How productive do you really need to be?

(Photo credit @cathrynlavery)

1. Another thing I’ve admitted to myself in pandemic times: it’s ok to admit that you’re only about 40-50% as productive as normal. Here’s some advice on how to recover: 

   • The Guilt-Free Guide to Getting Back on Track After a Completely Unproductive Day

2. Still struggling to get motivated? It happens to all of us!

   • One approach is to remind yourself why you were a great hire in the first place (also a super helpful strategy when you are trying to make a job pivot): 

     1. How to Find Your Job Search Value Proposition

   • Another is to re-define what it means to be productive right now:

     1. Redefining Lack of Productivity During COVID-19 -Kushaan Shah (love the Pixar Story Spine game!)

3. If you’re working with or managing others, you should be thinking about ways to help support your team right now.

   • Fostering employee productivity and morale through COVID-19 

   • How to Spot When an Employee Is Secretly Struggling

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What tech niches are experiencing high activity right now?

(Photo credit @cgower)

Well, I hope all of you are doing well in your place of isolation. I'm starting to have a bit of trouble in separating my days, which led me to include my first two tips. And since job searching is top of mind for many readers, I've included links to job boards with high activity. And I've also been fascinated to see the shifts in tech usage. As the saying goes, "nature abhors a vacuum" and so tech usage has simply shifted to other areas.

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#techtopic

• Tech niches with high activity due to COVID19 response

  • Gaming

    • Consumer video game spend is WAY up. I also saw a really encouraging trend in video game companies making $ and PPE donations for COVID19 relief efforts and adding 'stay-at-home' ads in the games themselves as a public service initiative. And Google just made Stadia free.

  • Streaming services

    • A not surprising corollary to the gaming increase: Disney+ is posting increased stock prices as they surged above 50 million subscriptions. And Netflix usage is at an all-time high.

  • Personal finance

    • Coronavirus drives 72% increase in use of fintech apps according to a study in Europe, and I expect to see similar usage in the US as individuals want to know how to manage their personal finances in the wake of shaky stock markets & looming layoffs.

  • Cybersecurity

    • From cloud migration to securing supply chains to identity & access management, cybersecurity-related work is increasing in leaps and bounds.

  • HealthTech

    • Probably the most obvious area to have immediate impact, this GeekWire HealthTech podcast also discussed future implications from a more permanent usage of telemedicine to privacy issues with usage of location data for disease tracking

• Much of what is mentioned above is also reflected in the various job boards below in visible trends related to who is actively hiring.

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#speechifying

• On Tue Apr 8, I was invited to give some brief remarks to my fellow Princeton classmates on the outlook for hiring/career/education/tech (alongside some other amazing folks, including a nonprofit founder/mountain climber, a food/CPG VC who worked with Michelle Obama & a senior writer for Time magazine). It was a great way to come together to get updates on each other, as well as hear what was happening in the world around us. And for those of us invited to give some short remarks, it felt good to share stories, advice, and hope.

#Shoutout

• Thanks to this author for giving me hope that humans didn't hoard TP - explaining TP supply chains & human behavior: What Everyone's Getting Wrong about the Toilet Paper Shortage.

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Managing Remote Work Effectively

(Photo credit @dtopkin1)

I suggest becoming ‘fluent’ in how to effectively manage remote teams as well as how to manage your own work when working remotely. 

1. Ensure that you are keeping some type of structure to your days, especially when working remotely. 

• 4 ways to help you break up the monotony of the week (in fact, there is an Ivy League Step Challenge going on right now)

2. Managing asynchronously is a skill that will serve you well in any tech company!

• There are studies that show that remote workers are happier and stay at jobs longer.

• And 47% of US workers work remotely for at least some part of their job, while 3% of US workers are completely remote (up from 1% in 2000).

3. Create new daily rituals

• For those of you who normally work outside of the home, you have morning & evening rituals (whether you recognize them as such, or not). Those routines are what signal your mind & body that it's time to go to work, take a break, head home, etc. You *need* to replicate & modify those rituals when working at home.

• This article does a great job explaining this (look at Item #3). I also love their idea of 'workstation popcorn'!

4. Find an accountability buddy

• I made this suggestion to a student last week, and she told me today that it worked really well for her & a friend!

• The idea is simple: find a friend you trust. Book an hour on each other's calendars. Join the virtual platform of your choice at the start of the hour. Share with each other what you both want to accomplish in the hour. Leave the virtual session open to mimic sitting next to them in 'real-life' which will help you stay focused (as long as you don't chit-chat). At the end, review what you got done & celebrate your progress.

• Don't have a friend you trust? I suggest checking out FocusMate.com to sign-up for a time slot with a stranger (and maybe it'll help you find new friends too??).

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