Moving from a mid-career IT services role to machine learning is possible — Part 2
If you have directly landed in this blog i would recommend you read the part 1 here.
I had no idea that this post would get traction over my Linkedin post. So I decided to expand my journey as a blog series using the same framework of — accept, explore, dig deep, specialize, Map to execute which i briefly mentioned in part 1.
My pay remained constant, the only way I was making money was by changing country of jobs and chasing IT ERP projects. My short term and long term career was totally blur and I had no clue where my career would take be next year.
In summary, a one liner for this 5 step process as mentioned in part 1 is:
Accept — Check if your career is stagnant using a 10 point checklist discussed in this blog
Explore — What are the options around me that pay well and seems to add more value to my customer than my current role?
Dig deep — Try to get high level skilled at 101,102 level for the in demand skills from explore stage
Specialize — Pick one area to specalise that you have decided to upskill
Map to execute — Map your career moves with personal goals and ace it
In this post i will talk about the Accept phase in details.
Accept phase in details:
You would land in this phase if your career is stagnant. In my case the clues from the environment were very apparent. My pay remained constant, the only way I was making money was by changing country of jobs and chasing IT ERP projects. My short term and long term career was totally blur and I had no clue where my career would take be next year. I was not happy with what I was doing and I felt I can do my job with too much ease and it is repetitive.
This is where I took a pen and paper while traveling in a London Waterloo train and asked me these below questions which I am now calling as — “Breaking the Barrier: A 10-Step Checklist to Overcome Mid-Career Stagnation in IT”
Breaking the barrier — A 10 step checklist to overcome mid-career stagnation:
1. Have my organization/project informed me that my role is getting redundant?
2. How do I generally feel about my work?
3. Do I have anxiety about my personal finances especially my future like retirement?
4. Am I happy with myself?
5. Do I feel under paid and under worked?
6. Do buzz words especially in technology irritate me?
7. Do I always talk the same thing in loop with my close colleagues at break?
8. When was the last time I enjoyed a break?
9. Am I confident as I was 15 years back?
10. Do I complain about my work at home/family?
I did write short “honest” answers for each of these questions as a sort of introspection and my answers were like these then in 2012. The key is to be honest with yourself–
I felt I was at total control about what I was doing and seen as an expert in my role. But it had no punch-no excitement any more.
1. Has anyone formally informed me that my role is at risk?
My honest answer 1# Yes, there were indeed communications about how automation and digital tech can change job roles especially my role(Senior project manager).
2. How do I generally feel about my work?
My honest answer 2# Not very great, I felt I was at total control about what I was doing and seen as an expert in my role. But it had no punch-no excitement any more.
3. Do I have anxiety about my personal finances especially my future like retirement?
My honest answer 3# Totally!! I had no clue how my earnings will beat inflation. I was very very worried about this point.
4. Am I happy with myself?
My honest answer 4# No, I hardly laughed, and my smile was fake, I kept thinking always about X and Y. But no action.
I started the problem was my skill not my country of employment nor my employers.
5. Do I feel under paid and under worked?
My honest answer 5# Hell yes, but I had left all hope of a higher payment slabs, thinking that’s how the market works with experienced folks.I was in total control of my work and did that very well but was bored as well.
6. Do buzz words especially in latest technology irritate me?
My honest answer 6# Yes, it did. I was from the era of closed source tech and modern open source tech buzz words irritated me as I was not in command over them.One such example was Hadoop back in 2012. I realised i had a problem.
7. Do I always talk the same thing in loop with my close colleagues at break?
My honest answer 7# Yes, I talked about employment visa and job opportunities in another country, I had changed 4 countries in similar roles (Germany, Singapore, UK, India) by then but still I kept talking on this.I started the problem was my skill not my country of emplyment nor my employers.
8. When was the last time I enjoyed a break?
My honest answer 8# I enjoyed the Christmas slowdown working from home more. Vacations seemed like routine back trip to India
9. Am I confident professioally as I was 15 years back?
My honest answer 9# Yes and No — I was not sure. When I looked at my peers I felt I am confident but when I looked at young folks especially in deep tech and startups I felt less confident.
10. Do I complain about my work at home/family?
My honest answer 10# A big yes, more like a kid who comes from school and dumps the day.
As you can see from my honest 10 questions framework and my honest answers then, I indeed needed to accept that I was at active risk not even professionally but from a mental health perspective as well. I decided to do something about it.
The — “Breaking the Barrier: A 10-Step Checklist to Overcome Mid-Career Stagnation in IT” made me realise that I need to turn the page.
I hope you would find this checklist useful in any other role as well.
Let me know did you find it useful and remember it is important to be honest while answering yourself. That is the first step to convience yourself for a change of status quo.
Follow me in medium as I take you to part 3 of this series where I will talk about the “explore” phase.
