How many times have you felt stuck in your career, like nothing new happens? Perhaps you have worked in the same position for a long time, have not improved your skill set, and cannot see what path your career will take next. Does it remind you of something?
When you feel like you are stuck in your tech career, it is pretty discouraging because it can be difficult to find the right path when working in the IT sphere due to constant changes. However, as I found during my career path, feeling stuck does not always mean you are in the wrong sphere of business; you need a change sometimes.
Here are 6 steps you should follow in order to find what to do when you feel stuck in your tech career.
1. Understand Why You Are Stuck
To make a step forward in your career, understand why you feel you are stuck.
Ask yourself questions like:
- Are you growing as a professional working in your current position?
- Is your job interesting to you?
- Can you be promoted inside the company where you are working?
- Are your contributions appreciated in the company?
- Are you burnt out or are you just bored with your work?
Feeling stuck because of burnout and the feeling you have outgrown your current job are not the same thing. For example, if you love software development and your work seems to be repetitive, you should find a new challenge instead of making a turn in another direction. Finding the reason for your feeling can help you find the solutions.
2. Decide What You Want to Have Next in Your Career
Another very common mistake is telling you don't want to do something, instead of trying to understand what you do want to do. "It's time for me to have a new job" is easier to say than understanding why you need it.
During my career path, I moved from developer to team lead, then to lead developer, and finally became a technology leader. I couldn't plan my 10-year perspective from the beginning of my career, so I took all steps that could offer me a new experience.
Now, you should not understand your entire future path in detail. Try to define your goals in the near future. Perhaps, it means becoming a senior developer, taking a managerial position, working in DevOps, or some other area. What is more important, now you should think about the next step in your career, not about the entire future path.
3. Find Out What Additional Skills You Need To Reach Your Objectives
After having decided on your next step in your career, think about the additional skills you need in order to get to the next level. For example, if you dream about being the technical lead, improving your coding skills is not enough.
The additional skills can be, among others:
- Explaining complicated technical concepts to specialists in other fields
- Mentoring junior developers
- Making architectural decisions
- Prioritizing tasks and coordination
Or, for instance, if your dream is to become a cloud engineer or DevOps specialist, you will need to learn new technologies like Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platforms.
Obviously, you shouldn't learn everything at once. Take one or two skills that would help you come one step closer to your objectives.
4. Find Ways to Move Forward With Your Current Employer
Sometimes the best option to break through your feeling of being stuck is to stay where you are and use all existing opportunities. Before you start your job search, you should analyze your current employer and see what opportunities are possible.
Do you have opportunities to do some volunteering outside your routine tasks? Can you help your junior developers to become better? Are you able to run a small tech project? Discuss your opportunities to develop with your manager.
For example, if you dream about becoming a lead developer, you can volunteer to manage a small project and lead all technical discussions. All these activities can increase your confidence and show that you are ready for new responsibilities. Of course, every company can offer such opportunities. In case you discussed your goals with your employer but there is no place for you, you can move forward in another way.
5. Talk to Somebody Who Has Already Had the Same Problems
Being stuck can blind you and prevent you from noticing some obvious opportunities. Speaking to somebody who had the same experience can help you. Discuss your problems and obstacles with your mentor, former colleagues, or career coach. Tell them about your situation, your goals, and difficulties, and ask them what helped you overcome the mentioned issues.
As a career coach for IT professionals, I often observe that people underestimate their experience and abilities. Discussing the issue with somebody else opens new opportunities for you.
You do not have to solve everything alone.
6. Make an Action Plan and Start Realizing It
You can consider changing your career for a month and do nothing. Making the action plan instead of waiting for a perfect plan can help you start acting.
If you want to be a leader, you can schedule a meeting with your manager. If you dream about working with some new technologies, develop a project for yourself. And if you are ready to make applications for new jobs, update your CV and LinkedIn.
Create some achievable goals for the next 30 days and plan the steps.
Ready to Get Your Career Moving?
In case you are feeling stuck, not quite understand how to move forward, or need to make some advances in your career, I can help. Together we will analyze your goals and obstacles, and find some ways to move forward.
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