a trap you need to look out for, especially if you're early in your career, is the hands off manager.

A trap you need to look out for, especially if you're early in your career, is the hands off manager. This is a manager that has a super packed calendar, isn't in all of the meetings, doesn't assign a lot of work, and isn't necessarily checking on every single thing that you're doing. It's tempting to think that you have it easy because nobody's really checking on you, but this is where it starts to become a trap. Because even if your manager is hands off, you're still expected to manage yourself and find things to do so that you stay busy and productive. Eventually, you're going to have a performance review and you're going to have to explain what you've done in the last six months, and saying that your manager didn't give you a lot of work is not a very compelling answer. Ultimately, you own your career and you're responsible for managing it with or without your manager. So don't get caught taking the easy way out and have that backfire on you.