Career Cross Roads
I guess most of us, who have been working for a while, must have had this thought. What is next for me? What are my options?
I would like to address those questions in this post, particularly related to IT industry. I hope it is similar situation in other industries. But pardon my ignorance, if I am incorrect.
I have met Career employees, Career Consultants and Independent and not so independent consultants in my long consulting life.
Career goals obviously differ from person to person. In the case of Employees working for a Big Employer (Fortune 100 or the Infosys's of the world) are very content. They enjoy the predictable paycheck, benefits and options. They enjoy working for the Brand, the flexibility of working for a top notch employer. It is a very comfortable zone. Most of us are trained for this. Our parents or uncle's and Aunt's have been in this position or wanted to be in that position in India or US. Invariably, our minds are set for comfort and certainty.
For Consultants, they like it because it is the money and also the variety in the projects. Also, for people like me, who got into consulting without the big picture view, we are stuck but not unhappy. The happiness is contributed by money and the life style. But the real test for consultants is revealed only, when he is on the bench or on the floor for that matter.
The grass always looks greener on the other side. So there are always discussions from both sides to move onto other side. Aside these obvious revelations, the main question is what do you want to be?
We all claim that we made a good decision following our path and this view is reinforced by our peers or the family.
But after being an employee or Consultant for few years say 10, it dawns on us, what's next? Your intellectual curiosity and intrigue for new things would start fostering new thinking. You would be restless with the same old thing and looking for a way out. Sometimes, you may not even have time to arrive at this situation because you are busy with the other important and not so important issues in your life.
But if you are thinking about what is next, that is a good sign in my opinion. Not many employees or Consultants would entertain this. They are in the state of inertia.
There is lot of opportunities to improve yourself and your career and take on new challenges. The new trend I am noticing recently and after the resurgence of the Indian IT economy is the Entrepreneurship. I am meeting individuals who want to come up with new ideas or new business plans to take that leap from drudgery of same old work. Not everyone wants to come up with Youtube but they want to prove it themselves that they are capable of doing more than just working the same old job.
The bottom line is, if you think you are above average, you should shoot for stars. If you are happy go lucky person, do what you are doing. But if you are a person, who likes to challenge yourself, it is never late to embark on new missions. Also, if you are on the top of your career plan, you would not be reading this :)
Let me hear what you think. Happy Surfing.
Suggested Reading - > Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.