Should I focus on mission or environment?

Development
Engineering Manager
Full Stack
Working culture
Product-person fit
Hannah on cord

Hannah, Engineering Manager

over 6 months ago

Should I focus on mission or environment?

I tried that approach of, "I love art so I'm going to just go follow art wherever it'll take me." And it ended up not really taking me somewhere I really wanted to be, and so for me, I think the environment has such a huge influence on how you enjoy something or how you perceive something that I would say that that should be the same amount of importance or maybe a touch more important, because also, that then leads you to experiences that perhaps you weren't anticipating or discovering products or missions or business models that you wouldn't have found otherwise.

But there's a certain degree of, you have to be interested in the thing that you are working with, because that's often one of the things that unites you with your colleagues, I suppose, that shared mission or shared vision, so it was perhaps a little bit exaggerated to say, "forget the project", per se, but I think some people perhaps emphasize that too much, especially early on in their careers as the thing that they're trying to filter on, and I think perhaps maybe adding a few more filters and not making that your primary one is actually beneficial.