What Have You Done for Me Lately?
This is a book about how to remain relevant throughout your career in technology. You might have chosen your career path because you like technology and technology-related projects; are especially skilled in science, technology, engineering or math (popul
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What Have You Done for Me Lately? This is a book about how to remain relevant throughout your career in technology. You might have chosen your career path because you like technology and technology-related projects; are especially skilled in science, technology, engineering or math (popularly referred to as STEM); and/or observed the many job openings with relatively high salaries that are almost always available to people with these skills. Obtaining a STEM-related degree at a university requires a lot of work. You likely spent long hours in libraries and on projects in anticipation of a big payoff when you graduated (while some of your roommates in non-technical courses of study at the same institution were spending significantly more time in social activities). But when you began your first job after you obtained your degree, you probably began to realize that your learning had just begun. You might be taken aback at first by the title of this chapter if you believe that you are a “rock star” in your present company or organization. You could believe that since you’ve established a track record of success by taking on difficult tasks and even received some accolades, you’ve “made it.” But you will likely find that using these same skills in the future to solve similar problems will not be possible. I have seen some people slow their learning once they found a niche and built a reputation, believing that their past success will guarantee future employment. © Robert Stackowiak 2019 R. Stackowiak, Remaining Relevant in Your Tech Career, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-3703-8_1
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Chapter 1
What Have You Done for Me Lately?
There are several reasons why slowed learning becomes a problem. Your current awesome technical skills might become irrelevant as technology changes. The needs of the business will likely also change over time. If you do not anticipate such changes or show a willingness to adapt, you run the risk of being left behind or seen as non-essential to the business. If you read the introduction to this book, you observed that my career had many twists and turns. But my career also had a logical progression to it. I used new skills that I developed in certain roles to build value that was applicable to my next job or role. In this chapter, I’ll describe how to stay out in front of changes in technology and business by: •
Tracking trending technologies
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Understanding business threats and opportunities
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Applying technology to opportunity
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Aligning a career development plan
Some of these topics might not sound like what you signed up for when you first pursued a technical degree. I have found them fundamental to establishing relevant value at the organizations and companies that I worked for. They also helped to provide me with an exit strategy from a job or company whenever I believed that I needed one.
Tracking Trending Technologies I always find it useful to explore emerging technologies and trends. Often, the advancements and changes that I tracked were outside of the scope of int
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