33:04
Speaker
You really make that list and you're like, okay. like and yeah You have to be like reasonable about it, obviously. You have to be reasonable. You can't be like, oh, ah this amount of money and this location in it. You're like, but wait, I don't have any skills to make that happen. Well, maybe that's your long-term goal. yeah What does it take to get there? So you can have multiple revisions of like, okay, now versus in five years. yeah And then think about what you're going to do to get there. So that's one thing that I continue to try to always do. Sometimes it's really hard, yeah you know, because so much changes like like as you get older and when the world changes. But I think like what matters to you never should
00:33:48
Speaker
you know It might evolve a little bit, but writing it down is a good thing. It's funny because like I actually recently, it's funny, like we moved out of the house, the they sold the house I grew up in, I grew up in, back home in Ohio. and I found my old diary from when I was 15, which is like real fun. And there was a lot of stuff in there about my high school boyfriend or whatever. But then there was this list. It was this list of things that I was like, oh, these are things I wish for in my life. And one of the things was like, live in New York City, right? One of the things was like,
00:34:29
Speaker
like Have someone propose to me in a wonderful way, yeah right like in a romantic way. yeah you know Get married somewhere beautiful, have a dog. and I was like, wow. this is I'm so glad I have this because it reminded me, like I have a lot of those things. I recently got married and it was wonderful and he you know the proposal was beautiful. He surprised me with this ring that I was like, wow, that's my like dream ring and you know all of this. and i'm like I think back to that list and when I was so young back in Ohio,
00:35:12
Speaker
And um and the you just, it's a perspective thing, right? And so I would encourage anybody to write down those things and keep that somewhere really safe. And, you know, you don't have to share with anybody. It's like anybody thinks this it's your business. and What are those things that you like wish and then reflect back on it every couple of years and be wow like, what's happening? you know What do I want? like Look at those goals. yeah so i Honestly, ah I think I'm like, oh I'm going to go back home and and pull out that list and think about that list again.
00:35:48
Speaker
yeah so And so you mentioned like um how your work is such a big part of your life, but not like obviously not like the whole thing. And how do you have that good like separation between um like with your work? And obviously, since it's ah like always changing and you read an article online and that has to do with your work, how do you kind of keep that good separation? I think it's a it's a constant balance. you know i think that The biggest thing about work-life balance is knowing that it's it's constantly changing. It's not it's not a defined like logical equation. you know It's not, oh, on days 8, I'll sign off at X hour. It's about knowing what you want to prioritize and saying, hey, I'm prioritizing that.
00:36:43
Speaker
Just like today, you know on this trip being here in Syracuse with you and with the you know the board meeting yesterday, I prioritized that. yeah right And I said, I'm going to Syracuse for this. This is important to me. um This matters to me. um This makes me happy. like yeah I want to go back and I'm going to go back. yeah right So it's about finding those things that matter the most and saying, OK, I'm going to do that. and and that being you know assertive and confident with what matters to you. And I think that when you think about what matters to you, then you can say confidently, I'm going to do that, right? And for a lot of people, it's like, i'm you know I have date night with my spouse or my boyfriend or my girlfriend, and like this is important to me. I have to take a reservation, I'm not going to miss it. yeah I'll pick that up tonight or I'll pick it up tomorrow. yeah you know Things like that. And I think
00:37:39
Speaker
I think that that is a really important lesson to learn. And you may not 100% be able to do it all the time. But we think the more you know what matters and you prioritize it, like you'll be happy about that.
Future Engagements with iSchool and Podcast Reflections
00:37:53
Speaker
So I love what I do. A lot of times, it's easy to get caught up in it like yeah and like all the time on it. But actually, it's like, you might be better when you take a break too. I think that's a really important thing to consider. um
00:38:10
Speaker
But yeah, work-life balance is a tough thing. I always ask leaders, like how do you do it? you know oh A lot of them say, oh, I have help like yeah help. I prioritize certain things. yeah you know But it's don it's a difficult thing depending on the kind of role you have, I think. yeah And so was your like kind of balance, was it difficult for you to find that right after you graduated, like going into your first job? Because I feel like as a student, like when I look post-grad, I think of just you're so focused on your work because it's your first job. You know you you haven't had that like previous experience. So being so overwhelmed by that, not necessarily just overwhelmed, but being so like wrapped up in all your work that you kind of like. how do you How did you do that like right when you graduated? I think like I was lucky that I was in like a program with other race grants too. So we were all learning together. Yeah.
00:39:06
Speaker
and being like, we you know we'd work, then go to the gym, and then some of us would work at night or whatever. And I think having a community of people trying to figure it out with you, too, was and incredibly helpful and I'm really grateful for that. so my My advice in that specific situation is, you know especially if you need to move somewhere new or whatever is, find other people who are either in that situation as well or maybe just got out of it but like and spend some time with them. and Knowing that you're not adapting to a new situation on your own yeah is something that helps a lot. It doesn't feel
00:39:48
Speaker
you what When you feel like it's a shared experience, you're like, Oh, yeah okay. And then it's a real great way to build relationships and camaraderie and then just kind of get through it together. So yeah. Well, that was really great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Yeah. And it was really great having you here. So yeah, I'm happy to be here. It was a lot of fun. And um yeah, I'm really excited to like continue to stay in touch with the iSchool and hear from students and see all the amazing things to come and to see what's next in the podcast. Yeah.