I suddenly realized that I'm reaching my 4th year in the industry this June. This feels like a monumental time just like my senior year in university. And so it made me look back on my progress so far.
What are things you wish you've known or things you hope to achieve by the time you reach 4 years in the work force?
You don't have to make any specific kind of career progressions to lead, management, etc. It's 100% up to you. If you want a new thing, go for it, otherwise don't.
Some people accept "promotions" that they don't actually want.
Just one thing to keep in the back of your mind as new opportunities present themselves in the future.
I second this setiment. Your journey is your journey, and the pace at which tech evolves is crazy.
Set yourself reasonable goals and that's the ideal progression - don't set a time limit on your goals. Just be self aware to know what you want, aim for it and deploy patience ✌️✌️
I love hearing about the different journeys people have made to get where they are. Everyone has such a unique story and it makes for a really diverse industry.
We completely agree Luke, the more diversity there is in the stories of people's progression, the less doubt people apply when learning because they can clearly see everyone has their own unique path to follow.
I like this. I'm not motivated by corporate ladders, so I don't think my manager knows what to do with me. I work at a senior level, so I'll probably get a promotion this year, but I guess I'm not excited enough about it (beyond money) for him :P
As long as I'm getting paid in a stable gig, cool :)
Part of the issue, though, is
So it seems so wrong to not care about a 5/10/20-year plan. Everyone thinks I'm trying to pivot to data science or ML but I'm just doing my thing whatever happens.
Wow! Kudos for keeping your ground.
Ben is so right. Focus on what you like to do. If you like coding, keep learning exactly that. If you like bring responsible for team members and the team performance, try to work on that.
I recently quit my Job as a backend lead and will start a job as a "normal" developer again. I did it, because I really love coding. And that's what I want to do. As a lead, I spent too much time in customer calls and other meetings.
Do what you love.
All the best Lars!
I love that you emphasized have
It's good to keep this as a reminder as it often gets drowned by the corporate world's must do's.
Have a toy project or two in your back pocket that you can work on during lulls at work or when your morale gets low. It's useful to remember that making things is fun, and that's easier to achieve when something you're making isn't tied to work.
Thanks Jess!
This is helpful advise. I started to build a tool that automates some of my work.
As humans I think it is pretty easy to think things like "I wish I had known this", "I wish I had done this", "I wish I was in...". I do that myself a lot of times.
However, I try to force my mind to think the following way: my experience (now on my 7th year as a professional software developer (oh wow, I feel old now...)) has taken me where I am today and it's better to focus on the things you've done that make you proud. Try not to regret but learn from your past experiences. Picture yourself where you want to be in the following 1-2 years (a realistic goal) and work for it.
'Begin with the end in mind'
Thanks Pau! And congratulations on your 7th year!
Follow your dreams :)