How will those first seven jobs shape your future?

As the summer jobs season winds down, many people have taken to Twitter to provide a glimpse into their past by sharing their #FirstSevenJobs.  As these conversations around career journeys exploded this week, I couldn’t help but ask “What did so many accomplished people learn as babysitters and dishwashers that prepared them for success?” 

The conversation was sparked by Alaskan songwriter @mariancall when she asked people on Twitter to share their #FirstSevenJobs (ostensibly to help her fill in some lyrics). Suddenly, everyone got in on the act.  Visionaries like Buzz Aldrin, Ellen DeGeneres, and Sheryl Sandberg all began sharing. So did Tokyo’s first female governor and Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The conversation was amplified by The Atlantic, Today, and CNN and it soon began to resonate that these extraordinary people are not all that different from you and me. 

How cool is it that so many remarkable leaders started out as camp counselors and cashiers? Personally, I got my start as a paperboy. My next six jobs were: waiter, dishwasher, broiler chef, resident assistant, CTY lab instructor, and an engineer.

But what does all of this mean for the potential in each of us? How far might we go in our own careers?

Here’s what I learned from my first seven jobs: Everything you learn matters.

As we work to make higher education more accessible and rewarding, I spend a lot of time hearing from educators who prepare their students to continuously learn new things. I also hear from employers who are looking to hire people who have already mastered discrete competencies. At every turn, the concept of continuous or lifelong learning comes up. What you know, and how you translate that into what you do, matters.

Here’s what else I learned from my early jobs: Education is a journey, not a destination.

It’s important to realize that every class you take and every job you leave will teach you something about a subject, an industry, or yourself. We are all capable of learning from every experience and using this new knowledge to shape the future we want for ourselves.

Your next job will likely be made possible by the successes (or failures) you have at your current job. That Arnold Schwarzenegger started selling ice cream at age 10 and later became Governor of California or that Buzz Aldrin’s second job after camp counselor saw him leave his footprints on the Moon are powerful motivators for our own career arcs. 

We are—all of us—lifelong learners. Our first seven jobs remind us that while we may have similar beginnings (I share paperboy and dishwasher with countless others), our next seventeen jobs will help us learn and grow. Our jobs will change, yet what we learn from each will remain part of us, forever. What did you learn from your #FirstSevenJobs?

The image above and to the left is from a college recruiting guide from Raytheon, (circa 1991) from my seventh job as engineer.

#firstsevenjobs: Paperboy, Waiter, Dishwasher, Broiler Chef, Resident Assistant, CTY Lab instructor, Engineer