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How to Choose a Career Based on Happy Long-Term Happiness

Play the long game

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When I took my first job at a startup in September 2019, I was fuelled by curiosity.

I remember walking into the office — the fourth floor of a short building called The Spanish Centre — to a chilly, open, mostly bare space. Liam, the CEO, noticed me out of the corner of his eye from his desk.

All 6'2" of him was packed into a tight 4-person desk clump.

There were three clumps and only one empty desk. I took note of it right away.

That one was mine.

The initial fear

I was there for an interview.

At the time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted the job. I had another opportunity at a much larger company that felt safer and paid more.

I remember walking into an interview room the size of a closet where myself and four others barely fit. I gave a presentation shoulder-to-shoulder with my interviewers on my background and ideas for developing a new app. They seemed impressed. Weirdly, because I’d never worked at a tech company before.

At the end of my second presentation, one of the product managers unexpectedly asked, “Hey, do you have an extra bit of time?”

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Celia Fidalgo, PhD
Celia Fidalgo, PhD

Written by Celia Fidalgo, PhD

Head of Product @ Cambridge Cognition, Behavioral Scientist @ Irrational Labs, PhD in psych, I help businesses use consumer psychology to win customers.

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