quick sidenote:

it’s been 16 days since i started the series. i honestly did not think it would mean so much to so many of you. (over 12,000 folks have come to the blog now)

the dms i've gotten are humbling. thank you. but it’s not the number that gets me. it’s the messages

some of them make me stop look up and just say thank you i dropped out of engineering spent 2 years without a job felt like a failure most of that time. so the fact that i get to help someone in that awkward, stuck, confused place feels like a privilege.

i’m sharing this here to tell you you’re not alone. whatever you’re feeling right now someone else is too.

now let’s get back to day 17

just a quick recap, we’ve covered

understanding the problem getting clear on a direction how to solve for positioning

we have entered the next arc. how to actually land the role. getting shortlisted. building proof of work that actually works. cold dms. interviews. culture fit. negotiation. the whole thing.

this arc will run for at least 14 days.

it will work no matter what function you're in. just do the small actions after every article. you'll look back in two weeks and be amazed at what you've built.

so where do we start?

we start with the single biggest point of failure. getting shortlisted. whether it’s at the cv stage, screening stage or the intro call with the hiring manager.

your cv & you are at fault

you're cv trying to sell a new future but the document only wants to talk about your past. your pitch does the same thing. you only pitch about your past.

for the next 5 mins i want you to forget what a cv and your pitch is supposed to do. before we solve anything we have to burn down the old idea.

what you think happens

hiring manager reads your experience. sees you've done similar work. recognizes your competence. calls you.

what actually happens they glance at company logos. make instant assumptions. project whether you'll handle their specific mess. decide in seven seconds.

they're not evaluating your past. they're betting on your future. and you're giving them the wrong data to make that bet.

there is a GAP

between evaluating your past vs betting on your future.

let’s understand the gaps.

the 4 gaps we need to solve.

1/ context translation

you built features for 100 million users at uber. impressive. but they're a series a startup with 50k users. can you build with different constraints? no product market fit. no data. no team. just speed and intuition.

at google, you optimized existing systems. here they need someone to build from zero. at zomato, you had a 20 person team. here you'll code yourself.

sure, you might be smart. but they're wondering if you can operate without the infrastructure you're used to.

this is context translation. this is not about “skillsets or projects” listed on your cv. this also happens vice versa i.e. going from a small startup to a large one.

different stages need different muscles.

2/ problem alignment