Career Basics
What to do when you get sick in your first 90 days
Sick days in your first 90 days feel higher-stakes than they are. Here's how to handle the message, the handoff, and the return without making your manager worry.
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Career Basics
The long game: learning, mentors, networking without being cringe.
A career is a long game played in short quarters. The habits that matter most in the first year aren’t strategic — they’re structural. Keep a brag doc. Save the nice emails. Take notes in 1:1s. Ask for feedback before you need it. None of this shows up on a résumé, but all of it shows up when performance review season starts and you’re the only person on the team with the receipts.
Mentorship is the second lever, and it’s less formal than college made it sound. A mentor isn’t a person with a plaque on their door who meets you monthly — it’s anyone one or two steps ahead of you who’ll answer a specific question over coffee. The trick is asking good questions: concrete, time-boxed, and respectful of the fact that they’re doing you a favor. Do that a handful of times and some of those coffees turn into real relationships.
Networking is the word that makes new grads cringe, and they’re right to cringe at the bad version of it. The good version is much smaller: stay in touch with people you liked working with. A two-line email every six months. A congrats on the promotion. A forwarded article. Over a decade, that’s a network. Over a week, it’s five emails.
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The one to read first.
All 12 posts in career basics
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A reader asks: my onboarding buddy has gone AWOL — what now?
Your assigned onboarding buddy vanishes in week two. More common than anyone admits. Three moves that make the rest of your ramp work without them.
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The First 90 Days OS: your Week 1 boot sequence
A simple Week 1 setup so you look competent fast: define success, build your note system, and stop guessing what matters.
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The 30/60/90 Plan That Doesn't Make You Look Like a Try-Hard
A one-page 30/60/90 for new grads that reads like alignment, not a manifesto — plus the email script your manager will actually answer.
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How to ask questions at work (script and examples)
Exact wording for asking questions without sounding clueless — and without wasting anyone's time.
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Workplace competition: healthy hustle vs. toxic tug-of-war
How to stay ambitious without turning your team into a zero-sum game — especially in your first 90 days.
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Gen Z at work: the real friction (and why I'm optimistic)
A fair look at the friction points — and the systems that help new grads succeed in their first 90 days.
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Introducing Cubicle to Corner Office
Why I wrote the guide I wish I had — and how it fits into the First 90 Days OS.
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Office etiquette: the quiet signal that shapes your early career
A first-job lesson: your professionalism is a system — attire, punctuality, and how you show up in the room (and the chat).
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Managing expenses and work travel (without getting a reputation)
A first-job guide to expense policies, gray areas, and how to stay above board without being a pain to work with.
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What to do with downtime at the office (without looking checked out)
A practical guide to using slow moments to build trust, skills, and momentum.
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Chart your industry's landscape (so you're not just doing tasks)
A simple way to learn the competitive context of your first job — value chain, profit pools, and the questions that make you sound switched on.
This topic maps to Chapter 1 — Corporate culture of the book. See the full chapter →