Let’s just say I’ve done my fair share of soul-searching. Within the walls of my apartment, just thinking about the direction of my life. To be frank, there were times where I wanted to give up and go work retail, but even that presents some challenges. When I received no responses from the companies that I applied to, or when friends would ask how I was doing with the job search, I knew there had to be a better way to level up. How could I make searching for a dream role less painful and more fun? After joining OnDeck, I now understand what it takes to navigate a career pivot to the crypto and fintech industry in this changing world of a hybrid work style. And if you’re in a similar position as me today, know that you are not alone. Finding the right career path in the tech and startup industry is like dating. You have prospective companies, some may be too good to be true, you’ll know when to spot the red flags. It’s advisable to write your goals down to keep a strategy. OnDeck is a “choose your own adventure” type of career program where you dig deeper into who you are, getting confident with your skills, knowing your worth. Never settling for just anything.
My experience these past few weeks has been a complete mind shift. I have gotten acclimated into the OnDeck community with all the tools and resources available. It’s like tapping into a networking friend group on Slack. Everyone is your best work friend. You don’t know these people from a can of paint but they have your best interest in getting to the bag. Until recently, I’d become a robot in corporate America. I use to get excited by free snacks, now I need to know your team’s work styles, your growth rate, and remote is a must. The future of work is autonomy.
Pro-Tip: Be Loud & Proud about your accomplishments.
The first week at OnDeck, I spent a lot of time finding out my personal and professional moat. I learned how my skills can guide me in the fintech and crypto space. There was a zoom session where Erik Torenburg, the founder of OnDeck, lectured my cohort on how to position our skills as one-of-a-kind. He only had five slides to present and laughed at all his jokes. Do you know that saying, often duplicated, never replicated? That’s basically what a personal career moat is. You can leverage it to get to the crux of what you’re looking for in a job. What’s easy for you but hard for others to do? What’s your competitive moat? What do you have that your competition does not have?
When I wrote my achievements down on paper to make my moat more tangible. During the interactive portion of the Zoom call where we get actionable feedback, I shared my thoughts on brainstorming my career moat. Erik’s suggested that I could be a “burrell”. Which is a highly sought-after quality and employee trait in the start-up space defined by American business entrepreneur Kieth Rabois. This opportunity to connect with the OnDeck founder during a group session presented a moment of vulnerability. However, the whole point of OnDeck is to get real with yourself among a network of people who are striving for the same career opportunities. To build with amazing people, to belong, and to have access to equity in a rocketship company.
All About Ownership
When Beyonce and Jay-Z talk about ownership in their work and art, this is it. The first part of finding your dream job is shaping your narrative in a meaningful way. You have to do the work. You have to channel your inner voice and get into an early-stage employee mindset if you want to join a company in a Series A or B stage. Imagine being a part of Google when there were only 20 employees. The people who were on that founding team are now millionaires and have gone on to start and be a part of exhilarating projects.
So far, the tech fellowship has me very “whelmed” and there are no time commitments because everything is recorded. The upside of showing up live to events is that you get your questions answered by experts. Another thing I enjoy is that OnDeck sends out weekly 10-minute educational videos which you can watch in small chunks or one sitting. It’s perfect for people who want to learn but don’t want to give up their phone for an hour or more at a time.
Since enrolling in the OnDeck career program to level up and increase my economic wealth, I’ve already made so many connections. At first, I was hesitant in joining because I thought it was going to be another out-of-touch workshop. One where every speaker goes on and on about themselves with no space to get feedback on pressing career problems.
They said finding your dream job is like dating and it couldn’t be more true. So much rejection, lots of leads and the first chat is always nerve-racking. You anxiously await a second interview, and walking away from abusive workplaces can be comparable to exiting a toxic relationship. You just have to roll with it.
Violet Summer is a business advisor to MEFEATER magazine and is currently an OnDeck Fellow. When she’s not writing business reports and partnership briefs, she is selling NFTs and building cool products in the web 3.0 space. Follow her on Twitter @melwritesmiami
Use her referral link for 50% off the program. https://beondeck.com/r/Melissa%20Henderson
For more updates follow MEFeater on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
