Every Once In A While

27 December 2013

We should sit and think about how things are going with our careers. We should ask at least some of the following questions to ourselves: How are we doing lately? What’s wrong? What’s not? What’s missing? What’s next? What I’ve learned? What I’ve failed to learn?

Questions like these should help finding out the current situation in essence and deciding how to make things better in the future and creating an action plan. I think most people do create this action plan at some point intentionally or not. Although it is not always realistic or practical to do it frequently, there may come some time when an action plan becomes inevitable. I guess New Year is one those popular times, since it is so common to hear all these “New Year’s resolutions” at this time of the year. However, I find it useful to do it when there is a significant change in my career or my career goals.

The following is an half-done review of recent time frame and action plan for myself. It may seem like another “resolution”, but it is not.

What I’ve learned:

• Big companies may not be a good start for your career. They barely care about new employees (since there are thousands of others just like you). So you may end up doing some task that does not interest you at all or lead you anywhere appealing.
• Working on unstable infrastructures/products is a real big pain in the ass. Things break almost all the time, and people get used to it. Nobody knows or cares about the root cause. So you possibly end up waiting or trying things that are completely against the basis of your profession.
• Besides the work specification and environment, people you are working with have humongous effect on your performance.
• Comprehensive testing is extremely important and reviews are valuable.

What I am going to do:

• While being able work on different areas or products is useful, gaining the depth of related skills and expertise in a specific area is essential. I feel that I have had enough experience across various areas, now it is time to focus.
• Although there are numerous opportunities to continue my career, it is important to find the one that is promising, including tasks to either work on stable products or create one, and surrounded by passionate and hardworking people.
• Keep testing and reviewing.

Finally, I think nothing/nobody is perfect, but you have got to try to achieve the best you can.