Introducing “Journeys in tech” — My quest for how to “make it” in the tech industry
When I was little, I used to daydream about being successful in life. Whenever I felt upset, I retreated into my mind, imagining the adult me living a glamorous and fulfilling life.
Well, now the reality is I am that adult, and I’m not quite living the glorious life that used to put a smile on my younger self’s face.
I’m almost 30. I’ve been a software engineer for 5 years now. I’ve been fortunate enough to work at some great companies as an individual contributor, but I don’t have any leadership experience yet. I am deeply worried about what the future is like for someone like me: I’m not a new engineer anymore, and over the next few years, I’ll be juggling work with starting a family. How can someone like me, a former pre-med without a CS degree, make sure she keeps moving her career forward?
I don’t know how to get to the next level, or even what I want the next level to look like. All I know is I don’t want to be just another software engineer forever. It’s not a bad life, but it’s not how I would define success for myself.
It’s a good thing the young me couldn’t see into the future, because my life right now would not have turned her frown upside down.
There is a silver lining in all of this though. The sleepless nights gave me the idea to create Journeys in Tech.
Journeys in Tech is my attempt at finding answers to THE question many of us care about: “How do people in the tech industry become successful?”
So what is Journeys in Tech exactly?
“[A] career is a collection of short stories.”
I heard this quote from Will Larson in one of his tech talks.
Stories are powerful. Authors can teach and inspire. Readers can experience and learn. We could all benefit from the stories of one another.
This is exactly what Journeys in Tech is: a collection of career lessons based on short stories of men and women in tech.
So what’s my plan of action?
I have to admit I haven’t done my part seeking out mentors or researching how to best grow my career. The prospect of entering my thirties, however, is a big milestone. It blew the lid off my comfort zone and now I have no choice but to do the one thing I fear the most: start networking.
Last week, I started reaching out to my network, setting up coffee meetings with leaders of this industry: technical founders, engineering directors and managers, tech leads, etc. I want to ask them about their stories:
How did they define success and how did they make it happen?
What were some mistakes and how did they deal with failures?
What kind of risks did they take?
I want to know everything they’ve learned along the way.
Gandalf the Grey said: “All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you. In the last few years, I’ve been passive with my time. I’ve been sitting and waiting for luck to find me. It’s time to do something different.
For better or for worse, out of the ashes of an ordinary decade, a new hope.
My goal is to build a collection of valuable insights drawn from real life experiences. So for those of us who’ve lost sleep over feeling uncertain and anti-climatic about our career, I hope Journeys in Tech becomes a place of guidance and inspiration.
There is still time for me to not disappoint the little girl who used to dream big.
