6 Steps to Stand Out in Your Career
Hello 👋, I hope you had a great New Year.
I’ve decided to start this year by sharing 6 steps to help you grow in your career. Over the next few weeks, I’ll post one step each week. Stay tuned to learn them all!
The 6 steps are:
Master your daily skill, which skill do you use most? Are you a developer? Are you creating a REST API?
Learn how to communicate clearly, learn the business, know the people
Learn about negotiation, this skill is crucial for every worker, and it is crucial if you want to earn more and grow health.
Have a clear focus, define your goals, and what you want to achieve/become.
Improve your network, when I say network it is not LinkedIn connection, is about knowing people, and people knowing you, it is much more about visibility
Keep learning, every day there are new CVS, new ways to do things better, and if you want to stand out in your career it is important to keep updated with the skills that are useful for your activities.
Let’s talk about the first step, which is, Master your daily skill.
Master your daily skill
There are many things I could mention here, but the key point is to understand the main skills you use and how you can improve them, as well as staying informed about the market and keeping up with changes.
For example, imagine you are working on a legacy project using Java 8 and the Spring Framework (without Spring Boot), with a heavy focus on databases and schedules tasks. In this case, it's important to have a strong understanding of Java 8, how the Spring Framework works, and how to manage concurrency issues and scale applications. This is a good start to keep ready for daily challenges.
However, since this is a legacy project, you should also stay up to date with new technologies so that you can contribute to an upgrade of the project. This might involve learning more about Spring Boot, the features of Java 17 and 21, and the best approaches to break down the monolith into microservices or smaller modules, and deploy them in the cloud using Kubernetes.
In this short example, I’ve covered many aspects, but to truly master your daily skills, you need to know what’s required today and what will be needed in the future. By preparing for what’s coming, you'll be ready when the time comes. This kind of preparation is crucial for your career growth.
Here are some tips to help you stay updated and relevant in the market:
Follow experts in your field: Connect with people who share valuable insights about the topics you care about.
Learn from top references: Identify key figures in the areas you want to explore. For instance, if you’re interested in Spring, following Josh Long is a great idea.
Practice regularly: Hands-on practice is essential for gaining deep knowledge and being prepared when challenges arise.
Read release notes: Stay up to date by reading the release notes for the programming languages and frameworks you use. This will keep you informed about new features and important updates.
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