[Over 30s] What makes you more effective than your early 20s self?

Question

I make about 3x my post-graduate salary, and I sometimes ponder how I can be _that_ much more valuable. Current ideas:- I now take more global responsibility for contributing to a business outcome, instead of &ldquo;My part works&rdquo;- I obviously know more technical things, but crucially I rarely get stuck for hours on something &ldquo;small&rdquo; (like SSH keys) which was never taught at school.- I know more about myself and arrange my day accordingly. Before I optimized for how I felt I &ldquo;should&rdquo; like to work.- because I have proven myself, I get put on projects which are worth a lot more. even flawless execution of my first few work projects probably would not be worth my current salary.What are yours? Why couldn&rsquo;t any of the thousands of new grads each year do your current job?

favourable · Accepted Answer

For me, my 20s was all about exploring and toying with new concepts. When I reached my 30s I had to get serious and pick something I could see myself using for the next 30 years. There is a caveat to that though: you become rigid and 'set in your ways' so it's worth busting out of comfort zones if you are feeling a bit stuck with your chosen path.

thagerty · Answer

The lie is that you aren't as valuable when you start working. The system is just set up that way to take advantage of your naivete.