328: Keep Your Creative Spirit Alive and Document Your Ideas with Ulf Schwekendiek

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Ulf Schwekendiek, the first mobile engineer at Siri before it was acquired by Apple as well as a co-founder of Ditto which was acquired by Groupon. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Centered, designing the platform and building a team that shares his passion for achieving mindfulness at work. Ulf talks about the importance of keeping your creative spirit alive as your career progresses. He also discusses the value in documenting your ideas.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP If you have a creative spirit, always make sure that you keep this spirit alive in whatever you do. Make time to create and always be curious about what could be.   WORST CAREER MOMENT Ulf experienced a time in his career when he felt as though he should become a manager, because of the expectations placed upon him by others. He soon realized that this was not where his passion truly lay.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Ulf prefers to focus upon the failures of his career, rather than become too nostalgic for the highlights. He feels that this spurs him on to do better.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Ulf is most excited about the accessibility of the IT sector, and how it allows anyone entry, no matter what their background is. He also finds himself intrigued by the advent of “emotional software”   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Being from Germany, engineering was always a part of Ulf’s DNA. What’s the best career advice you received? – You always want to have a smaller piece of a much larger pie. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That he should not speak his mind for fear of offending someone. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ulf would focus on AI, ML and other technologies that are changing the world. What are your current career objectives? Ulf is focusing upon the non-technical side of running and operating a business. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Learning about human psychology and how the brain works. How do you keep your own career energized? – Learning about new things and iterating constantly. What do you do away from technology? – Ulf is dedicated to his newborn daughter. He also enjoys hang gliding.   FINAL CAREER TIP Get out of your own head. If you have ideas then make sure you are documenting them always. Ideas never come to anything if they remain internal ones.   BEST MOMENTS (10:57) – Ulf - “If you are a maker or a builder, just make sure that you never lose that” (13:07) – Ulf - “Find something that you’re really passionate about, and not something society shows you as your next step” (13:30) – Ulf – “It’s fun to talk about your highlights, but it’s so much more powerful to talk about your failures” (23:14) – Ulf – “If nobody understands what it is that you’re doing, then there’s no point in doing it”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at phil@itcareerenergizer.com and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – ULF SCHWEKENDIEK Ulf Schwekendiek was the first mobile engineer at Siri before it was acquired by Apple as well as a co-founder of Ditto which was acquired by Groupon. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Centered, designing the platform and building a team that shares his passion for achieving mindfulness at work.   CONTACT THE GUEST – ULF SCHWEKENDIEK Ulf Schwekendiek can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sulfme Website: https://www.centered.app/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/sulf