Nerd Journey: Career Advice for the Technology Professional
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Own Your Job Search: Be the Captain, Find a Harbor Pilot
Cruise ship captains rely on the expertise of a local harbor pilot to safely dock the ship at a port. What if we as the captains of our careers sought the expertise of a harbor pilot to help us navigate a potential employer and their processes? Not sure how to find one? This week in episode 317 we explore this analogy of the captain, the harbor pilot, and how the collaboration between them makes for a safe docking event. We’ll talk through what a harbor pilot might look like, how you can be a harbor pilot for others, and how you can find one for yourself. Original Recording Date: 02-20-2025 Topics – A Topic Idea from Taking a Cruise, Common Mistakes of the Captain, Understanding the Harbor Pilot, Finding a Harbor Pilot, Wrapping Up 1:01 – A Topic Idea from Taking a Cruise Today’s episode is just John and Nick. We’re taking a break this week from having guests and want to share a topic based on a personal experience Nick had recently. Nick and his wife like to take cruises, and on a recent cruise he attended a special panel discussion with the captain and other senior officers. After some discussion about the jobs and careers of the captain and his senior officers, someone asked a very interesting question, and the answer to it gave Nick the idea for this topic. Here’s the question: What is the role of the harbor pilot that boards the cruise ship before we dock in every point? The collaboration between the captain of the ship and the harbor pilot is what allows safe docking of the ship at a port. This concept gave Nick an idea of how this can apply to searching for jobs. The captain in this analogy is the job seeker. The harbor pilot is a person with expert knowledge of a company who can guide you (someone who knows where you’re headed). What is the split in responsibility of the captain and the harbor pilot? The captain knows everything about the ship / vessel and is in charge of all operations. They know the capabilities of the ship. The captain knows the ship’s planned course of sailing and the approach planned for docking at a specific port. There is an entire bridge team working to operate the ship, and all are accountable to the captain. The harbor pilot has expert knowledge of the port. They know the weather patterns. They have worked with many different ships and are there to help the captain dock the ship at a specific port. Regardless of what the harbor pilot says or brings to the equation, the captain makes the final decision on what will be done. Even though their collaboration is a partnership, the captain has to be the one to give the orders. A captain has to take in the guidance from the harbor pilot through the lens of what the ship can do. The captain may choose to follow the harbor pilot’s advice or go against it in some cases. John sees many implications here: Am emphasis on collaboration between the 2 roles The captain has ultimate responsibility for the outcome of the ship regardless of who they collaborate with. The captain has to own the decisions. “You’re the captain. You’re ultimately responsible…just like if we are job seekers or managing our own careers, we are ultimately responsible for the outcome of that career.” – John White 4:55 – Common Mistakes of the Captain What are some common mistakes that a captain (or job seeker) might make? John thinks of not taking responsibility or just handing over responsibility for docking the boat to the harbor pilot (i.e. becoming a passenger and just doing what you’re told rather than being the captain). What does that look like in greater detail in a job seeker? Nick says maybe it is going wherever the wind blows you or only considering opportunities that come to you. This could also mean you didn’t do any planning. The captain has to chart the course for the entire voyage including the selection of routes to take and the order in which the ship will visit ports. Have you researched the company to learn as much about the culture as possible? Are you prepared to answer technical or other kinds of questions? Have you thought about the questions you want to ask in an interview, and do you know how to ask questions that suit the way you like to work as discussed in Episode 314 – Make Goals Inevitable with ADHD: Stressors and Entrepreneurship with Skye Waterson (2/2)? “Here’s the part of the sea that I’m in. These are the potential ports, and I need to know if my ship is appropriate for that port. That’s some of the deep research, And then, once we decide as captains of our careers that we actually want to do some much, much deeper investigation of a specific port, of a specific career branch or an organization to go to…we need to actually navigate how to dock….” – John White Other examples would be blindly applying to a company without doing any research or relying too much on a recruiter to help you navigate the opportunity (i.e. being too passive and not following up when a recruiter doesn’t respond in a timely manner). At some point, the captain has to make a decision whether to take advice as it’s given by the harbor pilot or to adjust it / go against it because the captain knows the ship better than anyone just as you know yourself better than anyone. Maybe a harbor pilot is used to more container ships, and a lot of the advice you get is geared more toward other types of ships. You as the captain have to know your unique capabilities and take customized action based on the advice. Listen to Nick’s example of this scenario from a recent cruise. The captain knew the ship had a particular type of propeller that could be rotated to hold the ship close enough to the dock / pier so passengers could safely enter / exit after someone had parked a small boat in the path of the cruise ship. “As the captain…the outcome that you need is not just docking, but you need…a way to get your passengers on and off…. It’s not just landing at the company. It’s landing with the right role with the right team.” – John White Nick says an obstacle in your way at the pier may require a different approach like we discussed to dock safely, but in a different scenario it could also be a red flag indicating you (the job seeker) don’t visit the port at all. John gives the example of very non-standard job roles being a red flag at a company. The other end of the spectrum would be ignoring all the advice about the port (a company) or not seeking advice in the first place. This assumes you are the expert but have also ignored local knowledge and local context. How many times has the captain even visited that port compared to their overall time on the ship? Nick argues that we can’t be experts at the port where we’re trying to dock the ship. The harbor pilot helps ships dock at this port on a daily basis. John feels like he has made this mistake before. About once per half, if a recruiter reaches out, he has a conversation with them to understand a specific role and practice interviewing skills. John stresses the importance of our need to maintain interviewing skills. At times John has approached these conversations without the same level of preparation as when he is seriously interviewing (i.e. not even looking for a harbor pilot). Nick has made a similar mistake. Sometimes recruiters have reached out with an interesting role, and he was just too busy to dig deeper other than saying thank you. That’s kind of like disregarding the port as a possibility. 13:35 – Understanding the Harbor Pilot We said the harbor pilot has expertise on the port itself. What might the harbor pilot look like at any given company? This could be anyone who currently works at a company or who has worked there in the past. This person would understand how the company runs internally and details of what a role is truly like. Nick says connecting with a harbor pilot can help us set the right expectations when considering a job at a specific company. It sets expectations about docking the ship at this specific port and how you might do it safely. John says the person acting as a harbor pilot may understand internal priorities and how to navigate those. It could even be someone who has gone through the interview process at the specific company for a similar role, even if they don’t work for the company currently. People who have gone through the interview process at this company in the last 6-12 months will be more helpful than those who went through it 5 years ago, for example. John thinks the harbor pilot could be people at the company who interact with the specific role you’re targeting. If you’re looking for a role in sales engineering, maybe you seek out someone in professional services or technical account management. If you’re looking for a role as a cloud engineer, consider people in IT Operations, architecture, networking, or perhaps even cybersecurity. If the company provides goods and services, what about finding someone who is a customer of that organization? Ask the customer how their interactions have been with that company just in general. If the customer works with representatives of a company on a regular basis (i.e. like working with representatives of a technology reseller), it provides insight into the responsibilities of different roles at the company. Customers who are part of a formal advocacy group for a vendor’s technology solution may have even greater context to share on the roles and responsibilities of people at that vendor and the overall company culture of the vendor. Advocacy program members may also have good relationships with employees at the vendor and could be willing to connect you with someone to have a deeper discussion. Loving the technology being used at a company (regardless of the role you are seeking) is one sign it might be a nice place to dock your boat (but not the only sign, of course). Nick thinks we would turn to our immedia
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