TECC 236: How to Level up in Your Engineering Career

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In this episode, I talk to Shawn Livermore, a bestselling author, software engineer, consultant, and tech startup founder. He wrote a book called Average Joe that has lit the world on fire and has given hope to people, explaining that anyone in the tech world can create and that anyone on the peripheral of tech can break through to the center where innovation, creativity, and opportunity meet. And in this episode, we have the privilege to talk to him and hear him share some of his greatest stories, tips, and advice that will certainly help you to level up in your engineering career.

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some Ways on How You Can Level up in Your Career:

• There is nothing magic in product creation like a tech genius, and a new product can take years to materialize.
• There have been many studies done over many decades to find ways to identify who is going to be a genius later in their lives. The conclusion has always been that there is no reputable moment that anyone has had any data to prove this.
• All of humanity seeks to worship something and this ties in with the great man theory. This means that some people have a feeling of empowerment of the genius gene and they seek the glory that they get from everyone for their accomplishments.
• “We forged the chains we wear in life.” ~ Charles Dickens. To be unbound by the chains of standardization, you need to look at the professional and personal situation that you are currently in and see if there are a series of plateaus that you can level up to in your future. You then need to find what is holding you back from continuing to level up and find a way to get over that obstacle.
• A slow create framework is a series of free pdf’s and videos, which allows anyone to plot out the various products you are creating, ideas you are iterating on, and problems you are solving, into a canvas. There are moments throughout the day where you drift off and daydream about many different things, these times are called mindless work by neuroscientists. When this happens, your mind turns off the executive control network, which is your decision-making network and turns on the default mode network, which is on whenever you are not specifically thinking about something. When your mind is in the default network, you will then begin to derive reflections to the canvas and begin solving the problems. This method allows people who never thought they were creative to be in a creative process all the time.
• It is one of the most tragic things when intelligent people, like engineers, get caught up in the data side of things and find it difficult to talk to people. A system called the sustainable mystic triad has been developed. This system helps people to become fluent in their ideation and creative cycles, and their craft of speech. This means that someone like an engineer can be turned into a performer and show them how to form words so that they make a difference when talking to people.
• Growth does not come from a magic moment or magic dust, it comes from procedural experimentation, gathering secrets, and using the secrets at the correct time. If you have a beautiful, perfect product with perfect product execution, then that is the magic that you are looking for.

More in This Episode…

In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Shawn talks about how you can level up in your career.

About Shawn Livermore

Shawn Livermore is the author of the Amazon best-selling business non-fiction book, Average Joe: Be the Silicon Valley Tech Genius. The book teaches anyone how to think, speak, and create like some of the brightest tech founders in the world. It dispels the myth of the tech genius, then, in a very satisfying twist, it reveals how to become the myth yourself. Shawn runs Product Perfect, a software consultancy, and lives in Southern California.

“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it. ” – Steve Maraboli

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

Resources and Links Mentioned in This Session Include:

Average Joe
Follow Shawn on Twitter @shawnypants
Product Perfect
Slow Create Framework

How can you level up in your engineering career?

We would love to hear any questions you might have or stories you might share on the things you do to you level up in your engineering career.

Please leave your comments, feedback, or questions in the section below.

To your success,

Jeff Perry, MBA
Host of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast