Got a Career Plan?

I just ran across this article.

I was talking to a relatively young developer the other day. I asked him about his career plans. "Oh, I don't do career planning myself. I wait until my manager talks to me."

Oops. Your career is your responsibility.

The article then moves on to give some specific advice for growing your technical career.

I’m constantly surprised by how many people think that career planning is something that their manager will do. Oddly, when these same people become managers they very rarely help their reports with career planning. Maybe it’s because their manager didn’t help them? Maybe it’s because they don’t really know how to do it themselves?

What does this mean for you? First, take control of your own career plan. Second, if you are a manager, help your people with their career plans; it will make you stand out in their minds as an excellent manager.

Comments

[hillaryjohnson]

Once upon a time, I managed a creative team of extremely talented young writers. The jobs did not pay well, and one of the incentives I offered them up front was always career planning--which included making sure their projects for me counted toward building a healthy resume, making sure they developed good contacts, etc. The hidden benefit being that these people have also now become my good contacts as they've moved on to work all over the place.

I've known managers who didn't want their people to develop because they feared they'd then grow up and leave the nest too soon--the irony being that this very attitude always drove the best people away.