Beyond The Job Title | Underrepresented Career Stories

Mindaugas Petrutis
[00:00:00] Mindaugas: be open to opportunities. I think we are entering an age where saying I'm here and I want to work at Google and I'm just going to follow like I will just own, I will only do X, Y and Z things that are related for me to me getting there is becoming much harder. And I think allowing yourself to be open to other opportunities that may necessarily not make sense.
[00:00:30] Mindaugas: today will might lead you, okay, could be in a roundabout way to that ultimate goal or could lead you in some other direction that you haven't even, uh, contemplated or allowed yourself to contemplate before. Um, so that's how I would look at a career is like goals and everything like that, of course, are important works for some people doesn't work for me, but.
[00:00:53] Mindaugas: Just allow yourself, take that introduction that doesn't make sense, reach out to that person that doesn't make sense, like keep your [00:01:00] ears open to these signals and don't discount something because it doesn't directly give you value today or get you closer to that goal.
[00:01:11] Cesar: Hey friends, this is your host Cesar Romero. And you're listening to beyond the job title podcast, the show that explores the human experiences to shape our professional and personal lives.
[00:01:30] My guest for this episode is mean tigers. I was Petrus. He's the CEO of coho. A professional developing community. Tailored for leaders and professionals. Navigating modern careers in design engineering, data science, marketing, sales, and more. The way this episode came about was. Originally. It was supposed to be a 12 minute.
[00:01:58] Coffee chat with in [00:02:00] Dallas. But I realized that. You know, why not take the opportunity to turn it into a podcast episodes? Where we can share. A bit more about his journey and go beyond the job title. And I made the ask and that was. Being the generous connector that he is. He said let's do it. So that's how this came about.
[00:02:25] And in this episode, we type into his journey of becoming the CEO of coho. and of course, share. Valuable lessons and insights. On what it takes to thrive. During uncertainty and how to navigate. And CS. The different career opportunities out there. So, if you are someone that is currently navigating their own non-linear career path,
[00:02:49] This episode is for you. Thank you so much for joining and please don't forget to subscribe. So that you don't miss out on any future episodes. [00:03:00] Again, thanks so much for joining and here's my conversation with mint. I was.
[00:03:07] Cesar: Let's, let's start there then. Um, so I was talking to Douglas, uh, before recording and I told him, Hey, you know, this is an impromptu podcast recording, but essentially how this all came about was, uh, he had a post on LinkedIn about.
[00:03:19] Cesar: Opening up his calendar to connect with people that have been laid off and being someone who loves to connect. I took it on the opportunity. So this was supposed to be a 12 minute coffee chat, which I call serendipity chats. But then I suggested, Hey, you know, what do you think about making this a podcast recording?
[00:03:39] Cesar: And he was generous enough to say yes. So here we are. And I wanted to start off with asking you, right, because I'm part of on deck knuckle three. And, um, then, you know, no code went through a restructure and now they focus more on founders, but there's this other community called [00:04:00] Coho, um, which is what I'm part of.
[00:04:02] Cesar: Um, and I wanted to ask you, right, how did that come about? You know, what was the pivotal moment there? And, you know, what are some of the challenges and what's your vision with, with the community?
[00:04:11] Mindaugas: Yeah, I think, I mean, it came about because it did make sense, right? For, um, OnDeck to focus on one specific direction, right?
[00:04:20] Cesar: The career side and the founder side, they were two, two different, let's say. And so the opportunity came up to essentially spin out, uh, a bunch of these careers focused, uh, communities and fellowships into a separate company. Um, and so that's what we did. I mean, that's honestly very much underselling the whole, uh, process because it was, it was, uh, an incredibly massive undertaking in, in essentially splitting from one company.
[00:04:53] Cesar: Telling everybody what was happening, you know, reduce, as you can imagine, folks, these are paid fellowships. And so folks are joining, [00:05:00] they're voting with their money, they're expecting a certain return. And all of a sudden, they're kind of told, well, you're no longer part of this company. You're now part of this other obscure company that didn't even have a name until like.
[00:05:13] Cesar: I mean, this was announced August 4th and I don't think we had a name till like mid October.
[00:05:19] Cesar: I'm laughing because I was one of those people. I was like, wait, what, what's happening? What's Coho and where am I going? Yeah,
[00:05:25] Mindaugas: exactly. And so we, we really had to as a small team, right? Um, do a lot. I mean, and, and I, I reflect on this now, we could predict certain things like Confusion amongst the folks who were in the community already, or those who had recently, uh, applied, interviewed.
[00:05:48] Mindaugas: Some folks were the, you know, there was, I think, meant to be some cohorts kicking off in September for some of the fellowships folks that paid and were waiting to join. Right? And so we had this, like, sea [00:06:00] of people, uh, to quickly kind of figure out how do we address all of this? Right? Because again, we at the time still had limited information.
[00:06:09] Mindaugas: We were figuring things out on the fly. Um, we had to get our heads together and say, Okay. The folks that are already part of the community, especially if they're like, experienced their 1st year, what they paid for is still happening. They're going to be confused and probably anxious about what does that mean for the experience?
[00:06:31] Mindaugas: Right? And so we had to really quickly think, okay, how do we maintain the experience for these 6 fellowships that we're, we're continuing with. Uh, until the end of the year, uh, and then at the same time, then talk to as many people as possible, especially those who, who were upset or concerned about what was happening.
[00:06:55] Mindaugas: Um, and also then start building this new company [00:07:00] from scratch at the same time, because we had to build it from the ground up, um, of course there was certain things we could borrow from on deck and take with us certain processes, but this was also an opportunity. Uh, to maybe start fixing some of the things that we've been thinking about.
[00:07:18] Mindaugas: And so, um, yeah, it was, it was very chaotic and we all were working with very limited information. And this is what I, I, um, often kind of try to mention is that we all came, uh, to do this. Not because there was big salaries dangled in front of everybody, uh, and an actual job opportunities. In fact, it was like the opposite, because what I told the team when this was starting to become more of a reality, because I wanted to make sure the right team said yes to doing this.
[00:07:52] Mindaugas: Right. Otherwise, I didn't want to do it was, hey, like, this is a thing that's [00:08:00] probably going to happen. I don't know any more than I may be able to pay your salary. Are you in or are you out? And people said yes, because. Everybody there looked at this as continuing to build these communities, because our work wasn't done yet, versus I came to them and said, Hey, you're amazing.
[00:08:31] Mindaugas: Here's a bunch more money than you're making right now. Here's a like a promotion. Here are all these things. None of that. Was available, um, and I think that translates to the type of work that we do and how we do it. And then we took another kind of step in how we structured the company to to, um, essentially be a lot more aligned with the goals of community, um, where there's a.
[00:08:57] Mindaugas: Uh, a profit sharing scheme with the team,[00:09:00] uh, and anyone like our, some of our kind of investors, um, as well, but we decided to not raise, uh, kind of venture capital in order to not have the expectations or the pressures to grow before maybe there's an opportunity to do so, right? So we want to find, we want to allow ourselves to grow sustainably, just build good experiences.
[00:09:26] Mindaugas: Pay our bills, eat, play the long term, take the long term approach, and maybe there will be at some point that there's like a feature of what we do that becomes that thing that really grows. But in the meantime, our promise is that these are highly curated, small, intimate communities. And so we have to find, um...
[00:09:46] Mindaugas: A structure as a, as a business, like legally and as a team, how do we do that? Yeah.
[00:09:53] Cesar: And especially with what's happening right now, people need community more than ever, [00:10:00] right. With the layoffs, with, uh, loneliness that's, that's happening. Um, and I think the work that COHO is doing, you know, it's, it's super important, right.
[00:10:07] Cesar: So, so thanks so much for taking the leap and taking the jump. And, um, I'm, I'm curious, you know, what was your path to becoming a CEO? Uh, did you apply or did you say, Hey, uh, you look like you could be a great CEO here. Here you go.
[00:10:21] Mindaugas: No, no, I did not apply. Um, I, I did like the big CEO job, uh, a few, a few years ago where I started a company, but it was just me.
[00:10:28] Mindaugas: Right. So like, that's whatever. Right. So that's, that's very different to what I'm doing today or what, you know, a CEO really does. Um, I actually, I don't know if I shared this before, but the team definitely knows, but I actually, before Coho was even becoming a thing. I had made a decision maybe in like May, I'm going to say last year or a year ago that, you know what,[00:11:00] um, I've been building communities for a really long time.
[00:11:03] Mindaugas: I'm highly introverted and I used to feel, I felt like a little bit drained, even though I love like these kind of one to one conversations. Right. But when you work, and to be honest, most of my life, I've been working closely with people like hospitality for 10 years. Right. Then recruitment, sales.
[00:11:20] Mindaugas: Community, um, and I felt a little bit drained and I also felt that I had built up enough, uh, knowledge in how to build communities that maybe somebody could make pay me a bunch of money and I could do like a little consulting practice. So, I actually. In May last year, I started putting the work into creating that and I was, you know, I couldn't just quit my job and figure it out.
[00:11:47] Mindaugas: I had to find a way how to start consulting, get it to a point where I'm making similar enough money, right? And then quit. So I was like, by the end of 2022, [00:12:00] that was the goal. I picked up a great client actually very quickly in May, I think. Um, and, you know, I kind of made up a price really, and they said yes, because clearly they valued my insights.
[00:12:13] Mindaugas: And I was like, you know what, this could be a thing. Um, and a few weeks later, that whole plan fell apart because. That's when the spin out kind of conversation started happening. And then all of a sudden, I found myself in the role of CEO, so I did not apply. I was, I was actually planning to do the absolute opposite of what I'm doing right now.
[00:12:38] Mindaugas: Um, but I think I did not even think for a second, really, whether I should do this or not. Why not? Because... It was a very unique once in a lifetime opportunity, I think, to continue building something that you care [00:13:00] about that you were building elsewhere. And of course, um, this will, you know, this would be true at any company.
[00:13:05] Mindaugas: I did not hold all the decisions for the thing that I was building. Right. So there were two years where, and to be fair, you know, I was building the design fellowship. I always looked at it at a long term project. Right. So I immediately, when I joined and I started building it, I thought, you know what, like, okay, we're going to be doing four cohorts a year, a few hundred people a year, cool.
[00:13:30] Mindaugas: But it's like, but this could be really good. And I want one, I want to find a way how to build it for more people in this way. And two, yeah. As an employee, and I even told, I'm pretty sure I told on deck this at the time. I'm not going to be here in 5 years, but I want this thing to be around in 5 or 10 years and 20 years.
[00:13:53] Mindaugas: And so, in my head, I was always wrestling with that. You know, if I leave, it's all going to fall apart. [00:14:00] Right? And this is the way we were building the fellowships at the time, right? The program director was the one, the face had all the connections was running all of the things. And when they leave. It's very easy if you haven't built in those structures and intentionally for that community that thing to fall apart.
[00:14:19] Mindaugas: And so the spin out allowed for us to continue, uh, building that work on our own terms now have control of all the decisions shape, you know, uh, how, how they operate the longevity of those things, so on and so forth. So it was, yeah. As crazy and scary as it seemed, it was probably one of the easiest decisions I've ever made.
[00:14:46] Mindaugas: I love that.
[00:14:46] Cesar: Where does your mindset of long term come from? Because I've heard you say that a couple of times right now and, you know, most people think in short term, um, terms. So I'm just curious, you know, where does that mindset come from of doing things are, you know, [00:15:00] long term?
[00:15:01] Mindaugas: I think, um, it's just a really good question that I've never really thought about.
[00:15:06] Mindaugas: Um, but it's probably, it's, it's probably like, I've stopped and started and, and, and changed my career paths and lived in many different places. Um, always. showing up in these places with like, no connections, no money, no, no, nothing just like sheer stupidity and naivety. Um, and I think it's those kinds of things maybe taught me that.
[00:15:33] Mindaugas: You need to put in the work and often not expect if you do, if you take an action, not expect a reaction or like a reward for taking that action, right? I honestly would actually, I'm going to, now I'm going to be thinking about this after this conversation to find, is there like a moment? It's usually there is a moment.
[00:15:56] Mindaugas: Um, yeah, because I'd be curious to, to [00:16:00] figure that one out, but I think over years, it just somehow got etched into my brain that the short term, like, it just doesn't do anything. At least for me, I like thinking about everything long term. And also, I think over the years, I've realized that many little actions.
[00:16:20] Mindaugas: compound over time. Most of them go nowhere, but you still have to do them. Because if you don't, it's not probably not going to, like, you're going to be missing certain ingredients of the effect, the compounded effect that you may end up with, uh, at some point. Yeah. Um, maybe I've been, I've been told no.
[00:16:39] Mindaugas: Many times, uh, and I think you get, like, just used to, you learn how to take that and just move on immediately. Um, I don't know. That's a really good question. No one's asked me
[00:16:48] Cesar: that before. Two things. One, one of my things is I want to be remembered by the questions I ask. So I think I've... I've done that.
[00:16:59] Cesar: Yeah. And [00:17:00] second, you mentioned those, uh, what has been your most painful? No painful. Yeah. The one that was that, that crushed you. I was like, Oh man, I thought I had this, but it turned out to be a no.
[00:17:16] Mindaugas: Uh, I think there was one, I mean, and it's not really related in the sense that like, uh, I really wanted this thing, uh, or, but when I was, 20 or 19, maybe 19, I moved to, um, to Ireland and my English has always been very good, but I'm not from an English speaking country, I'm from a small Eastern European country.
[00:17:41] Mindaugas: And I remember I touched on this actually, um, we were filming some content last weekend in London. I did like a founder kind of interview. And I was talking about, um, how, you know, back in the day or where the kind of this comfort with hard work comes from. Um, when I landed there, I [00:18:00] remember, uh, there was no Google, right?
[00:18:01] Mindaugas: You weren't applying for jobs as such or whatever. I'm sure Google existed, but not in the form that we know it right now. Yeah. Um, and so to find a job, I literally printed out like 30 CVs. And I set myself a goal. I'm not going home until I've handed them all out. But the thing that is etched in my brain and I think that allowed me to take notes easier, or know that, you know what, maybe I should always put in a bit more effort than somebody else.
[00:18:34] Mindaugas: Was one of the, when I was walking around and handing out the CVs, I walked up to this, I think it was like an electrical appliances store or something. And I saw an ad on, on the, um, on the window, we're looking for a sales assistant. And I'd done a little bit of that experience I had. And I looked and I was like, Amazing.
[00:18:54] Mindaugas: I was like, literally tick all the boxes. Right. And I walked in and I asked for the [00:19:00] manager and I started talking to, to the manager and he's talking to me and I'm telling him, uh, you know, my experience and I could tell. I'm like, okay, this is going well. And then he said, do you have a CV? And I handed him my CV and he looked at it and he saw my name, which is not English.
[00:19:16] Mindaugas: And the mood just changed immediately. And he said, Oh no, um, we, we don't have, we're not hiring or, or, or we'll, you'll hear from us. We'll call you whatever. But I just, I sensed that mood change of mood. And then I was like, Hmm, that's not good. Uh, and so that is like a, no, it's an indirect no, right. But I think it, it kind of taught me something that day that, um, They'll be a lot lighter though, because I took that, I took that to heart and I used to like really, you know, uh, think about that all, all the time.
[00:19:47] Mindaugas: Um, so any other no's after that was kind of like, yeah, whatever, let's just move on. Like, there's no personal, this was personal. That's what it was. Yes. Right. This was personal. Uh, and I think that, that was a good kind of learning as [00:20:00] uncomfortable as it was. It kind of taught me, uh, how to deal with them further down the line.
[00:20:06] Mindaugas: If that, I don't know if that story makes sense. No, it
[00:20:09] Cesar: totally makes sense because I've, I've had that happen because of my name or because of my non conventional background. People judge you, people make assumptions about you and I've, you know, at first I took it personal. But then I switched it to, those are probably people or workplaces where I don't want to be part of anyways, right?
[00:20:34] Cesar: Exactly. If they're not going to embrace where I've been and what I can bring to the table, then you don't want to be there, right? Because you're going to be in an uphill battle trying to prove yourself.
[00:20:48] Mindaugas: Yeah. And yeah, it taught me actually, as you were saying, it taught me how to read people very well, which came in handy later when I worked in like hospitality and stuff.
[00:20:57] Mindaugas: And I could just very quickly [00:21:00] figure out who the customer is going to be, what they're going to be like, how to navigate the conversation and, you know, whatever. So. Yeah,
[00:21:10] Cesar: now there's, there is on your LinkedIn, you, you have a banner there and I want to read it because it's so powerful. Right. And I want to touch on that, um, for this episode.
[00:21:23] Cesar: Uh, and basically the banner says, you know, the future demands nonlinear careers, but most are left without. A roadmap, and what does that phrase mean to you personally?
[00:21:36] Mindaugas: Yeah, it came from, I mean, I've had a very nonlinear career path, right? Nothing really technically on my CV or whatever makes sense. Um, and I think what I, this, this came from, especially with all the advancements in AI and all that kind of stuff, right?
[00:21:56] Mindaugas: It's very different than kind of any kind of [00:22:00] previous crisis or tech advancements, right? Um, they all impact industries, jobs, people. This is something on a, I think, a scale we haven't seen before. Um, and I've been just, I'm very good at having a lot of conversations and picking up common themes and trends.
[00:22:24] Mindaugas: And what I think started becoming clear to me is that one, um, a lot of us, or at least the circle that I'm in, we live in a complete bubble, which is we are exposed to lots of different technologies and ideas. And everybody I know is tinkering with a side project. They may be doing like a very linear job on their day to day.
[00:22:55] Mindaugas: But the switch from doing X to doing Y, [00:23:00] the gap is a lot shorter for the bubble that we're in. But I think what I've started really thinking about a lot lately is that that's not true for most people, right? I've switched careers many times. It's not, there's no magic bullets, right? But I know how to do it.
[00:23:21] Mindaugas: Because I'm, you know, uh, always learning something new. I mean, I've been editing videos, um, uh, that we shot and I've never done a video editing course. Right. And I shared 1 of the videos with the team yesterday and. Somebody on the team was like, wait, you edited this? What skills don't you have? Right?
[00:23:40] Mindaugas: Swiss Army. Not saying, I'm not saying I'm amazing, but I'm always like deep and playing around with different things. And I can really learn concepts very quickly and pick up different skills. I've learned how to learn. I've been saying this. I've learned how to learn. That's my favorite skill that I haven't really thought about for a really long time until like a couple of years ago.[00:24:00]
[00:24:00] Mindaugas: But I think it's not true for most people and what kind of where that statement came from is, is really looking at outside of the bubble and seeing how many people potentially will be impacted by what's happening without another choice. And then I'm like, who's having the conversation about what happens there?
[00:24:22] Mindaugas: Because it's not going to be an industry and an X amount of people within that industry. It's going to be. Hundreds of millions of people. I don't know. Right. And that's where it kind of came from. And also just kind of hearing that the anxieties and, uh, some of the themes that I'm picking up, say, from our own community.
[00:24:45] Mindaugas: Um, so if if folks who are exposed to all these other opportunities are worried. Yeah, what what does that mean for everybody else?
[00:24:57] Cesar: No, it's scary. You know, even, even to me, it happened, right? [00:25:00] I got, uh, laid off from my latest startup. And then I was like, wait, what do I do now? Um, you know, it took me a while to kind of figure it out, but then I realized, Hey, you know, what is something that I enjoy doing?
[00:25:09] Cesar: I could do it without getting paid. Uh, podcasting came because I really loved it. The intimacy, the conversations, uh, building community, right? So you know what? I'm going to take a shot at this because I don't know what else to do besides like, kind of listening to myself and taking the hints of like, maybe you should try this because.
[00:25:29] Cesar: You know, um, you might discover, you might learn new skills, right? And you do right with, with podcasting, right? There's so many skills involved from the call outreach to, uh, the automation of booking the guests to producing the content, the post production. So I realized like, that's what I'm going to do.
[00:25:45] Cesar: Right. But for a lot of people, uh, I think they still don't understand that we live in a constant change. Right. Like things are changing faster now and that [00:26:00] no one's coming to save you. Right now it's like, you got to kind of figure things out, look for community. Right. But even, even when you have community, right, you still have that individual person that you, you kind of figure it out for yourself, right?
[00:26:15] Cesar: What, what it is that what's the next step, right? Like nobody else can tell you, right. You can be part of a community, get support, vent. Curse, but ultimately, right, like it's, it's up to you, um, which is why, you know, one of the interviews you posted on LinkedIn with, uh, David, uh, he used to be a workflow, man.
[00:26:36] Cesar: I think people should like put that on like replay and just listen to that.
[00:26:41] Mindaugas: I haven't replayed myself and I have the luxury of spending a lot of time with David.
[00:26:46] Cesar: Yeah, man. The advice he gave us, it's evergreen. Yes, you know, when it comes to careers, so I'm excited to why you guys have been with with coho and, you know, just to see where it goes and hopefully, right.
[00:26:59] Cesar: It [00:27:00] can become 10 times bigger and be a sustainable business venture as well. Yeah, yeah, no. Um, awesome. And that was so I know we're coming up because we have a hard stop. But we might have to do a follow up episode for this.
[00:27:08] Mindaugas: I have another few minutes. I mean, if you have more questions, I think I have another 12, 13 minutes
[00:27:08] Cesar: or so.
[00:27:08] Cesar: Yeah, well, I wanted to do a rapid fire closing for the episode where I'll ask you a question and you give me your top of mind 30 second answer. Ready? Sure. All right. Uh, first question. Um, one book that has green, uh, influence your life.
[00:27:24] Mindaugas: It's not a book, but I, as a kid, I was very like shy, awkward, quiet. Um, I didn't really have many friends. What I did, I spent a lot of, most of my time reading, and I became obsessed with, um, books about Native Americans as a kid. I consumed every book that was available, and I would read them, like, Ten times over and I would study study the way what I was really fascinated because I loved like going into the [00:28:00] woods into the forest.
[00:28:01] Mindaugas: Right. I lived in this green, beautiful country that's surrounded with lakes and forests and stuff. And I used to spend a lot of time and I used to like, really take the learnings how these tribes interacted with nature and their surroundings. I used to try and like replicate it as a kid. So I was fascinated with, with all of that.
[00:28:25] Mindaugas: Like, I remember when I was old enough and I had a dog and it looked like a wolf. It was, I think it was just half. uh, German Shepherd, half a wolf thing. Um, and he was like my best friend. And literally my favorite thing would be to just disappear into the forest with the dog for hours. Um, so it's not really a book, but it's...
[00:28:48] Mindaugas: All of those, uh, and really like learning and studying, um, I think, uh, probably shaped me in a very specific way, and I haven't thought about that since this moment, so I [00:29:00] don't know how it shaped me, but I know it did.
[00:29:02] Cesar: Perhaps that's where your sense of community and tribes and, you know, being more about the tribe comes from.
[00:29:09] Cesar: Maybe. Could be. I love that. That's a very unique answer. I don't think ever, anybody has ever answered something like that. Love it. Um, next question. One of the most worthwhile investments that you have made recently and an investment could be financial. It could be a physical thing. It could be a relationship.
[00:29:30] Mindaugas: Um, a, uh, a gym, um, and it's the here and I'm, I'm very sad because I'm, I'm moving in a few days, not by choice. Um, long story. I'm moving. Couldn't find the market here in Lisbon is very crazy and expensive. And so I'm moving kind of an hour outside of Lisbon for a couple of months and then see what happens.
[00:29:52] Mindaugas: That means I'm, I'm giving up my, um, my sanctuary. So the last few months have been very hectic. Um, [00:30:00] there's just not enough hours in the day and I knew that that's not sustainable, right? I've gone through these cycles before and now I can control where, like, I know, like, hey, I'm not going to have a work life balance or X amount.
[00:30:13] Mindaugas: Yeah, but I need to combat that in some way. So I invested in, um. This is really cool kind of, uh, wellness studio, let's say that has private, um, uh, training, PT, whatever. And so not cheap, but it was honestly a worthwhile investment for the last year because my mornings have been usually my kind of sanctuary, right?
[00:30:36] Mindaugas: Everybody else is asleep. Uh, yes, and so I would go and I'd spend a few hours there sometimes work from there, but, um, that's been probably the best investment.
[00:30:45] Cesar: Yeah, that's always a great investment, you know, grounding yourself, whether to a gym, meditation, and just getting ready to start the day, especially when it's hectic, right?
[00:30:56] Cesar: One last question and then we'll, we'll wrap it up. Um, one [00:31:00] habit or ritual that you have recently implemented, you know, that has, uh, significantly improved your output, you know, besides working out.
[00:31:12] Mindaugas: Uh, I, you know what I've tried, I have a very scattered brain, um, frameworks.
[00:31:25] Mindaugas: Note taking all those apps, like I've tried them all, nothing ever sticks for longer than five seconds. Um, and so I've tried, implement different things because right, my, my, um, my days are much different. Uh, my responsibilities are much different. Nothing has worked. Um, the one thing though, as I kind of mentioned earlier is, is maybe about a year ago or so, and now using it is learning how to learn quickly, uh, and about anything and understand concepts and try [00:32:00] things.
[00:32:00] Mindaugas: So, as an example, when the spin outs are happening, this was a legal negotiation. Yeah. First few meetings with the lawyers. Honestly, I had no idea what they were talking about. It's like as if they were talking another language. And that challenged me to very quickly start understanding, right? And within a few weeks, I could hold my own somewhat in these conversations.
[00:32:27] Mindaugas: Um, that's, you know, and then, you know, when chat GPT and all these kind of things came out, I started tinkering around with, with some things. Writing some code, like playing around with certain things. And quickly I could like stand up a project in say replit and then run it. And it works and I've never taken a coding lesson.
[00:32:46] Mindaugas: I never read an engineering. Book or let alone a paragraph. And so doing those kinds of things and just challenging yourself has been, I'd say, but realizing the power of it, [00:33:00] maybe a year or so ago and just feeling like, okay, let's, let's use it because it's incredibly powerful.
[00:33:06] Cesar: Yeah, it's definitely powerful.
[00:33:08] Cesar: Thanks so much. And it's so underrated to, um, awesome. Um, and last question here as a way to wrap up the episode, uh, what will be one of your takeaways, uh, for the audience when it comes to to their career?
[00:33:20] Mindaugas: Good question. I think,
[00:33:33] Mindaugas: I think, um, more now more than ever be open to opportunities. I think we are entering an age where saying I'm here and I want to work at Google and I'm just going to follow like I will just own, I will only do X, Y and Z things that are related for me to me getting there is [00:34:00] becoming much harder. And I think allowing yourself to be open to other opportunities that may necessarily not make sense.
[00:34:09] Mindaugas: today will might lead you, okay, could be in a roundabout way to that ultimate goal or could lead you in some other direction that you haven't even, uh, contemplated or allowed yourself to contemplate before. Um, so that's how I would look at a career is like goals and everything like that, of course, are important works for some people doesn't work for me, but.
[00:34:32] Mindaugas: Just allow yourself, take that introduction that doesn't make sense, reach out to that person that doesn't make sense, like keep your ears open to these signals and don't discount something because it doesn't directly give you value today or get you closer to that
[00:34:48] Mindaugas: goal.
[00:34:49] Cesar: That's such a powerful advice, especially because, you know, at times we don't see clearly.
[00:34:54] Cesar: Right. And that step might actually connect to your North star where you want to end up, but you don't [00:35:00] see it. Right. So it's, it's important to being open. Uh, but thanks for that. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for doing this impromptu podcast episode. I appreciate you. I love the cohort community and why you're building.
[00:35:11] Cesar: Um, and, uh, yeah, we'd love to have you on a future episode, but perhaps we expand on some of the topics here, but for now, thanks so much. I appreciate it.
[00:35:19] Mindaugas: No, thank you so much for, uh, inviting me.
[00:35:22] Cesar: all right. I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you so much for listening all the way through. I appreciate you. And I hope that you get some valuable information that you can apply to our personal and professional life. If this story resonated with you and you would like to support the podcast.
[00:35:46] Cesar: Please make sure to subscribe. So you don't miss out on any future episodes. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I appreciate you. And I look forward to serving you in the next episode.[00:36:00]