I’m not great at planning my own career path.
I used to plan a lot of things about my life. I planned how much money to save in order to pay for college when I was in junior high, I planned when the ideal time would be to have an internship. It gave me comfort to plan out concrete details about my life, maybe not recognizing that a lot of things I planned were things I couldn’t really control. None of those plans worked out. The plans I developed really started to just feel like failures, and after a while it was just setback after setback. Imagine being the worst project manager in history and you hit none of your metrics at a 100% probability. It sucks.
When I started working professionally, I more or less stopped planning. I decided that if any sort of opportunity came up, I would take it. As a result I joined multiple professional organizations. I volunteered and tried to develop new skills. Pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, and screwing up in front of a bunch of professionals at times, these spontaneous actions helped me develop faster than when I had any sort of plan.
I ended up leaving structural engineering because it seemed like there wasn’t any room for freedom for development. I could have just spearheaded whatever career path I wanted in engineering if I tried hard enough, but I guess that’s not the type of effort I’m personally willing to put in. I won’t ever be an entrepreneur. I saw my father go down that path and struggle. Not to mention not having insurance sucked. I like being a part of an organization that can provide ample flexibility for career growth… so that’s how I’ve stumbled to where I’m at now.
My thought process for my career development at this point is:
- If I hate my job, I’ll make a switch. Grass isn’t always greener, but a step away from something I know I hate, is a step forward in my books.
- If I start to feel I’m not being challenged, I’ll make an effort to communicate to my manager so that I can be challenged in a way that I can develop myself. If that opportunity isn’t available at the current role, then I move on to a new position.
- If I’m happy and enjoying my job, then I’ll stay and try to master the craft. I’ll work on the vertical path to career development and not so much horizontal.
These are the 3 basic rules I’ve set for myself and I’ll stick to it until proven otherwise. The lack of an expected plan to follow but still have the drive to improve is what I’ve determined is more important. There are always skills that other people have that I admire and aspire to have one day, so as long as I have that desire, I don’t think I’ll have trouble progressing my career. It’s a simple approach, but it’s also made me loads happier.