Picking a Career Path: How Do You Do It?
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So I wrote up an article about picking a career path. In IT, especially those new to the field, it can be a bit of a challenge to pick what direction you want to go in. Do you want to be a Windows guy? Do you want to be a Linux guy? Maybe a bit of both? Are you looking to specialize in Hyper-V or VMware? Or even Citrix? Picking what road to walk down can often be difficult, with no clear choice. I wrote an article that I hope helps some people with this decision.
http://www.thanksaj.com/2014/08/picking-your-own-path-the-perils-of-determining-what-you-want-to-do/
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I'm not sure how many people actually choose their specialism, and how many stumble into. I certainly didn't choose to get into ERP, but just happened to be offered a job in it when I was desperately in need of job. I didn't even want a career in computing. Most people I know, if you ask them how they ended up doing what they're doing, will say "Dunno, it just kind of happened, and here I am, 20 years later, an expert lion tamer/DBA/window cleaner".
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I'm not sure how many people actually choose their specialism, and how many stumble into. I certainly didn't choose to get into ERP, but just happened to be offered a job in it when I was desperately in need of job. I didn't even want a career in computing. Most people I know, if you ask them how they ended up doing what they're doing, will say "Dunno, it just kind of happened, and here I am, 20 years later, an expert lion tamer/DBA/window cleaner".
I can agree with that. It does "just happen" most of the time. That was why I made the point about being flexible, and while not being fickle, still being willing to change.
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A lot of people just fall into careers, that is most definitely true. But I think that there is a lot of ability to control your specialization destiny too. It is just that most people do not opt to do that and since they don't put in a lot of effort into a particular specialization they are left to the whims of the businesses that they support as to what specialization they will pursue.
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@scottalanmiller said:
A lot of people just fall into careers, that is most definitely true. But I think that there is a lot of ability to control your specialization destiny too. It is just that most people do not opt to do that and since they don't put in a lot of effort into a particular specialization they are left to the whims of the businesses that they support as to what specialization they will pursue.
Also a very valid point. Your reason is the main reason I wrote the article. Most people just act lazy.
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They may not be in a position to learn the specialization they want, but there are always stepping stones they can take.
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@ajstringham said:
Most people just act lazy.
There are plenty of other reasons other than laziness. A key one is that people might give a higher priority to the organisation they work for than the specialisation. Let's say you work for Microsoft and you love it. You want to be a Hyper-V specialist, but there's no opportunities there and Microsoft want you to be a Windows 8 specialist. Do you leave to pursue your specialisation? If you love working at Microsoft, chances are you'll stay.
I could be wrong as I've never had any desire to specialise in anything. I'm a generalist. I get bored easily. I have multiple hobbies, none of which I'm much good at, and I pursue jobs with as much variation in them as possible. Sometimes I think I'd like to be very good at something, but generally, I'm happy being a jack of all trades.
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I think people who are passionate about specializing mostly have to do so on their own. Nothing wrong with allowing opportunity to be your guide. I enjoy most anything so I tend to be like you CB and just go along for the ride. I'm a generalist and never specialized.
But if you are passionate about HyperV or SQL Server then there is a lot that you can do outside of work to make yourself specialized to a point where any shop looking to use you as a generalist or for a different specialty would not find you cost effective.
