Critical Careers - Women Building Careers in Digital Infrastructure - Book - Page 65
“The skills you’ve developed
in other roles are often
more relevant than you
think, even if the industry
itself is new to you.”
You’ve moved across very different
industries. What gave you the con昀椀dence
to do that, and how did you make those
transitions work?
It wasn’t always about con昀椀dence. Sometimes it was just a case of
backing myself and seeing what would happen. When I moved into De
Beers, for example, I had no direct experience in the diamond industry.
I remember being challenged on that quite directly in the interview.
The question was essentially, why would we give you this job when you
haven’t done any of this before?
I had to focus on what I could bring rather than what I didn’t have. I
talked about the skills I had developed — coordination, organisation,
managing logistics, working under pressure — and how they applied
to the role. That was probably the 昀椀rst time I really had to articulate
transferable skills in a meaningful way.
What have you
learned about how to
navigate uncertainty
or not knowing?
One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that no one really has
everything 昀椀gured out, even at more senior levels. Early in my career,
I assumed that as you progressed, you reached a point where you
understood everything and had all the answers. But that’s not really how
it works.
What changes is your ability to operate without having all the answers.
You get more comfortable making decisions with incomplete information
and more comfortable asking questions rather than trying to present
yourself as knowing everything.
That’s something I noticed quite strongly when I joined CoreWeave.
It was a very open culture in terms of learning. People weren’t
pretending to know everything and were asking questions, looking
things up, 昀椀guring things out together. That was quite different to other
environments I’ve been in where there’s more of an expectation to
appear like the expert in the room.
I think once you realise that it’s okay not to know everything, it frees
you up quite a bit. You can focus on understanding the problem,
working with the right people and moving things forward, rather
than worrying about whether you’re supposed to have all the
answers already.
From that point on, it became something I relied on. Every time I’ve
moved roles or industries, I’ve approached it in the same way. I don’t
assume I need to know everything before I start. Instead, I focus on what
I know I’m good at and trust that I can build the rest as I go.
There have de昀椀nitely been moments where I’ve felt out of my depth,
especially when stepping into something completely new. But I’ve
learned that feeling doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t be there. It
usually just means you’re in a place where you’re going to learn quickly.
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