Why your first job matters more than your first salary

In 1989, I joined Siemens as a graduate engineer trainee in the design department. The salary was not what I had in mind. The work in the first weeks was photocopying drawings.

Nobody told me what to do with that. So I started asking questions about what the drawings were for. Understanding how the department worked came from those conversations, not from any instruction.

Three months later, I had developed a software package that cut query response time from over a week to half a day.

That got noticed. I was transferred to the plant engineering department and worked towards ensuring uninterrupted utilities to all three factories at the plant.

None of that came from the salary. It came from the environment, the factory floor, the workers, the problems sitting in plain sight.

Your first job is where you learn how to learn. It is where you find out whether you can apply your mind when no one is watching. It is where the habit of taking ownership either forms or does not.

Those habits compound over 30 years. The salary from your first job does not.

When students ask me about CTC comparisons across domains, I tell them to look at five things: learning, responsibility, exposure, opportunity for growth, and money. The sum of all five is usually constant across roles. The mix is what you are choosing.

Choose the mix that builds you. The money will follow.

(Published on LinkedIn - 8th May 2026)