Career advice for Software Developers (or IT Professionals) 101: What you don't learn in schools or from peers.

I find myself sitting at home, unable to find work for over 2 months now and I ask myself "What is wrong with me?"

Finding a job is easy but finding the right job is difficult. The right job is a job where you can "fit" in perfectly, where you can learn, grow and contribute to the business (at the end of the day). Remember, business is investing in you and wants to see a ROI (Return On Investment) in the short and long term you're with them.

There were couple of questions that took my attention recently (from Programmers.StackExchange) and I thought, "Gees! So, I'm not alone in this!" and it got me pondering. The questions can be found here:

1. Career Choice: Money or Knowledge?
2. Best Industry to work for as a Developer.

What it boils down to is this: You, and I, need to find a right career path that will mould you to be what you want to be and the career that will get you there. It all starts with this very important keyword: GOAL (no, not the ones Messi does when he puts the ball on the net, behind the keeper).

• GOAL

That's self-explanatory, if you want to achieve something or get somewhere, have a goal. What's difficult is:

1. The planning to meet our goals. This is due to factors like emotions, our environments, etc. We want to have goals that satisfies us and we take emotions, environments (like "I want to be closer to friends and families", etc.) into account. 
2. Tracking our achievements towards that goal (what I call the Pursuit of Happiness). The thing that distracts us as IT specialists (independent of field or engineering) is money and debts. We are all victims of it. In my case, petrol prices increases every 1st wednesday of the months, food prices are high (but in advertisements they keep emphasising on "lowest prices you can trust!", I'm not mentioning names here, but we know who you are), school fees increases by 20% annually, etc. What do we do? We find a job that pays hence we lose track/focus on what we want to become. Eventually, you become a 45 to 50 year old person who wonders "What happened"? Yeah....Sh*t really happens...we know.

Think about it? Why did you want to be a software developer? Why did you go to University (varsity) and spent 3 years or more (excluding the parties, hubblies, the women, etc.) to get your degree? Now, all of a sudden, there's no goal? You just want to take a job where you are required to code and get paid. I got sidetracked too and I realised that it's destroying me too quickly. NEVER take that road!

Now that you have a qualification under your name, the few things you should be asking yourself are:

1. What do I want to be in X years time? (X is up to you, some grow faster than others)
2. Where do I need to go to get there?
3. Who do I have to rub shoulders with to get me there?

Once you established your goals, find a suitable job that will make you achieve this. Bear in mind, a company loves a focused man (just like a woman loves a man who is driven).

• TARGET

Our goals are done, now it's our target. Yes, money can be your target (if that's your happiness) but to be the expert you, you need a target. For me, being a recognised Software engineer is one of my goals and that's what makes me finding a right job difficult. I can write software, a 13 year old computer whiz kid can write code, but to the kid, he's content displaying graphics on a screen whereas I want to engineer a soccer stadium size software (that's what I want to do). 

To answer your target field, your question must be "What do I see myself becoming at year X?" (x being greater than current year). The reason for X is that some want to be fully grown quickier than others.

Once you have a target, the real fun is:

• THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (THE CAREER PATH):

Following the question mentioned above (Best Industry to work for as a Developer), one needs to find a place that he/she must fit in. Career paths varies from individuals to individuals (we have different taste in stuff). One comments was,

I will never work in the financial domain no matter what the pay.

and I can understand why (coming from a banking sector myself). Not focusing on the payment (the money), I will suggest that you look for the industry/company which provides you with facility/means and the people at your disposal for you to become glue to and suck whatever you need to become great. Remember, you are an investment, and every investment, there is growth (interest) incurred and ROI (returns on Investment) as output. Business will pay you (invest in you), because they believe that you will bear interest in them and grow, so their ROI must be higher than what they pay you. Your focus must be the GROWTH part of this: Not only are you growing to become the better you (that should be priority to you as only you can become the best you) but can your growth be seen and reflected back towards your career?

If you don't surround yourself with people who can help you grow, critique your work, etc. or you're not in an environment/industry that can mold you to be where you want to be and you're chasing the money (which many does), make sure you know that you don't dig a pit so deep that it becomes your graveyard.

One final advice: Never pick the first job offer that gets offered to you: You are covering yourself from other opportunities that may come your way. Remember, job hopping is seen negatively by companies. Also, never become a product of body shopping: recruitment agencies will negotiate good money for you (and you have a smile from ear to ear) but later in life, you will cry as your dreams and asperations to become the real you has passed.

PS: Now, you maybe saying, then how will I be getting the money I so deserve? The rapper, Ma$e has an important line in his song "Welcome Back": "I don't chase money, money chase me,".
In essence, the more established you become, the more you will be needed, and some businesses will go as far as paying the moon to get that expertise in their business. Patience is a virtue. Build yourself up (and never be proud, always count your blessings) and see doors open for you.

Hope your career paths is more successful than I am. Just out of curiosity, has anybody read this book: The Passionate Programmer (2nd edition): Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development? If so, is it a good read? Does it tackle what I've mentioned above (yes/no)?