I Don't Need Babysitting

Early on in my career I was interviewing in a company, it was only the technical founder and another guy at the time. I was still in my junior years, and by the end of the interview the guy was very polite and honest, he told me "Being a solo-founder and a very small company, I need people I don't need to babysit, and unfortunately at your experience level I don't see this true."

His polite tone and honesty made his words feel like an advice rather than an assault, and I'm very thankful because ever since, this has stuck with me.

If you think about it, no one wants to babysit — at any level. In hindsight, it sounds trivial, yeah?

I came out of the interview with a new compass, I will not be someone who needs babysitting.

Not needing babysitting means you reduce the mental load you place on others. You anticipate problems instead of escalating them. You make progress without constant validation. Over time, this earns trust—and trust compounds. You get more autonomy, more interesting problems, and more influence, not because you asked for it, but because people feel safe relying on you.

Looking back over the years, this has been one of the single best changes I made to my career.