My boss (a long time friend) made it a job related task for me to figure out what I expect or hope for myself to be doing in five years professionally speaking. This blog post is going to be my effort at figuring out what my answer to the question is. So if you plan on reading the whole post... I'm sorry for the jumps in thought I'm likely to make.
I don't really know where to start. I mean, people have asked it of me in a general sense, where do I want to be with my life in some period of time. But I don't really have a good answer for those questions either. I usually think about things like being retired early, having a small beach house and a dog to play with, and of course, having enough money to not have to worry about it anymore. I don't want an extravagant life, but I don't want money to be a source of concern or stress either. I just want to live.
With that said, I guess the first and most honest response to where I want to be professionally is that I want to be retired with enough money to live on for the rest of my life. Then I start thinking about how unlikely that is, and really, what employer wants to hear that the employee isn't interested in working at all in five years?
I have to admit that of my software engineering jobs (and really the others as well), this current job is my favorite. I love the people I work with. The work itself is interesting, and I even crack open my laptop at home in my free time now and then to do some work. And I didn't even admit to myself that the pay was important to me before, but now I actually feel like I'm being paid fairly. So this company is one I can see myself still working for in five years, if the general feel of the company stays roughly the same for that long.
I just thought of two more things that might be important to keep in mind. First, I keep calling it a "job" instead of a "career". The difference in meaning is something I should keep in mind. Second, I've never worked for a single company for five years. Companies have gone out of business due to the dot com crash, some just laid off 40 to 60 percent of their employees, and one company fired me because they thought they could get more and better work from someone who didn't have half the experience I had and for less money. Oh well. No worries there. That company was awful. Anyway, I haven't worked at one place for 5 years before. So maybe I just don't have any basis for figuring out what I might expect or hope for in five years at this company.
My boss mentioned a few ideas to try to help me, like becoming the expert in a finer field of software developement, or maybe I want to be a tech lead, or something and have people reporting to me. And I keep coming back to "I don't know".
What about the idea of just seeing where the path leads on its own? Is that a valid option? I'm happy doing what I'm doing now. How can I possibly know what I will be happy doing in five years? "Goals" you say? I already mentioned my goals... to be retired, have a little beach house, and a dog I can befriend. "Professional goals" you say? I still don't know. There's some kind of disconnect. Maybe I'm just not an ambitious person. Maybe that's a good thing... maybe the way I am lends itself well to living in the moment instead of being trapped in the past or lost in the possibilities of the future. Maybe it's a bad thing because it means without an ambition for the future, I don't have enough motivation to accomplish much.
I was hoping that by writing all this stuff down I might find some answers. But I haven't come up with anything so far. I guess I still have lots to think about.
2 comments:
As your boss... and friend, here are some quick thoughts. Retiring with enough money to live on from the rest of your life is an honest, if not very realistic answer.
However, maybe you can do early retirement. (e.g. Maybe you can retire at 50 instead of 35) If that's you're longer term goal, break down how you can get there. What things will you need to accomplish in the next 15 years to retire early. Now look at that from a professional context... if you have a long term plan for retiring early, you'll need to figure out the steps to get there, and you will ultimately need to list your first steps. And those may be the things you want to accomplish in the next five years.
If you just wait around and dream about it happening... well it never will. You need a plan, and motivation and need to live follow it. That's how you'll be successful.
It's like my dad taught me before he died: "Things don't just happen, you've got to make them happen."
My goal as your manager is to help you achieve your goals in a way that will dovetail with the companies goals. And that's why I asked the question in the first place.
Alright off of my soapbox. It boils down to this: if you want to retire early then that's a good laudable goal. What do you need to personally and professionally accomplish in the next five years to make that happen.
Hope that helps.
Good luck,
-Jason
also, you can befriend a dog almost immediately. You don't have to be retired.
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