For many of us, changing jobs seems like the best way to grow professionally or advance our careers. Not so for Edd Morgan, Senior Director of Engineering at BiggerPockets. During his first year in college, he became the startup’s first employee. Twelve years later, Edd reflects on his unusually stable career path and how he’s helped to grow the company into a thriving business with two million users.

It all started with a part-time job

In 2008, Edd began studying computer science at the University of Bournemouth in the U.K. Like many college students, he needed to find a way to make money for rent and living expenses. Edd came across a job posting from a startup that needed some...

As part of my MBA at Carnegie Mellon University, I enrolled in a Leadership development certificate program. I was given the opportunity to work with an amazing Leadership Coach, (Laura Maxwell). Laura helped me on my journey of "overcoming my fear of failure". As part of the program, I was able to share my story with the dean, professors, and the leadership development center at CMU. Since this is a rather common experience, I wanted to share my story with all of you as well.

This story starts, as many do, in childhood. Growing up in India, there has always been the expectation that everyone gets good scores in tests and succeeds in any initiative they take part in. This...