Progressing my and your career in ICT.....[Blog/Thread]

Barone

I turned 36 this week.

It got me thinking with how I have been approaching my own goals and ambitions, lately I've been feeling fairly jaded and frustrated for some reason. I haven't quite been able to put my finger on what has been bugging me the last few months...maybe it's because I haven't made much progression on the professional front as I'd hoped or received the internal support from my current employer as I'd envisioned.

Either way I'm over whatever has been bugging me and things need to move on.

I plan on using this as a thread/blog to put in my progress/thoughts/updates as I progress along with my own plans. I actually like using this forum, the vast majority of people on here seem fairly intelligent and helpful. Which is a vast change from some of the other forums I've been on and encountered.

I feel that I haven't had much success with my career in ICT, through a combination of bad decisions and perceptions on my own part and also bad luck. This is something I'd like to seriously rectify, I like working with and in ICT, I enjoy my role and my job but it's also important to me that I feel that I have some form of career progression and advancement. What it takes to achieve that is something I'm not sure how to do and usually trawl the internet for rather helpful or useless advice

This is turning into an essay.....

Presently I'm in a fairly well paid job, with a good working environment with almost no idea on how I can tackle my goal of advancing my career other than approaching the HR department and asking to be considered for "internal" opportunities.

At this stage I feel I need to sit down and actually work out what I am interested in and then how I can get there, might be an idea to work out a flexible study plan and then go from their.

Thanks for reading, comments welcome

iBrokeIT

You are not going to progress in this industry very fast just by showing up, filling a seat and going through the motions. YOU need to be the one to take responsibility for your career and professional development because no one else will. Your boss, HR and company will put their own interests a head of yours more often than not - don't even forget that, "It's just business".

If you want career progress and a higher paying job then you need to challenge yourself and develop higher paying skills. What is your plan to do that? Have you identified a career path? Have you looked at actual job postings and identify the skills you'll need to "take the next step"?

If your employer won't promote you and you quality for a higher level position then look else where. You owe your professional development to yourself a head of loyalty to a company. "It's just business", remember?

I am glad to see you made an excellent first step by seeking advice from those that have been in your shoes before. My last bit of advice is don't stop... don't stop learning, don't stop networking with those in your field and don't stop challenging yourself to be a better professional than you were yesterday.

Best of luck to you OP.