So y’all know I always check my monthly horoscope for fun, right? Well last week I cracked open that Virgo career forecast for February while chugging coffee. Said stuff like “focus on visibility” and “strategic planning will get you ahead.” Was bored stiff waiting for my code to compile so I grabbed a crusty notepad and started scribbling.
The Dumb Plan I Came Up With
First I forced myself to list every task clogging my brain:
- Untangle Jenkins pipeline hell
- Fix reporting tool that keeps crashing
- Reply to overdue client emails
- Prepare Q1 roadmap presentation
Looked like a hurricane hit my desk already. Then I straight-up copied the horoscope advice:
Highlight invisible work + Talk to big bosses more.
What Actually Went Down
Next morning I dumped three sticky notes on my monitor:
- “Stop burying achievements in Jira tickets”
- “Stop hiding in Zoom chats”
- “Schedule one leader chat THIS WEEK”
Zero chill with myself. Started adding “why this matters” bullets to every work update email. Even threw in screen-grabs when I fixed gnarly bugs. Felt like showing off but whatever. Worst part was forcing myself to DM our VP Tech with “got 10 mins to discuss pipeline optimization?” Cold sweat moment ngl.
Nearly bailed twice before hitting send. But guess what? Dude replied “2pm tomorrow.” My mouse hovered over the Zoom cancel button for a solid minute. Showed up anyway, rambled for 8 minutes straight about pipeline fixes. Ended with “could potentially save 20 dev hours monthly.” Homie actually nodded and said “keep me posted.” Wild.
Weird Side Effects Happened
By week two I’d accidentally created an achievement tracker just by forwarding my own fix reports to a draft folder. Our lead PM randomly pinged me asking for details on the reporting tool fix during standup. Turns out he’d read my email chain with infra team. Ended up volunteering to demo it company-wide next Thursday. Can’t believe I typed “I’ll take that” without vomiting.
Cold Hard Results
Okay so I definitely overdid the visibility thing – flooded slack channels with minor updates like a clown. But that VP chat? Got pulled into a cross-team automation huddle yesterday. Presentation invites went to directors I never met. Even the crusty senior dev who ignores everyone asked me about the Jenkins solution. Upped my “strategic planning” by blocking calendar slots for deep work though. Still ignore half my emails but at least the important ones get seen now. Ain’t promotion material yet but got some wins.
TL;DR: That horoscope accidentally tricked me into doing stuff I avoided for two years. Still hate networking but forced practice helps. Might keep one sticky note: “Stop hiding your damn work.” Desk still looks bombed tho.
