Your side project might just be your secret weapon at work.
๐๐๐ธ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐ - whether that's an open source project, a diversity initiative, a technical blog, or a community you're building.
Richa Gupta turned her side quest of teaching an AI course internally into a career catalyst when it made her visible enough to get a promotion even with a major org change!
๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐: "I'm working on [side project] that focuses on [relevant area]. I think this could benefit our team/company by [specific ways]. Would there be any way to get support - whether that's time, resources, or just visibility within the company?"
๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต:
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Building your expertise in relevant areas
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Raising the company's profile in the community
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Attracting talent who share similar interests
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Developing skills you bring back to work
Be clear about the value and what kind of support you need. Companies often sponsor conference talks, support open source projects, or give time for initiatives tied to their mission.
๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐พ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐ปโ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป - ๐ถ๐โ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ฟ.
๐ Liked this post? Follow me on LinkedIn or here on Substack for the remaining posts in this series and more!
โ Want to get even better at asking? I still have a limited number of seats left in the July 25 cohort of my course. Last cohort of this year! https://maven.com/chaitali-narla/outstanding-tech-career