Just another career path

As a software engineer, I recently have heard of a lot of feedback from my colleagues and friends that they don’t see their career path or they don’t know how to move to the new levels in their company. No exception, I used to have that thinking before.

In my opinion, there is a very important reason why people are struggling to find the answer because “career path is not always the job titles”. Normally, each company has its own job titles such as junior-level developer, middle-level developer, senior-level developer, teach lead, software architect, CTO, etc. Hence, it is not true that a job title is reasonable for every company.

The interview is often conducted hardly to find a candidate matching the company title. If we have a good enough job title standard, the interview would take place very easily, right?

Therefore, I prefer to define my own career path through what skills are gained under a job title.

But wait, why do I need a career path?

To me, a career is an indispensable part of my life (and anyone else, sure?). My career path helps me visualize the big picture which motivates me to focus on the right track to achieve my next level. After all, a good career should bring me the fullest life having the following conditions:

It gives me a chance to indulge my passion
It gives me a chance that my contribution is appreciated
It gives me a chance to earn good enough money

Anyone should have their own career path, here is mine:

I see each level as a step of a ladder. It is very risky to skip any step. It doesn't mean that you delay getting to know what to be learned in the next steps. Don't let it be a black box and then get "surprise!". For example, to achieve my long-term goal as an intrapreneur/entrepreneur, I don't run a business now but I keep practicing as it a real business when building side projects with my friends.

Detail of level in my career path

No matter what the job title is, I categorize a level by the following criteria:

👷 Project/Product contribution
✋ Ability to lead and mentor the team
🕑 Years of working experience

	Who are they?	Get recognized (example)
Apprentice	Try to do things right	👷 Learn how to use tools ✋ Learn to collaborate well with other members 🕑 Usually 1 - 3 years
Journeyman	Keep doing the right things right	👷 Know how the used tools work ✋ Collaborate and cover/mentor some members well. 🕑 Usually 3 - 5 years
Master	Keep doing the right things better	👷 Know how to build a tool ✋ Lead and mentor some teams 🕑 Usually 5 - 10 years
Intrapreneur or Entrepreneur	Turn off the old and create new right things	👷 Innovate tools ✋ Lead and mentor the whole department/company 🕑 Usually 10 - xx years

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