I haven’t read Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In, nor do I plan to.

But this post about a bit of the book got me thinking about career risk-taking and being male, and the things I’ve gotten away with in my career that a woman probably wouldn’t, or at least would likely be effectively trained out of doing both by culture and having more responsibilities.

When I was 26 years old, I applied to and was interviewed for a job that I was objectively not qualified for. I didn’t lie in my resume, nor in my interview – but what I did do was absolutely kill the interview and effortlessly strolled through every tech and other question like I’d already been doing the job for a decade. In the interview, I suspect I went from the bottom-of-the-list candidate to “We have to hire this guy.”

So a few days later I was offered the job, and had a decision to make. Do I accept this job for which I am probably unqualified for and might utterly fail at, or do I stay in my safe and comfortable position?

Of course I opted to make the leap.

Overnight, I went from having been a lowly helpdesk tech into managing the entire IT operations for a company with offices up and down the Eastern seaboard. My salary more than doubled. I had a personal assistant (alas, the only time and job I’ve ever had one) and pretty much carte blanche as long as things got done.

To put it into terms and jobs that more people would tend to be familiar with, I went from being the district attorney’s janitor to being the district attorney in one step, effectively.

And I did well at it, through both skill, gumption and making shit up as I went. I honestly didn’t like the job much, but it was an important career step and I was really good at it.

For various reasons – all cultural and reasonable, and perfectly rational – I don’t think many women would be in a position to do what I did. Hell, looking back, I am not sure that I’d do what I did all over again.