Do you make any? Probably you do and so do I. There’s a lot of stuff on my list and I won’t be surprised if many of them won’t happen within next year (on 1st of Jan everyone is very optimistic and I fit in with that trend…). I’m not going to elaborate on particular points, I just want to point out one general remark I’m proud with - many of my bullet points are about self-development. Some of you know I’m totally crazy about that idea and I repeat it once and again on every occasion - do not expect you’ll learn everything in your work, because it won’t happen. Your job may be very interesting and “learning by doing” may be one of our unofficial core rules, but… 

  • if you want to be an expert in particular area UP-FRONT and build up your reputation quickly (some call it: build up your “criticallity”)
  • if you want to distinguish yourself from the mass of all your peers, whether you work as a programmer or analyst
  • if you want to have any impact on assignments you’ll be send to
  • if you have a vision of career within current employer or more in general
… you need to spend your own time to plan and develop your skills on your own.

That requires some passion.
That requires you to actually really like your job (or at least the part you’ll be working on).
That requires you to have a clear vision of what you want to do (and how would you apply it on your projects).
That requires your private time and maybe even your own resources.
 
It’s up to you, but if you disregard that, remember - you have just one career, you won’t have a chance to repeat it if you neglect it now.
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