An engineer at OpenAI has shared practical advice for professionals hoping to build successful careers in the technology industry, drawing from his experience at some of the world’s largest tech companies.
Michael Bolin, currently the tech lead on the Codex coding assistant at OpenAI, spoke about the lessons he learned while working at Google and Meta. Speaking on the podcast The Peterman Pod, Bolin outlined three key steps that he believes can help professionals make a meaningful impact in large organisations.
Start by identifying what you truly enjoy
Bolin explained that the first step towards long-term success is understanding the type of work that genuinely interests you. While many professionals try to prove themselves by tackling difficult challenges, he said it is important to be honest about personal interests and strengths.
Reflecting on his early career at Google, Bolin said he once set out on what he described as a personal “hero quest,” hoping to solve a difficult engineering problem that others could not.
“It’s good to broaden that, but it’s also good to be honest with yourself,” Bolin said.
He later realised that focusing solely on difficult challenges was not enough if the work itself was not enjoyable.
“I can do a lot of things, but there is a smaller subset of things that I genuinely enjoy doing,” he said.
Align personal interests with company priorities
The second step, according to Bolin, is to understand what matters most to an organisation and where employees can create the most value.
Drawing again from his time at Google, Bolin said that although he worked on projects he found exciting, they were not always aligned with the company’s most critical priorities.
“I did stuff that I was really excited about, but it wasn’t AdWords for Google or anything like that,” he said.
The final step, he said, is to find the overlap between personal passion and organisational needs. Professionals should focus their energy on work that sits at this intersection, even if it means changing teams or companies to find the right opportunity.
“The more that you can do that, the more successful you’re going to be,” Bolin said.
Bolin added that these principles apply not only in Silicon Valley but across most white-collar professions, where understanding both personal goals and workplace priorities can significantly improve career outcomes.