The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!
Earl Nightingale
Having a business mindset.switch your mindset from that of an indentured servant
to a business person who is running their own business.
The service you provide is to create software.
Every step you take without a clear direction is a wasted step.
Your big goal should be something not too specific, but clear enough that you can know if you’re steering toward it or not.
For me, my goal was always to eventually be able to get out on my own and work for myself.
Don’t be a ship floating aimlessly in the ocean. Chart a course before you set sail.
The fact is that a majority of our time in the software development field is spent dealing with people, not with computers.
If you want to be a good software developer, you have to learn to deal effectively with people (even if writing code is the part of
your job you enjoy the most).
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie(Gallery Books, Reprint, 1998).
Never criticize
Specialization Areas
- Web development stack
- Embedded systems
- Specific operating system
- Mobile development
- Framework
- Software system
How to Be More Visible
- Keep a daily log of your activities—Send this log as a weekly report to your manager.
- Offer to give presentations or trainings—Pick a topic that would be useful to your team.
- Speak up—Do this at meetings and any time you get the chance.
- Be seen—Set up regular meetings with your boss. Make sure you are seen often.
Take some time to learn about leadership, management, and business if you have your sights set on higher-level and possibly executive positions.
Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we’re thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don’t show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin’, no matter what.
If you want to change your life, you need to start with changing your habits.
The Power of Habit[Random House, 2012] by Charles Duhigg.
Start tracking your time every day at work. Get an idea of how you’re spending your time currently each day. Now, figure out how much of that time is actual productive time where you’re actually doing real hard productive work—you might be surprised by the results.
Make a list of all the people you know who would be potentially interested in your services and email them personally.
A product has no purpose without a problem to solve, and a product with no purpose has no customers, which means no money for you.