There is a truth that hiring taught me and my own career confirmed: skills can be learned. Attitude cannot be taught. It changes only when the person decides to change it, and most never do. Either the fire is there, or it is not.
My own proof
I never convinced anyone with the highest degree. My school years had detours, not least for health reasons, and my papers were never the strongest argument in the room. What convinced people was work ethic: doing the work, caring about the result, treating overtime not as heroism but as what it sometimes takes. Intern to country manager. Department lead. CTO. Not one of those doors was opened by a certificate first. The work came first, and the titles followed.Hiring for fire
When I hire, in Prishtinë or in Switzerland, I hire for hunger, ownership and honesty, and I train the skills. A brilliant CV with a bad attitude costs a team more than a junior with fire ever will, because attitude spreads in both directions. One corrosive senior can undo ten good hires.The unfashionable part
Hard work has become unfashionable to say out loud. It still outperforms. Talent decides how fast you start. Work decides how far you get. The clichés are clichés because they keep being true.If you are reading this without the perfect papers: that is not your handicap, it is your advantage. You cannot coast, so you will not. Show up, deliver, and let the work make the argument. It is the only argument that never gets old.