26 Sep

Career Goals

I’ve had a few people ask me over the last few weeks what my long term career goals are.  The first time someone asked me, it caught me a little off guard.  It’s not a question I get asked a lot, and it’s not something I’ve really given any thought to in the last few years.  My answer was that I didn’t have any career goals, that I was happy doing what I was doing.

Do I really not have any career goals?

The more times I was asked about my career goals the more I became embarrassed by my answer.  Why didn’t I have any career goals?  Shouldn’t I have a goal?  Without a goal aren’t I just drifting through life?  Then it finally occurred to me, I do have a career goal.  It just doesn’t involve moving up the corporate ladder.  Or down, or across. 

My goals* are:

  1. Continue writing code
  2. Continue learning and improving
  3. Continue working with current technology

If I stop with #2, then I’ve failed at #3 and should probably stop with #1 for the sake of anyone who might have to maintain my code.

*I know these are not great goals as they are not measurable, but that’s as close as I can get to good goals for my career.  If you have suggestions for how I might clarify them please leave a comment.