I remembered a discussion with a friend of mine that had us talking about careers. Two questions came up:
- What is considered a good career in tech?
- How do you want your career to look like when you're "done"?
I feel that it's good to think ahead and reassess this from time to time.
I've seen the definition of a good career change many times on social media. From "working for a big tech company" all the way to "owning my own company" to "being an established writer/speaker/author". It varies from person to person.
So two points up for discussion. Let's see what we think.
Latest comments (5)
Q1) No idea since it differs from person to person which comes down to your own personal preference, economic situation, politics, the country you are in and market. For me, it's more like being adaptable to changes in the market to bring home the bacon and doing work that allows you to feel fulfilled.
Q2) Simple jumping to another career from a developer -> entrepreneur -> real estate investor & angel investor to create a ripple effect for the society in what I do.
A good career in tech allows you to progressively grow and gives you the ownership of solutions/products to apply what you’ve learned.
When my career is done, I hope to have had a impact on the organizations I’ve been apart of and been able to successfully pass down the things I’ve learned.
Cool! I just wrote a comment on another article about this.
A good job should...
Challenge you in (exclusively) healthy ways. This can include learning technical skills, improving time management habits, improving interpersonal communication or conflict resolution skills.
Provide opportunities and/or resources to pursue your passions, either through the job itself, or outside of work with the resources you have available to you.
I believe those are the only qualities that matter in a job, and they naturally take different forms for different people.
On the other side of the question what do I want my career to look like when I look back.
I have set myself up well financialy and have freedom to do the things I want to do.
I have made a positive impact on my community and my peers. I have passed down wisdom to others that will remain with them
I have made an impact on some major world issue along the way, global warming, life expectancy, hunger, energy, etc...
I hope that my tech career is never considered "done". I think one big reason that a tech career is so appealing is that it would be possible to do until your mind won't let you.
Another angle could be considered successful when I have enough assets setup that I am setup for retirement and I get to choose what I do.