7 Cognitive Biases Silently Sabotaging Your Career

Why Smart People Make Bad Career Decisions

People often ask why I stayed at Amazon for 18 years. "Isn't it brutal there?" "How did you survive the pressure cooker for so long?"

My experience doesn't match the horror stories. For me, Amazon was challenging but fair - a place where I thrived and grew from support engineer to principal software engineer.

Over time, I realized that my positive experience might be survivorship bias in action.

What Are Cognitive Biases?

Cognitive biases are errors in thinking that affect our decisions. Think of them as shortcuts our brains take. They are usually helpful, sometimes harmful, and almost always invisible to us.

That's what makes them dangerous. You can't fix what you don't know exists.

They are so clear when we watch others because we have perspective they don't.

But don't trick yourself into thinking you don't have biases. You most certainly do.

This week, I'll walk through 7 cognitive biases that might be silently shaping your career or worse, holding you back.