In your one to one, your manager makes a suggestion. The team keeps getting stuck on database problems, and you are the person who seems to enjoy them. Would you like to become the team's specialist? There is a course, some time set aside and a chance to own that whole area. You like the work. You are also not sure you want to be the database person for the rest of your career.
Both feelings deserve attention. Becoming the go to person for something can be one of the fastest ways to grow. You get the hard problems, the interesting conversations and a clear reason for people to remember your name. It can also become a corner you cannot get out of, where every query lands on you and nobody imagines you doing anything else.
Start by asking what the role actually means. Is it a few hours a week alongside your normal work, or will it slowly replace everything else? Who covers when you are away? Does it come with a title, a change in level or just more requests? A vague yes now becomes a full time job by spring.
Think about where the skill leads. Deep knowledge of data travels well. It is useful in almost every company, and few people bother to learn it properly. Ask yourself whether you would still be glad to know it in five years if you moved somewhere else. If yes, that is a strong sign.
Protect your breadth deliberately. Agree with your manager that you will keep doing some feature work, and say how much. Teach at least one other person what you learn, from the start. That makes you more valuable, not less, and it means you can take a holiday.
Set a review point. Six months from now, sit down together and ask whether it is working for you and for the team. A specialism should be something you choose and renew, not something that happens to you.
If you decide to say no, say why, and offer something smaller, such as leading one migration. Turning down a label is not the same as turning down growth.
– Asael Shinder
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