To start: I am extremely thankful for my career.
I am blessed to be able to work alongside talented individuals with previous experience as actual Network Engineers, Sysadmins, DevOps, Help Desk, etc. People who really worked their way up through IT. This career change has done wonders for me.
But… I’m looking toward what’s next. In simplest terms, I have no clue what my 5-year plan is. I can give you a 2-3 year plan, but beyond that? Nothing.
Coding
One thing has become very clear to me: I am lacking a fundamental ability to code.
I’m not looking into software dev roles or anything where coding is all I would be doing, but almost every single role I look at in Cybersecurity, Machine Learning, AI, Gaming, Network Engineering, Server Administration, etc. requires 1-3 years of coding experience.
I was pretty good with Java in college, but I haven’t touched a lick since then. Other than an occasional foray into VBA scripts in Excel, I haven’t built anything meaningful.
At this point, I’m looking at it like another small skill to add to my portfolio. It’s not everything I am, but it’s like being able to do math – it’s just something I will need to know on occasion.
If not?
If I don’t start getting some projects under my belt it feels like I’ll be trapped in a Support Engineer or Cloud Engineer role forever. I love this job, but it has it’s downsides. I don’t have the financial pressure I used to, but I want something new and exciting. Most of all, I would like some more autonomy. Cloud Support becomes very… call-center-y.
I would love to hear some thoughts on how to decide what the next step looks like. Looking around the world of tech it seems that new positions are being invented every day. On the other hand, trying to plan 10 years out for a role I might like to be in down the road seems impossible. There’s far too many steps in-between and skills to acquire before then.
Right now it feels like the right answer is just to take any step, no matter which direction. See if it feels right, and figure out what’s next from there.
What lessons have you learned from your career in tech? Do you have any advice for someone in the first few years of their career? How do you figure out what to specialize in?
Best,
Noah P.
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