Grow Your Career Like a Tree Not a Garden

What I mean by this is to gain deep expertise in one area, then branch out strategically from that area to broaden your expertise in a way that reinforces your expertise in the original area.

The wrong way to do this is completely start over in a new field that has little overlap with your old field. This way, you can’t contribute much because you’re new to everything, and none of your old experience carries over.

The worst mistake I made was thinking that my expertise from other areas in my career would hurt me, because it would signal that I wasn’t focused on the target area I was applying to for as long.