The beginning of the year is always laden with goals, "to-do's", resolutions and the like. It also comes with an adrenaline rush of "making it" ASAP!
You’ve read End of the Year's Review of your "idolo"(Nigerian slang for someone you look up to) and you jump to the conclusion that Tech isn't that hard.
You may be right but do you have the same patience limit and resilience?
The next thing on your mind is to swerve swiftly into his exact skill path, use his methods and "chill" to get the same results.
When the results are not forthcoming early enough, you get irritated and slowly move down the depression hallway. Next, you're sending messages to a Twitter Space host and asking to hide your identity.
Sorry but not sorry! 😡
The bitter-sweet pill of Tech is that it starts making sense after much commitment and consistency. So, it’s not a “one-for-all” playbook system. I have been down that lane and I wouldn’t want you there too. Hence, the reason for the article.
This article will:
Teach you how you can maintain steadiness in your tech career throughout the year without getting fatigued.
The Techno-sphere
Now let us set things straight…
When they say "the sky is wide enough for every bird", they were referring to Tech(😃 Don't ask me who they are).
I know there's a lot of buzz around which tech skill is the "hot cake" but trust me, people still cash out from the good old C++ and its cousin C#, not to even mention grandpa Java. 😃 It all boils down to your dedication and consistency, though that's not an excuse for mediocrity.
A couple of years back, Angular JS was the talk of the town for building Client-Side Web interfaces. Recently, we've seen React, Vue and Typescript topping the list for on-demand Frontend Web Development frameworks.
With the visit of ChatGPT, maybe something else would come up in 2023. You never can tell.
The fact is, you would miss the point if you dwell on the opinion that Tech is only about coding or plotting data visualizations and what have you.
Technology breeds Solution
Imagine if you had to stay in a long queue just say hello to your friend across the Atlantic 🤔
Thanks to technology, the world is now a global village.
Irrespective of the technology used or in which area it is being implemented, its main goal remains to create solutions.
Let's go back to the industrial era when simple machines were used in place of crude tools. The main goal was to reduce manual labour and improve productivity.
Coming back to the internet age, Technology is used to create solutions for easy and complex problems. The solutions don't fall from the sky, rather humans (at least for now) think out those solutions while another set of people brings these solutions to life.
This is where you as a Software Developer, DevOps, Data Analyst or whatever your Tech Skill is, comes to play. The keyword here is Solution irrespective of the methodology used.
As a person in Tech, you should, first of all, realize and acknowledge that you are in the Techno-sphere to provide your quota to building solutions. Realizing this helps you in focusing and grow steadily.
How to keep a steady pace in tech
- Be Value Oriented
What are you trying to solve?
It may not be discovering another planet or taking a journey to the moon 😃 but it has to be something tangible. It could be providing banking solutions to the under-banked in rural communities or connecting rural farmers to urban buyers and so on.
In most cases, you are not required to reinvent the wheel or create something new(Bravo! if you can). You can innovate or just upgrade the quality of existing solutions by bringing your idea forward.
How useful do you wish to be?
Where do you want to pitch your tent?
These are some questions worth answering as a tech bro. Answers to them are peculiar to the individual and determine to a large extent if you'll survive in the Techno-sphere.
When adding value or giving value is your watchword, every decision you make or action you take will be hinged on how it helps you create value.
- Focus on the Goal, not the money
What business do you have with tech?
Why not try baking instead?
It may be quite difficult to tell someone who's trying to make ends meet and has seen Tech as the proverbial "land of milk and honey" to focus on the goal rather than the money. Most beginners face challenges (everyone does in the beginning) such as Data Subscription, Getting a PC, Paying for Courses et al.
Whatever you venture into with a goal at heart, is what would most likely stand the test of time.
The truth is, the beginning may not be as rosy as you think it is yet you have to focus on why you do what you do else you'd get tired and quit.
- Allow yourself to grow
Just like there are stages in human development, so also are there stages in Career development. Most people rush the fundamentals and move on to intermediates so that they can start "earning six figures" and what have you. Remember how a house built on sand ends up?
Although, there's this frustration that comes with "seeming stagnancy" especially when your peers are ahead of you. Everyone's learning journey is unique, so take your time and allow yourself to grow. It'll be worth it in the end, trust me.
Take out time to learn and unlearn techniques. Understand the architecture behind whatever it is you're learning, ask questions when you are confused and don't jump into another skill path till you have gained ground in your current skill.
- Use Social Media with your head, not your heart
The heart can be quite emotional with all the chemical reactions and whatnot (sorry I'm not good at Biology 😔). The head on the other hand is logical and analytical but guess what?
Our first response or reaction to things comes from the heart!😃
Just like seeing an iPhone 14, you get excited and your heart begins to find emotions to express your delight but when you ask for the price, your head comes to play 😃😃😃 especially when you're not in the 6-figure foreign job yet.
With all the happenings on social media, one good you can do yourself is to sieve whatever you read or view. Someone posted how he landed a job in 6 months of doing tech but he didn't talk about how he had ventured into tech some years earlier and dropped out before coming back to it again. There's a whole lot that goes on behind the scenes. You cannot decide for people how they share their stories or blow their trumpets but you can choose to be selective with what you keep in mind.
Conclusion
I wanted this article to be as short as possible, I just hope it didn't exceed my target word limit. 😃
Anyway, it's a new year and I want to remind you that your tech skill is important, useful and viable. All you need to do is put in more consistent effort.
If you are venturing into tech newly, I welcome you and wish you strength for the journey ahead.
Cheers to a productive 2023 🥂