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Eric Em | AI Capability & Career Transition Mentor

@storiesbyericem

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🦉 Mentor for displaced mid career IT professionals
🚀 Building from redundancy to re-invention
⬇️ Watch my latest podcast

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I knew before the email came.

Not because anyone told me. Because I've done this enough times now to read the signs before they say the words out loud.

The budget meetings that quietly went from monthly to "as needed."

A project I'd led for two years, handed to someone else for "a fresh perspective."

My manager's calendar clearing out, one to one after one to one, no explanation given.

Then the invite. Fifteen minutes. No agenda. Just my name and HR.

I sat in that meeting already knowing what was coming. It didn't make it easier. It never does.

It happened again a few weeks ago. And even with all the pattern recognition in the world, it still knocked me sideways for a minute.

If you're noticing the same signs right now, quiet meetings, vague answers, work quietly moving away from you, trust that instinct. It's usually right.

What sign did you catch, or miss, before your own redundancy? Tell me below.

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#redundancy #careerresilience #midcareer #techprofessionals #careerreinvention by @storiesbyericem

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a month ago

He said, “Picture your career as a train.”

Every job is a stop.

Some you get off by choice.

Some you get pushed off, and it still leads somewhere.

The role you loved but outgrew. The team you built and then had to leave. Even the job that let you go.

None of that means you failed. It just means that stop was done.

What I didn't realise, I was never taught to drive. I just sat there while the train followed tracks someone else laid down.

Nobody tells you that you can build your own tracks. You don't have to stop where the premade route says you should.

I'm not a passenger anymore. I'm learning to drive, laying down my own tracks, going wherever I decide.

If you're sitting at a stop right now wondering if it's the end of the line, it's not. It might just be where you start driving.

Credits to @dees_digital_life for this video concept.

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#careergrowth #midcareer #careertransition #redundancy #careerpivot by @storiesbyericem

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2 months ago

This one took me a long time to actually believe.

When your role disappears (especially after years of giving everything to it) it's almost impossible not to take it personally.

The title. The team. The daily structure. All of it feels like it was you.

But your role was never the whole story.

You were the skills, the relationships, the thinking, the resilience. The role was just the container.

And containers can be replaced.

What's one thing you've carried out of a role that no redundancy could take from you?

#redundancy #careeradvice #techmentor #selfworth #Australiancareers by @storiesbyericem

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3 months ago

Most people use AI like a search engine. Short question, generic answer, "see, it's not that good."

The difference is context.

Before I ask Claude anything important, I tell it four things.

1) Who I am. What I do.

2) What I'm trying to achieve.

3) What good looks like.

4) What format I want back.

Same tool. Completely different output.

It's the same skill as briefing a new team member well, and most of us have been doing that for years.

Follow for more practical ways to use AI at work.

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#claudeai #aitools #aiatwork #promptengineering #techcareers by @storiesbyericem

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3 days ago

Someone once told me to picture my career as a train.

Some stops you choose. You see them coming, you plan for them, you step off on your own terms.

Other stops choose you. Redundancy. Restructures. A role that just... disappears. No warning, no say in it.

Here's what I've learned after enough stops of both kinds: they both still lead somewhere.

Every job, every setback, every reinvention is a stop on the same line. None of it is wasted. The skills carry over. The lessons carry over. You carry over.

And now we're heading into the next stop together, AI. It's coming for all of us in tech, whether we asked for it or not. The question isn't whether we get off at this one. It's what we choose to carry with us when we do.

What stop are you at right now? Tell me in the comments 👇

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#CareerGrowth #TechCareers #CareerPivot #ITLeadership #CareerJourney by @storiesbyericem

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6 days ago

Someone once asked me whether I was renting my career or owning it.

I didn't have a good answer.

For most of my working life, everything I built lived inside someone else's organisation. The systems, the processes, the reputation. Good work, but not mine to keep.

A salary pays the rent. It doesn't build equity.

Equity is the capability you build on your own terms. The skills, the ideas, the thing you're quietly building on the side.

So which is it for you right now? Renting or owning? Comment below.

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#careertransition #sidehustle #solopreneur #midcareer #careergrowth by @storiesbyericem

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10 days ago

The first time I handed my weekly report to Claude, I expected to spend longer fixing it than writing it myself.

Four minutes later I had a draft that was 80% there.

I still edited it. I still checked every number. But the part that used to eat two hours of my week was done before my coffee went cold.

That's the shift nobody talks about. AI isn't taking the job. It's taking the parts of the job that stop you doing the real work.

What's the one task that eats your week? Comment below and I'll tell you how I'd approach it.

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#claudeai #aiautomation #aitools #productivity #techcareers by @storiesbyericem

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11 days ago

Twenty years of experience used to be the whole story.

It still matters. Judgement, context, knowing which problems are actually worth solving. None of that is going anywhere.

But the way experience gets seen is changing. When two people have the same years on paper, the one who can show how they work with AI looks like the future of the team.

The good news? Your experience is exactly what makes AI useful. It needs someone who knows what a good answer looks like.

What's one part of your job you've never tried handing to AI? Comment below.

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#aicapability #claudeai #techcareers #midcareer #careergrowth by @storiesbyericem

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13 days ago

Nobody sends a memo when your role starts shifting. It just... happens. Quietly.

Tasks get automated. Job ads for your title start mentioning AI. Training budgets disappear. And suddenly a colleague is doing in an hour what used to take you all day.

👉 None of that means panic.

👉 It means pay attention.

The people who navigate change well aren't the ones who saw it coming, they're the ones who noticed the early signs and started adjusting before they had to.

Swipe through and be honest with yourself: how many of these are you seeing right now?

Drop a number 0 to 4 in the comments. I'd love to know where you're at 👇

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#CareerChange #FutureOfWork #TechCareers #CareerGrowth #WorkplaceTrends by @storiesbyericem

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20 days ago

When life throws off your routine, discipline is the only thing that keeps you moving forward.
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Even when displaced or out of your normal element, sticking to a strict morning routine, waking up early, meditating, and journaling, helps protect your momentum for whatever comes next.
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What’s one non-negotiable habit that keeps you grounded when everything else changes? 👇

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#DailyDiscipline #MorningRoutine #BuildMomentum #MindsetMatters #PersonalGrowth by @storiesbyericem

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21 days ago

Being made redundant taught me one thing: never let the industry move faster than I do.

So now I'm spending time every week learning AI tools, testing what actually works, and figuring out how to use them to be better at my job, not scared of them.

I'm not an expert. I'm learning in real time and sharing everything I find along the way.

If you want to learn AI with me and stay ahead in tech, give me a follow.

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#AIskills #techcareers #futureofwork #careergrowth #maderedundant by @storiesbyericem

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24 days ago

A simple haircut reminded me of something important yesterday: everyone has a unique skill set, and anyone can build a new talent if they put their mind to it. ✂️✨

If you’re currently in between jobs or navigating some downtime, why not use this space to explore that thing you’ve always wanted to try? There are so many hidden opportunities waiting for you.

What’s one skill you’ve been wanting to explore? Let’s chat in the comments! 👇

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#CareerGrowth #SkillDevelopment #JobSearch #ProfessionalDevelopment #ContinuousLearning by @storiesbyericem

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25 days ago