Hey EV readers 👋 

I hope you've had an amazing week so far! I've got something special for you - a delightful mix of insights that will quench your thirst for knowledge and help you power through another week of hustle and bustle. Enjoy!

From Dishwasher to a Tech Superstar: The Making of a CEO

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang has been in the news lately. This is not so unusual considering he sits on top of a company valued in trillions of dollars. Huang’s success is largely due to his early bet on artificial intelligence. His bet paid off, putting Huang on the covered billionaire’s list. His recent success may trivialize his past as a dishwasher at Denny’s. Yes, you read that correctly. The billion-dollar CEO of Nvidia was once a dishwasher and busboy, and he seemed to love every moment of it. Hold on, there is a lesson here. Huang immigrated to the US at the age of 9 and landed his first job as a dishwasher at 15. It was during this time that he picked up the work ethic which later made him very successful. Huang’s reflection on his humble beginnings isn’t filled with regret but pride. According to him, he did the job very well which is not so surprising since he became the “best dishwasher” at Denny’s. He also revealed the three things that made this possible -

Planning, Organisation, and Efficiency.

A graduate of engineering, Huang may have won in life during his early years at Denny’s because it was there he picked up key soft skills that may have helped him steer Nvidia through hardship into the company it is today. Aside from learning to plan and organize his life to be as efficient as he could be, Huang also mentions that working at a restaurant taught him humility, hard work, and hospitality. His humble beginnings contributed to his success as a founder and CEO, which is why he advises youngsters to start their first job in the restaurant business. His advice may not be generally accepted, but here is a better way to look at it;

Technical capabilities can only take you so far in your career. To really soar, you need skills that are harder to measure but critical to success. In LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends report, 89% of recruiters say that when a hire doesn't work out, it usually comes down to a lack of soft skills. While most people are hired for their technical abilities, their soft skills give them “career durability,” says Alexandra Levit, author of Humanity Works: Merging Technologies and People for the Workforce of the Future. Levit defines that term as the ability to acquire the skills, knowledge, and mindset needed to be an engaged and productive team member. "For someone to be successful ten years down the road, they need to be resilient and be able to reinvent themselves in different learning environments," she adds.

(culled from the article: Why Soft Skills Are More In Demand Than Ever by Forbes)

If you missed our last publication, click the link below to read it.

Meet Devin - The first AI software Engineer and what it means for entrepreneurs

As the effect of AI snowballs, there is a mix of excitement, curiosity, and anxiety especially among tech employees who have been forced to take a hard look at the future of their career. One question in everybody’s mind is - how much change will AI bring to our society? Many analysts have compared the AI bubble with the Dot Com bubble. They conclude that the AI bubble is much greater than the Dot Com bubble. Imagine how much our society transformed during the dot com era and you’ll get a good perspective of what to expect in the AI era. First, we had ChatGPT the first chatbot that could answer any question you threw at it with pinpoint accuracy and a speed that exceeds any human ability. Now we have Devin, the first AI Software Engineer.

Watch Devin in Action

According to Cognition AI the company behind Devin, the new AI software engineer is capable of doing most of the things you’d hire a human engineer to do. This includes,

• learning how to use unfamiliar technologies just by reading a blog

• build and deploy apps end-to-end

• find and fix bugs in codes

• train and fine-tune itself

• tackle real everyday jobs from Upwork.

You can immediately see why career software engineers need to be worried. Yes, Devin may not replace every human software engineer, but we can all agree that a good number of people will have to reconsider their career choices. Entrepreneurs on the other hand have all the luck in the world. Imagine an AI that could create a complete website or app for your business with just a few commands and a fraction of the cost you’d normally pay a human software engineer. This one advantage is why some analysts believe the AI bubble is different from the dot com bubble. Unlike the dot com bubble, AI has real and intrinsic value. Therefore valuations of AI companies are not superfluous compared to the dot com valuations which proved to be unsubstantiated.

Read: Is the ‘AI bubble’ really worse than the dotcom years?

That’s all for now folks.

Until next time, stay inspired and keep chasing your dreams!

Cheers,

Alex