In my last post, we talked about “Are You Team A or Team B?” and ran through what those teams might look like.
I showed the post to a friend of mine and he noted that I might be leaving some folks out. Maybe folks that are just looking to get on their first team at all; perhaps they don’t feel like they can be so choosey of their team environment.
He has a good point.
With whatever I write here, I always intend to be helpful and not to exclude people. So if you stopped by, read that post, and then kinda thought I was being less than inclusive .. my apologies.
My friend is right. If you’re trying to get going in the industry, perhaps you’re going to have to work on some teams that are … shall we say .. less than ideal for you.
Let me assure you that is totally fine and normal. Some folks call that paying your dues I guess. We all to a degree have to work our way into a position that we find ideal.
The trick is keeping the goal in mind, right?
I recommend writing those goals down too. This time of year, many folks are creating New Year’s Resolutions but that’s not what I mean for this.
All I mean is put together a plan for what you want to do and stick with it. And get detailed.
- What type of environment do you want to be in?
- What type of developer do you want to be?
- What type of technologies do you want to work with?
- Do you want to work with users or just write code? (yes this comes up, a LOT)
- Do you want a flexible schedule?
- What type of commute?
There are tons of things you can list about where you want to be with a job. Maybe your first one won’t have it. Maybe the next two won’t either.
And perhaps you’re in a job currently where you want these things and don’t know how to change it.
Remember change comes with small steps. Well, anything you’re going to stick with does. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities and options when you sit down to think about long term goals.
Don’t get disheartened though. Take it one small step at a time. For instance.
What is one step you can take in the next 24 hours that will move you toward one of your goals? Think of that, then do it.
Take that first step to getting where you want to go and you might be surprised how much better you feel about the future and the possibilities it holds.