January 28, 2020
2020 Hindsight
by Brian Donahue
The start of a new decade* seems as good a time as any to start a new blog. 2019 was a challenging year for me. I made a lot of changes in the last couple years, especially regarding my career, and some of them did not turn out the way I had hoped. I ended the year feeling very unsure of my future in the software industry. I was struggling with burnout.
As tempting as it sometimes can be to think about a major career change, (starving musician? Board game café proprietor?) I originally chose this field because I enjoyed so much about it. Toward the latter part of the last decade, I felt like I lost touch with a lot of what I found enjoyable. I’ve been taking some time to reflect on this, and to better identify what enjoy about my work, and what aspects least appeal to me. Somewhat surprisingly to me, it’s not an easy exercise. There are many things I love about what I do, and I tend to go into new engagements with wide-eyed optimism and a desire to make an impact. I sometimes gloss over potential issues or concerns, wanting to be a team player, and hoping over time I can help improve things. This strategy can lead to mismatched expectations, festering problems, and growing frustrations. I’ve seen it happen a few times recently, and I wanted to take a closer look at why it was happening, and what things I might do to avoid it in the future. Some questions I’ve been thinking about:
- What activities do I find enjoyable and energizing in my work?
- What activities do I find draining or demotivating?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses and what value do I provide with my work?
- What expectations do I have when I start a new role? Are they reasonable?
- Do I understand my employer’s expectations? Do they seem reasonable?
- What communication issues contribute to unmet expectations? How can I communicate better?
- What are my long-term goals for my work? Where do I want to be in 5/10/20 years?
This blog is a space to explore those questions, and others, and hopefully to trigger some conversation. I’ve spent more than 20 years in software, and I feel there’s always more to learn, and a I have a lot more to offer. If you’ve read this far, let me say, “thanks!” Future posts will drill down into specific ideas, and I hope to hear your thoughts in the comments!
* Yes, yes, I know — the purists will tell us it’s not a new decade, but I am opting for the more aesthetically pleasing zero-based decades.