Are you making the most of your career and your years of experience? Do you have a plan and a deliberate approach? After the break, I explore these questions and a real situation that may lead you to think about your experience with a fresh perspective.

A few years ago I was interviewing candidates for a senior software engineering position on my team. After a couple of weeks of interviewing two candidates stood out. The first had 10 years of experience using our preferred programming language, tools, the works. Their current team was practicing the same agile methodology we were. They had experience working on projects similar to ours and in the same industry. Furthermore, the first candidate had a great attitude, was easy to talk with, and the cultural fit was there too.

Sounds fantastic right? I should hire that person immediately!

Not so fast! The second candidate also had 10 years of experience. They were familiar with our preferred programming language but didn’t have years of hands-on experiencing using it. They understood agile methodologies but hadn’t been practicing them as deeply as the first candidate. And while they had a positive attitude, were also easy to talk with, and the culture fit was fine, they did not have experience in our specific industry.

Whom would you hire? If you had a hiring decision matrix with all the usual boxes - several of which I included above like specific job skills, culture fit, understanding of the industry - I think you’d agree the first candidate was the best hire.

Here’s where things get interesting. I hired the second candidate.

Why? It turned out the second candidate stood out in ways that weren’t immediately apparent. On paper, both candidates seemed amazing. But the second candidate had optimized their 10 years of experience with great effect. They had engaged in all the challenges their positions had offered over the years. They had invested in growth opportunities offered by their employers and they had the initiative to take online classes in their spare time. They’d spent time going to conferences and networking with other professionals. They were mentored early in their career and they were “giving back” by mentoring junior software engineers. They’d volunteered for extra work at their company, some of it that seemed meaningless but that had taught them valuable lessons personally and professionally. In the first 10 years of their career, they had made the most of every opportunity and capitalized on each experience. They had specific stories that described and demonstrated their growth. Some about failure and some about success. The first 3 years of their career looked dramatically different than the last 3 years of their career.

The first candidate? While they appeared to be the best candidate on paper they had not invested their time and energy like the second.

They had 1 year of experience repeated for 10 years.

If you’re honest with yourself, which candidate are you today? More importantly, which candidate do you want to be tomorrow and what will you do now to intentionally get there? You have a choice to make.