As programmers, we usually place much effort into coding that we easily overlook the need for career growth. A clear sign that you’ve overlooked your career development for a long time is the unmotivated feeling while at work. The following five tips can help you with your dev career.
Setting A Career Goal
Decide on what you prefer being in the future as well as the role you want. Do you prefer having a new title that comes with more responsibilities? Given thought to being proficient in a new framework or mastering the latest JavaScript pattern? Fancy a higher salary? Begin with looking into the engineering levels at Facebook to figure out the level that you fit in currently. These levels help with the segmentation of engineers using expected skills and abilities. They are obtained after a certain period is met by a programmer. Once you’ve discovered your level, take a look at the level that’s above yours to uncover the skills that you need to be improving. These levels are ideal for self-improvement. Still, they are used by companies when deciding on the level placements when hiring you and the pay range the company will set for you when joining them. Additionally, they are used during peer reviews and raises.
Work Late On Your Personal Growth
Changes in the technological world happen quickly. Keeping abreast of these changes requires effort and time. You may rarely face pressure to be up to date with new technology once you get comfortable about your day’s job technology. Often, after a year or two of work in the same company learning plateaus. Doing your own out of work projects is an ideal way to deal with this. By doing this, you continue sharpening your skills. This need not feel like work but rather like fun. You may also make some extra cash.
Seek Advice From Your Mentors And Managers
Your managers and mentors are concerned with seeing you succeed. They act as great career resources. Express to them how interested you are in growing once you meet them. Seek advice on specifics that you can take up to improve on at work to help you reach the next level. Read as much as you can to broaden your knowledge, like this article from Amiqus about programmer languages when hiring. If you’re experiencing a learning plateau or you’re having trouble with burnouts, inquire whether switching teams is an option within your company. Your motivation and growth are a priority for good companies. Don’t just sit and get burned out for you to realize some opportunities passed you.
Take Measurements Of Your Progress
You can’t improve on things you don’t measure. To take control of your programming activity, tools such as WakaTime can be used. The motivation for you to program in more language can be facilitated by the “Goals” feature. This tool also helps you to spend more time working on the right projects for you as a programmer. WakaTime is an ideal example of how you can work late, but not on work. That’s since I developed WakaTime in my spare time after getting done with my day job. This was back in 2013. This has been a priceless part of my career growth as a developer since then.
Get Used To Interviewing To Deal With Career Stagnation
Regularly take on coding challenges. Solving programmer challenging problem does not constantly seem useful. Still, forming a habit of dealing with new problems is very beneficial. You can build this skill by practicing coding challenges. This helps you to prepare for new opportunities. Changing jobs is the fastest way towards career growth. A significant pay raise often comes with changing jobs. This raise typically is at least about 20%. Loyalty to your current employment shouldn’t be an excuse for your career development or learning. You are entitled to a challenging job that will propel you to the next level!
