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I did following things that helped me grow, 1. My engineering ended in 2013. I was shit broke. I started doing online courses in 2016. Till now I have done 51

I did following things that helped me grow, 1. My engineering ended in 2013. I was shit broke. I started doing online courses in 2016. Till now I have done 51 online courses in different things and just a month ago I got moved into a DevOps role (from a WordPress developer role). $0 invested in it. 2. The other best thing is growing my LinkedIn network. I grew my network from 200 people to to 15000 people (most of which are founders and recruiters). I invest time in writing articles and sharing new opportunities via LinkedIn. 3. I started reading a lot of books (related to tech and business). 4. I started emailing, tweeting to people (and getting heard by people like Jimmy Wales, Elon Musk, Tim Draper, Craig Newmark, Charlie Cheever) etc. This helped me grow exponentially. 5. Planning ahead. I started visioning life 30 years ahead. What was what I wanted. If your goals are clear, it will be much easier to find the path. 6. Ask, ask, ask. I asked a lot of questions on StackExchange, Reddit -> r/webdev and Hacker News. Whatever I plan to do, I take feedback from these groups. I have also joined Slack channels of professionals from different groups where I talk and take feedback. From ideas to resume review and career guidance. 7. Anyone that could teach me, I made him/her my mentor and listened to them and acted on their advice. Everyone I work with (founders, coworkers etc) see the passion in me and tries to mentor me. The trick is to always be willing to listen to others and keep connecting dots.

thrower123 8y ago
Ye gods. I'm glad that is working for you, but that's a little beyond what most people can manage
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  Thanks!
minhazm423 8y ago
I have a ton of questions for you but I'll boil it down to several for now: 1) Which courses would you recommend? Which had the greatest impact? How would you do things differently? Would you forego engineering entirely? 2) Suppose one doesnt have friends from school or work, how does one build a linkedin following? What did you write about? How did you promote your articles? 3. Again, favorite books? Most impactful? 4. Maybe once you get back to me, we can talk about 4 this sounds super interesting! But maybe you can give me the jist of what you did? For example why did they bother replying to you when tons are reaching out to them everyday?
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  1. The courses on AI/Machine learning and blockchain (or anything that has do with 4th Industrial revolution) are great. Coursera is great for this. The greatest impact was the combined effort of being able to do multiple courses (in so many different things) and being able to better understand different programming languages, technologies and marketing (SEO, ads, content marketing, referral marketing, driving sales). Can't leave engineering. Engineering is the passion. I have a strong belief that all parts of business should be driven by engineers from development to sales and marketing. Yesterday I went to a meetup and I met sales people on the booths who had no idea on the product they were selling worked and how it could help others. 2.) If you don't have friends in school, go out to events, network. Talk to people, add them on LinkedIn. Found someone interesting online? Feel free to email them and get to know each other. Thats how I have built my network. Don't forget the nurture professional relationships. Your network is your networth. 3.) I have a 15000 people following, the articles that are of interest get viral. A few times I tried to post my articles on some FB groups. It did work out well but I don't do it anymore. Best is to just keep writing (you may post on Reddit, FB etc but be aware that you might get banned for self promotion). 3. 'The Lean Startup' and 'The defining decade' are the most impactful books. 4. You can see my Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifahaduddin/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifahaduddin/
  - daef 8y ago
    blockchain voting?
    - FahadUddin92 8y ago
      Yes. I am working on a blockchain based voting system too.
  - FahadUddin92 8y ago
    'The Startup of You' by Reid Hoffman is another great book.
    - 8y ago
malux85 8y ago
Hey, can you mail me (in my profile) would love to chat
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  Hey! Thanks. I have emailed you.
aavotins 8y ago
Would you mind sharing where you found leads on technology oriented Slack channels? I'm old school, used to hang out on IRC some 15 years ago, but went silent and passive after starting a family. However my boys have grown and I'm looking into getting back into general or topic oriented technology talks and banter, but have no idea where to start looking for like minded people.
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  I Googled slack channels list for things I am interested it. Like Front End, Startups, Laravel, WooCommerce etc. You would find 100s of channels. See the ones which have many members. They would have a online form to join them. Join the ones that are free. There would be some who would ask for a membership fee. I personally don't think paid ones are worth the money. https://medium.com/startup-frontier/100-slack-communities-for-a-startup-ceo-34264bf9001 https://medium.com/startup-frontier/100-slack-communities-fo...
- mooreds 8y ago
  If you are interested in a particular technology, googling for "slack for <technology>" usually works. If more interested on cross technical concerns (leadership, regional) I have found the best thing is word of mouth (I know several Colorado slacks, but found them through people I met at meetups). Though again you could try Google. I have also found that most non project oriented email lists I am on have a link to their slack in the email footer.
FahadUddin92 8y ago
One thing I learned along the way is to be very honest to yourself and know that "you don't know what you don't know." When I was at University I always felt like I know it all. But the more you explore you learn so much that you don't know.
djuralfc 8y ago
What are some of the business related books you found interesting?
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  Business Adventures, Crossing The Chasm, Hard Things About Hard Things, Only The Paranoid Survives are great books.
  - djuralfc 8y ago
    Thanks.
TheArcane 8y ago
> 15000 people I can't imagine the low SNR because of that enabling you to derive any use from it.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Sounds like one of the random LinkedIn requests I get on a pretty much daily basis that I just hit the "Ignore" button on. I guess there are people who accept them. Furthermore, if I do get a random LinkedIn connect request that's immediately followed by someone trying to sell me on something, that's a recipe for reporting spam.
  - FahadUddin92 8y ago
    Like I said, I don't randomly add people. I network with founders and recruiters. I never send them a private message until we have something to talk about and I don't do sales.

thrower123 8y ago

Ye gods. I'm glad that is working for you, but that's a little beyond what most people can manage

FahadUddin92 8y ago
Thanks!

minhazm423 8y ago

I have a ton of questions for you but I'll boil it down to several for now: 1) Which courses would you recommend? Which had the greatest impact? How would you do things differently? Would you forego engineering entirely? 2) Suppose one doesnt have friends from school or work, how does one build a linkedin following? What did you write about? How did you promote your articles? 3. Again, favorite books? Most impactful? 4. Maybe once you get back to me, we can talk about 4 this sounds super interesting! But maybe you can give me the jist of what you did? For example why did they bother replying to you when tons are reaching out to them everyday?

FahadUddin92 8y ago
1. The courses on AI/Machine learning and blockchain (or anything that has do with 4th Industrial revolution) are great. Coursera is great for this. The greatest impact was the combined effort of being able to do multiple courses (in so many different things) and being able to better understand different programming languages, technologies and marketing (SEO, ads, content marketing, referral marketing, driving sales). Can't leave engineering. Engineering is the passion. I have a strong belief that all parts of business should be driven by engineers from development to sales and marketing. Yesterday I went to a meetup and I met sales people on the booths who had no idea on the product they were selling worked and how it could help others. 2.) If you don't have friends in school, go out to events, network. Talk to people, add them on LinkedIn. Found someone interesting online? Feel free to email them and get to know each other. Thats how I have built my network. Don't forget the nurture professional relationships. Your network is your networth. 3.) I have a 15000 people following, the articles that are of interest get viral. A few times I tried to post my articles on some FB groups. It did work out well but I don't do it anymore. Best is to just keep writing (you may post on Reddit, FB etc but be aware that you might get banned for self promotion). 3. 'The Lean Startup' and 'The defining decade' are the most impactful books. 4. You can see my Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifahaduddin/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ifahaduddin/
- daef 8y ago
  blockchain voting?
  - FahadUddin92 8y ago
    Yes. I am working on a blockchain based voting system too.
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  'The Startup of You' by Reid Hoffman is another great book.
  - 8y ago

malux85 8y ago

Hey, can you mail me (in my profile) would love to chat

FahadUddin92 8y ago
Hey! Thanks. I have emailed you.

aavotins 8y ago

Would you mind sharing where you found leads on technology oriented Slack channels? I'm old school, used to hang out on IRC some 15 years ago, but went silent and passive after starting a family. However my boys have grown and I'm looking into getting back into general or topic oriented technology talks and banter, but have no idea where to start looking for like minded people.

FahadUddin92 8y ago
I Googled slack channels list for things I am interested it. Like Front End, Startups, Laravel, WooCommerce etc. You would find 100s of channels. See the ones which have many members. They would have a online form to join them. Join the ones that are free. There would be some who would ask for a membership fee. I personally don't think paid ones are worth the money. https://medium.com/startup-frontier/100-slack-communities-for-a-startup-ceo-34264bf9001 https://medium.com/startup-frontier/100-slack-communities-fo...
mooreds 8y ago
If you are interested in a particular technology, googling for "slack for <technology>" usually works. If more interested on cross technical concerns (leadership, regional) I have found the best thing is word of mouth (I know several Colorado slacks, but found them through people I met at meetups). Though again you could try Google. I have also found that most non project oriented email lists I am on have a link to their slack in the email footer.

FahadUddin92 8y ago

One thing I learned along the way is to be very honest to yourself and know that "you don't know what you don't know." When I was at University I always felt like I know it all. But the more you explore you learn so much that you don't know.

djuralfc 8y ago

What are some of the business related books you found interesting?

FahadUddin92 8y ago
Business Adventures, Crossing The Chasm, Hard Things About Hard Things, Only The Paranoid Survives are great books.
- djuralfc 8y ago
  Thanks.

TheArcane 8y ago

> 15000 people I can't imagine the low SNR because of that enabling you to derive any use from it.

ghaff 8y ago
Sounds like one of the random LinkedIn requests I get on a pretty much daily basis that I just hit the "Ignore" button on. I guess there are people who accept them. Furthermore, if I do get a random LinkedIn connect request that's immediately followed by someone trying to sell me on something, that's a recipe for reporting spam.
- FahadUddin92 8y ago
  Like I said, I don't randomly add people. I network with founders and recruiters. I never send them a private message until we have something to talk about and I don't do sales.