The Career Plan part 3
Daniel Whittaker graduated seven years ago and currently working at Google. Last week he came back to CMU to recruit students in a job fair, so I invited him to give some advice to my students. Following was what he said.
“Anyone who is taking Professor Vu's “Introduction to Computer Systems” probably had to develop a career plan in the first week. A career plan helps students determine their skills and interests, what career is best for them, and what skills that they need for their chosen career.”
” By developing a career plan, you can focus on what you want to do with your career and how to get there. By understanding your career goal, you can focus on the opportunities that are available to you. Instead of limiting your future, a career plan helps you to find all possibilities that you may not even know. For example, there are several career possibilities with Computer Science students, but most students only think of software developer. You could be web developers, software game designers, security analysts, data scientists, cloud computing specialists, etc. Each job requires different skills and training, knowing what you want to do then you can choose which courses you need to take. A career plan can also guide you into doing what you want with your life too.”
“By having a career plan early in my first year, I selected many courses that interest me to develop my technical skills, so I had no problem with getting a job at Microsoft. However, after a few years, I got bored with software development, so I decided to apply to Google. Having a new job challenge me to learn more. Most software people change job to get a better salary, but to me, the challenge is about learning new things to advance my career. It forces me to work hard to learn more new skills. Many people stop learning when they have a position at a good company, but I remember Professor Vu's instruction that every three to five years, you must update the career plan and focus on growing your career and expand knowledge. He often said: “In technology, more than any other field, lifelong learning is mandatory for success. As the knowledge and tools are constantly evolving; there is always something new to learn.” For most people, learning new thing can be difficult, but for me it means opportunity. When you are willing to learn new skills, it puts you ahead of others; and when you are focused on what skills you learn, it can help you grow your career faster.”
“No matter where you are in your career, there is more to learn. When you have been working for a while, there is not as much for you to learn in your daily work. Your knowledge is limited to what you know in that position. By having a career plan that can be updated every few years, you have a list of things to learn. I often ask myself: “If I want to get promoted to the next level in my job, what do you need to accomplish? Are there any skills I need to learn? As I think for the next three years, five years, and ten years, what do I want to do? Are there any areas where I could develop and improve? By answering these questions, I can update my career plan and focus on what I need.”
“Technical skills open the door of opportunity for you and help you to get the job that you want. However, after a few years, you need soft skills. When you work for a company, you spend more time with other workers. If you have good relationships with them, you enjoy your work better and be more productive. When other workers like you and respect you, then you are more likely to get promoted to the next level. One of my advantages is I read a lot to maximize my learning. I read several technical blogs and websites to increase my knowledge. I do not waste time for trivial things like Facebook or Instagram because you do not learn much from that type of social media. You must spend the time to learn and grow your career because it is something can be wasted if you are not careful. I know what I want, I have a career plan that guides me, and in a few years; I move up to the manager and senior manager of a top company.”
There are many ways to grow your career, but I hope this little advice could give you some inspirations so that when you come to this class tomorrow, you could update your career plan and ready to take the challenge.”
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
