The Lucky List

A friend of mine recently shared an article about the role luck plays in people’s lives and how it’s not always appropriately recognized. As I reached the end of the article, I got to thinking how luck has contributed to my success, specifically my career in information security. As I typed this list, I realized that while I certainly work hard, I’ve also been incredibly lucky. Sharing this list feels a bit self-serving, but maybe it will inspire others to think about luck in their own career.

  • I grew up near several magnet schools that offered technology programs, specifically in Cisco networking. Had it not been for these schools, who knows what I would be doing now.

If I had to break the type of luck into categories, I’d say it ends up in two core buckets––timing and people. The people I’ve met throughout my career have helped me grow as a person, offered me opportunities to learn, encouraged me to explore and trusted me with responsibility that was far beyond my skill set. If you take anything away from this, recognize that you as a professional may be able to help others out much like people did for me.

Today, I still run product for the company I sold my business to and have learned countless lessons about scaling a business. I’m grateful I’ve been entrusted with such a big responsibility and am no doubt lucky to be where I am today.

--

--

Founder of @BlockadeIO, PDF X-RAY, and @PassiveTotal. Partner and developer for @TheNinjaJobs. VP of Strategy for @RiskIQ. Roaster at @SplitKeyCoffee.

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store
A button that says 'Get it on, Google Play', and if clicked it will lead you to the Google Play store
Brandon Dixon

Founder of @BlockadeIO, PDF X-RAY, and @PassiveTotal. Partner and developer for @TheNinjaJobs. VP of Strategy for @RiskIQ. Roaster at @SplitKeyCoffee.