career – Tony Tam

Heard on HBR podcast, the triangle of a job

It is often not possible to get all three 1. job satisfaction and meaning 2. money 3. lifestyle Most jobs can give you 2 out of 3. You may have to adopt a side hustle to fullfil the missing piece.

by Tony Tam

Experiment : Operating at 2 levels ahead

Last week a senior software engineer who has deep knowledge in a very specialized and high value skill (Machine Learning) for our company asked me for advice on getting more exposure and impact for her work. She was in a situation where her skills and opinions are sought after by senior leaders in engineering, product […]

by Tony Tam

Taking Ownership Of Your Career

I have been mentoring several engineers and a common theme has emerged. We often don’t spend enough time actively managing our own career. These are the positive steps you should ask yourself. 1) The things I am working on right now, are they important and will they help further my career? 2) If they are […]

by Tony Tam

Why Am I Still Working At Y! News After 8 Years? (2007)

I have been getting the same question recently. Wow, you have been around for 8 years at Yahoo News? What makes you stay? I think I’ll have to write it down to clear it up for myself. The grass is not always greener over at Google, Amazon, the next startup. Look yourself in the mirror […]

by Tony Tam

Since I’m a Yahoo! Employee… (from 2008)

1. there is so much potential upside to the stock and for the company. It’s still the #1 (2008) web property in the world and lots of new projects and direction changes only can mean good things in the future 2. there is so much to do, for someone who can take the initiative, he […]

by Tony Tam

Perspective On Work

I worked for SGI from 1993-1999 and was bleeding SGI blood. I was the cheerleader for the company and our group. I left SGI when the company just couldn’t deliver the financial results it promised. A friend from SGI mentioned to me that when I left SGI, I swore I would not be emotionally involved […]

by Tony Tam

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask The Question

Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want in life or at work, you will be surprised how many times the answer is YES or even maybe. Just prepare for the NO answer, and that is ok.

by Tony Tam

No, I Don’t Type The News Stories

It has happened to me so many times now I think I’ll just have to accept it and just go with the flow. Trying to explain what a software engineer does for Yahoo! News to people I meet or family members has been interesting. Here is a sample conversation with a friend I met. Friend: […]

by Tony Tam

Too Old At 34 For A Software Engineer

The photo is of my holding my Treo phone, my daughter Cate was taking a photo of me taking a photo of her. My dad was the person who pushed me into software engineering in college (I was drifting a bit with no goals) But after working for 5 years in SGI, my dad saw […]