Jason Yoong’s Post

Someone in a Slack group I'm in asked a question about what you would do if you got laid off/fired and needed to work immediately. I shared my story: I immediately tried to find work for myself vs. applying to jobs. I had some success right away but here's the thing: There's no way I would suggest this to anyone else. I wasn't ready because I didn't have money saved up. But I also didn't trust an employer to hire me right away. So I did my best to hit the ground running because I believed in myself, but I know this isn't going to be the case for everyone. If you're wondering whether or not to start your own business, try to do your best to overlap you being in your job with working on your new business on the side. Make sure you have savings. Make sure you have a plan of how you're going to communicate what you do to your new audience. Make sure you're self-aware enough to know if you're actually ready to go on your own (talk to people who have businesses and get their honest opinions if your offer has validity). If you need to chat about your idea and to get a good gauge if you're on the right track, I'm here! Throw me a DM and let's chat.

I quit LinkedIn for 395 days. Will I catch up? Is my audience still waiting me? I'll say NO, but I don't regret anything. 395 days out here, l shifted to another platform and learned many lessons from global people. Among these are; 1/ I learned to lower my expectations. 2/ Creating lead magnets to grow myself. 3/ Getting myself a unique positioning angle. 4/ Networking with global amazing people across The best part with networking? I managed to connect with a colleague from Central Europe who got interest in my idea. And now he's a co-founder of a brand SaaS tool we're planning to launch soon. Where you go, it's where you find real men. And that came out after joining Reddit. To you out there, life is full of challenges but it's what you make it. You need to accept your challenges and failures. With failures, it means you're doing something. And you just need to be scrappy. Put yourself out there as you keep testing different strategies and tactics. That's how you make it. Where a vision meets strategy, Chief change the way you see your things. I sign out!

Happy St. David's Day Wow, the 1st of March already! And thanks for getting us to 3500+ members on Facebook! If you're not in the Facebook group then you're missing out - on more content, more conversations, more questions being asked/answered, more roles being posted, so if you're looking I would make sure you're in both groups Have a great St. David's Day, Dave 💛 #itcontractingacademy #itcontractors #itcontractor #itconsultants #supportgroup #networking #community #contractorshelpingcontractors #itcareers #jobsearch

I've been talking about how the time is ripe to disrupt Slack for a while now, and it's interesting to see at least two new contenders popping up. I have my opinions about their products and the whole SaaS/Non-SaaS debate, but there's something more immediately relevant to adoption that I believe these new platforms are missing out on. Slack followed Google Docs and Gmail, as the second generation of apps you use at home, school, and work. An alternative to Slack must offer a free plan for user groups, open-source projects, students, and communities. To me, this makes me believe that Discord is the better positioned software to make a dent on Slack's dominance. Kids join the workforce with years of experience on Discord. It seemed like they were not super interested in the enterprise, but as they start prioritizing revenue, I wonder if this will change. And yes, as an elder millennial, I sometimes feel lost on Discord. (Why does everything blink? Why does it feel like a text-based game of pinball?) But every time that happens, I remember how GenXers felt as we were replacing Skype with Slack back in 2013…

I got a new role with a +$30,000 increase in pay over coffee. Here's how I did it (and how you can too). 1. Joined a Slack community for my niche (educators in tech). 2. Saw a job posting in the community and Invited the person who posted it to a quick 20-minute chat to talk about the company. 3. Asked them about their experience, the team dynamic, and how the company addresses certain industry challenges. ex: the disconnect between education and ed-tech products. 4. I was offered a referral and introduced to the team. 5. Prepared my stories for the interview and framed them to show how I addressed company challenges. A few days later they eagerly offered the role. Join relevant professional communities and build genuine relationships. Engage others with thought-provoking questions to develop mutual interest and gain valuable insights. Craft stories that showcase how your skills and experience can help companies tackle their key challenges. --- What tactics worked best for you when pursuing a significant career opportunity?

Thanks Imogen for sharing your experience. People don't talk about how hard it is starting a new role! It's positive, it's exciting, even fun...but that doesn't mean it's easy and that you have to do it alone. That's why I do what I do. --------------- I help leaders navigate career transitions >>> follow me and see my website for more >>> link in my profile --------------- #newjob #careerchange #transition

Spring is Officially Here! And thanks for getting us to 3600+ members on Facebook! If you're not in the Facebook group then you're missing out - on more content, more conversations, more questions being asked/answered, more roles being posted, so if you're looking I would make sure you're in both groups Have a great day, Dave 💙 #itcontractingacademy #itcontractors #itcontractor #itconsultants #supportgroup #networking #community #contractorshelpingcontractors #itcareers #jobsearch

Slack reminded me that this week marks 3 years at MOHARA. It's been an awesome ride so far. I think I could briefly distill why I've loved it so much into 3 buckets. 1. PEOPLE This is the bucket where MOHARA culture sits. The culture where I feel like we can speak openly to each other. It's the enjoyment of the people in the teams I've been in. The friends I've made. This has to be the number 1 bucket. 2. THE WORK ITSELF Working with different founders across industries is highly rewarding. Every set of a few days, weeks or months can be entirely different to the set before. The intellectual stimulation of this is exhilarating. 3. PERSONAL GROWTH This is a place that's been highly supportive of personal growth. Being able to tackle new problems (and being trusted to do so) has been amazing, and even more amazing is the incredible set of people around who I've been able to learn from along the way. Having dedicated personal development hours per week to spend learning about things sometimes quite unrelated to my immediate responsibilities. The 'counsellor' check-ins with people who are further along in their careers. All stellar. Keen for more! (By the way, we're hiring. Yes, there's a careers page on our website. But I also recommend sparking a relationship with someone here even if you don't see a relevant open role. Fun fact: that's how I joined.)

The intensity shocked me. I’ve done it many times. But it still shocked me. I’m talking about the steep learning curve when you start a new role. If you didn’t already know, I started my dream role at Reddit a month ago. In that time, I’ve had a looooooooootttt to learn. - Working across 13 different time zones is challenging but working with different cultures is amazing. - I need a MUCH better filing system for all my Google documents. - Even when you work for the company itself, you can't understand all the quirks of a platform. - Not everyone knows how to pronounce my name (it's Ih-mah-jen if you've been too polite to ask) 😅 This isn’t me saying I was expecting to waltz into the role and not have anything to learn 🫢 Far from it. In fact, one of the main reasons why I applied for the job was because I knew how challenging and demanding it would be! I guess what I’m trying to say is, when you’ve been self employed for a while, you forget how different it is being employed. For the last 2 years, I’ve been growing my own business, Socially. I’ve built my own systems, processes and ways of working. And I call the shots. Yes, I have to adapt when bringing new clients on board. But I rarely build from scratch. It’s more about tailoring my approach to suit their needs, wants, goals etc. With Reddit, everything has been very much new (in a good way!). It’s been eye-opening, but I’ve loved every single second. I cannot wait to see what the future holds! Life is good. Very good. hashtag #Community

I've active on LinkedIn since April, and here’s the reality 🧐: Thousands in revenue. Key relationships built. 3,000+ followers and counting. There’s a myth that LinkedIn is a “fake” or “toxic” space for my generation. But it’s actually an underrated gem for anyone serious about building a career or a business. In fact, it’s so valuable that we have an entire module on leveraging LinkedIn in @Pivot2Tech_ to help junior software engineers land their next role. Sure, booking consistent calls is a struggle we all face, but here’s the thing: I’m always just one message away from closing a deal. No other platform (maybe with the exception of X) brings me as close to clients as LinkedIn does. If you're just lurking on LinkedIn, afraid to hit "Post"—this is your sign to start. Zero downsides, high potential reward. I’m big on written-based platforms like X and LinkedIn because you don’t need fancy videos, editors, or flashy content. Just your ideas, value, and a keyboard. It’s as simple as that.