Years ago, a hiring manager at a global consulting firm offered me a role before I had finished my Master's degree.
I was an international student in Germany, still wrestling with the language, holding a CV with more gaps than proof. On paper there were safer hires.
They chose me anyway.
You can probably name your own version of that moment.
A teacher who pushed you forward. A manager who handed you the project you were not ready for. A stranger who replied when you had nothing to show but hunger.
We love to tell career stories as if we climbed the wall alone.
What the highlight reel leaves out
I grew up in Rawalpindi, in a family with no money and no contacts in tech. I learned a new language, crossed a border on a student visa, and started my career at a level I had no business reaching that early.
None of that happened because of a flawless application.
At each step, one person decided to say yes before I had fully earned it.
A hiring manager who looked past the missing degree. A team that let the outsider in. A mentor who answered a cold message from someone they owed nothing.
Take any one of those people out of the story and I am not writing this today.
What I got wrong for years
For a long time I believed the goal was to become impressive enough that doors would open on their own.
So I collected skills. Certificates. Titles. Proof.
That proof helped, but it was never the thing that actually moved me forward.
People moved me forward. Every single time.
Credentials only made it easier for the next person to justify their yes.
A line I cannot shake
I watched a film this week and one line has stayed with me since.
Use your gift to connect people.
It landed because it named something I had felt for years without words. Whatever skill I have has one real purpose. to open a door for the next person the way mine were opened for me.
A gift kept to yourself impresses people. A gift used to connect people changes their lives.
I know which one I want my work to do.
So here is a small promise
If you send me a cold message, I will read it.
If I can open a door for you, point you somewhere, or answer the question nobody answered for me, I will try.
Someone did that for me once. A debt like that only clears by passing it on.
Your turn
Who said yes to you before you had earned it?
If this was useful
I work through this in public, the wins and the freezes both, mostly on LinkedIn and YouTube. If the real version of building in the open is useful to you, that is where it lives. Find me on X, GitHub, and the work at next8n.com.
