Do Things Then Tell People
The simplest career advice that actually works is a two-step loop: make something worthwhile, then make sure people know about it.
"Success = product x distribution. Took me way too long to realize this, at least first two failed companies were as a result of over indexing on product." Carl Lange
Most ambitious people are far better at one half of this equation than the other. Engineers and creators tend to believe that great work speaks for itself that if you build something excellent, the world will beat a path to your door. This is almost never true. Conversely, some people are brilliant at self-promotion but have nothing substantial behind it, which eventually catches up with them. The formula requires both terms to be nonzero.
Will Larson advises engineers to "be discoverable" writing online, maintaining relationships, speaking at meetups because access to the most interesting opportunities depends on people being able to find you. The Old Hacker's tips on staying employed make a similar point: your personal brand is what keeps you employed across the inevitable cycles of layoffs and reorganizations. If your brand is strong, "magic things will often just happen for you" other projects snatch you up, former colleagues refer you, bosses give glowing recommendations. The security you build is not that you will keep your current job forever, but that you will always be able to find the next one.
Distribution also has a compounding dimension. Growing an audience is an exponential process: the more fans you have, the more new fans they bring. But the curve feels flat at the beginning, which is why most people give up too early. The initial, unrewarding phase of telling people what you are doing is an investment in exponential growth that will eventually pay off dramatically.
Takeaway: Build something real, then tell everyone about it neither half alone is sufficient, but together they compound.
See also: Increase Your Luck Surface Area | Writing Is Thinking Made Visible | The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius