What are some things to consider when taking a new challenge.

1. Ruxandra Burticā
Computer Scientist, Adobe România
What’s your next
challenge?

2. Learn what options are out there

3. Why?
Different professions have different dynamics
Inaccurate picture of what job implies
Some professions did not exist 5 years ago

4. What I tried
Marketing, 2D/3D drawing
Computer Networking
Data Warehousing
Programming

5. Practical advice
Ask colleagues what they do, visit them,
volunteer
Apply to jobs :)
Keep trying new things
Be aware of sunk costs

6. Don’t give up in your pursuit

7. How?
Break it up in smaller pieces
Take a challenge every day, reiterate
Measure your progress*
Give yourself time, nobody gets it right from
day one

8. Machine Learning
Started taking Coursera classes 5 years ago,
but didn’t do anything practical

9. Practical advice
Start side projects, go to hackathons
Take online classes, AND do a project applying
what you’ve learned
Got stuck? Ask for help

10. Team

11. Team != Group
Well-defined purpose
Great teams ship
Trust

12. A-players
Cognitive diversity
• constructive debates
• disagreement
Team != Group

13. Practical advice
Arrange to meet part of the team before joining
Seek out discomfort
Don’t stay in a lousy team, it’s not worth it

14. Startup vs. Corporate

15. Choices…
Breadth vs. Depth
Freedom vs. unification, coherence, repurpose
Short-term vs. Long-term
Size of the team, communication

16. My experience
~2 years in Corporate
~7 years in startups / small companies
In a corporate, it matters what you work on

17. Enjoy!

18. Books?
• Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely
• Start with why, Simon Sinek
• The lean startup, Eric Ries
• The hard thing about hard things, Ben Horowitz
• Zero to one, Peter Thiel
• Extreme ownership, Jocko Willink, Leif Babin

19. Go build something!

20. Thank you!
Ruxandra Burticā
ruxandra.burtica@gmail.com