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I'm convinced the virus has developed immunity to DayQuil and Robitussin.
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My first job out of college was a contract role answering support calls.
3 months in, they offered me a full-time permanent position. Boyyy, I could not decline faster. Listening to hard-of-hearing old people scream in my ear for 8 hours a day. Nope.
In fact, I quit without a job lined up, but that's a story for a different time.
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If you're curious about contract work, read this.
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🧠 Tyler's Take: Being too useful may be a bad thing
Inspired by this month's Human of GradSimple, Brianna O.
One of the best feelings early in your career is becoming the person everyone relies on.
Your manager trusts you. New hires come to you with questions. When something breaks, people come to you first. It feels like you’ve earned it.
I was reminded of this while talking to Brianna, who spent seven years at the YMCA. During that time, she went through layoffs, leadership changes, department restructures, and new CEOs.
With every change, more responsibility landed on her shoulders.
She became the keeper of institutional knowledge. The person who knew how everything worked. Every new leader leaned on her to understand the organization.
Then she said something that really stuck with me:
“I’ve always been waiting for the point where I could sit back and be led instead of being leaned on.”
Most of us want to feel needed at work. It feels like proof that you’re valuable. But there comes a point where being needed can become a red flag.
As Brianna prepares to leave, she’s spending her final weeks getting everything out of her head and into playbooks because so much of the organization’s knowledge lives with her.
That made me wonder: If you disappeared tomorrow, what would happen?
If the answer is “everything falls apart,” that’s probably not something to celebrate.
It might mean you’ve become indispensable.
It might also mean you’ve been carrying more than one person ever should.
There’s a fine line between being trusted because you’re good at your job and being depended on because the organization never invested in better systems, documentation, or knowledge sharing.
Those two things can feel exactly the same when you’re in the middle of it. Eventually, they lead to very different places.
😋 Career Snack: Sales Development Representative (SDR)
Ask ten people what an SDR does and you’ll probably hear some version of “they make cold calls all day.” That’s part of it. But really, you’re the person responsible for starting conversations with people who weren’t planning on having one.
Your goal isn’t to close deals. It’s to figure out whether someone has a problem your company can solve, and if they do, earn enough trust to get them to take a meeting with an Account Executive.
It’s not an easy job. You’ll send emails that never get opened. Leave voicemails that never get returned. Get hung up on. Sometimes you’ll do everything right and still hear “not interested.”
That’s why I think being an SDR teaches one of the most valuable career skills: handling rejection without taking it personally.
The best SDRs aren’t smooth talkers. They’re curious. They know how to ask thoughtful questions, listen carefully, and make the other person feel understood. The top performers usually aren’t the loudest people on the team. They’re the ones who consistently show up, learn from every conversation, and keep improving.
The people I think are wired for this: resilient, coachable, competitive, and comfortable stepping outside their comfort zone. If you enjoy talking to people and don’t mind hearing “no” more often than “yes,” it can be one of the fastest paths into a high-paying career.
Avg starting salary: $50,000 to $70,000 base, with total compensation often reaching $70,000 to $100,000+ once commission is included.
AI Resilience Score: 7/10 🟢 AI is getting very good at writing emails, researching prospects, and prioritizing leads. But convincing another human to give you 30 minutes of their time still depends on judgment, timing, and genuine conversation. The repetitive work is being automated. The relationship-building isn’t.
Life is rich,
⎻ Tyler
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