Keep Moving Forward

 It's hard to keep current, especially with all the options out there, and stay on a single trajectory to both improve oneself and keep progress going on a career path.  It's no longer a single line that moves one up a traditional line of promotions to some sort of mythical Manager or VP or CEO position but often a zig zag of moving between hard and soft skills or between languages and tools that often don't lead to one place.

It's like a continually evolving buffet where tools, languages, processes, and management styles continually update or are reviewed, and reviewed again.  Deciding on what trajectory to take is difficult, especially if as usually happens, one tends to change jobs every couple of years.  Anecdotally people change jobs every 3 to 5 years, the time of the company man has been long gone.  Very few stay on at a company for decades working for one place, many have worked for company after company where they only thing they take with them are skills, knowledge, and experiences.

So what to do?  I take it in three steps on what I want to learn:

1. What am I doing now that I need to improve on?
2. What am I doing next that I need to know more about?
3. What is coming up that I need to understand?

This makes the choices fairly simple for me, as languages evolve and there are those I am using constantly then I want to keep up and improve my coding ability.  Being able to make code more concise, readable, or find new ways to be DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) are what I look to be able to improve at the moment.  Keep current skills fresh and improved, move up to the next level, and that keeps my toolbox fresh and up to date.

Anything that may be coming up, some new tool, idea, or something the company is using is always a good option.  It's hard to implement things, or use things, you don't understand.  Becoming familiar with the next thing coming is a good way to be prepared, don't wait until it comes.  Take the time to figure out what it is, learn it, then plan for it.  Knowing about the next project makes planning much easier.

Along the same lines there are new projects that may be coming, in companies change doesn't happen in a vacuum.  People know, they are aware and plan for change.  As the Scout motto says - Be Prepared.  Which also works well for personal advancement, being ready for the next change or the next project is the best way to succeed and keep the time working on it down and being ready to jump in and start not only makes one look better, but also starts you on the path to success.

Keep moving forward, but also keep preparing yourself.