Software career planning 101, Career planning earlt stage software professionals. Detailed guidance for fresh graduates and first time job seekers.
Software engineering is more about being human than about machines!
A career in software engineering is not the same as being good at coding. The field of software engineering has been evolving for decades. As the technology frontier gathers momentum professionals have to continuously recalibrate to fit in or they become obsolete even before they realize it. This trend is inevitable. But, Is it avoidable?
Yes. Reinventing a career overnight is impossible but staying within a competing distance is possible. The answer is the same old boring strategy, planning. One has to define a flexible framework to tackle changing times. The efforts to get a great professional life might cost personal space. Is this trade-off mandatory?
No. Understanding the skill set, market fit, and opportunity cost can help in coming up with a practical career plan that doesn’t overwhelm the personal life. A good career plan is a key to peace of mind in the chaotic universe of software. One doesn’t have to plan every day of their career. One cannot keep boosting skills with certifications. Just having periodic checkpoints and a set of goals to look forward to are a great start.
Loans, pandemics, recessions, and many other factors will impede progress. Having a simple Plan B will ensure you have enough to get started again. Not all plans need to work, just the fallbacks shouldn’t fail.
Overview
- Section 1: Introduction to analogies and ideas being used to express complex ideas later ideas in the course.
- Section 2: A quick overview of the software industry landscape.
- Section 3: A section dedicated to career planning for some aged 20-25
- Immediate challenges.
- Most probable role responsibilities.
- 10 Immediately applicable action items
- 5 things to avoid
- Pointers to proactively choose transition
- Book recommendations to enrich holistic perspective.
- Section 4: Dedicated section for professionals aged between 26-30
- Challenges
- Role responsibilities
- 10 Action items
- 5 Don’t
- Proactive transition pointers
- Personal experience from this stage
- Book recommendations
- Section 5: Dedicated to 31-35 years aged professionals
- Challenges
- Role Responsibilities
- Action items
- Things to avoid
- Transition pointers
- Book recommendations
- Section 6: A perspective for 36+ years of professionals
- Challenges
- Dos
- Don’ts
- Transition pointers
- Book recommendations
- Section 7: Closing remarks
- A perspective about managing the unsuccessful phases of interview processes.
Key Takeaways:
✅ Understanding the software as a business hierarchy.
✅ Building a more holistic perspective around career.
✅ Learn to gauge competition and unpredictable factors at play.
✅ Starting kit to build a framework for future career planning
✅ Specific and relevant Do’s and Don’t that are applicable to all software engineering professionals irrespective of role, technologies, and geographies.
What this course doesn’t address:
❌ Interview strategies to crack any particular interviews.
❌ Short-term advice to get higher salaries.
❌ Any unsolicited advice to advance a career.
❌ Any biased opinion about a particular technology, framework, language, or company.
