I have been wondering about my future in tech for a while now. Usually, when I talked to someone about it, the conclusion was that the next meaningful step is project management (which on most occasions means people management). I always felt that it was not a path for me. So, what else is there? I know I want to be close to technology, I want to do my own research, I want to solve real problems and provide solutions with real-life examples and I want to share my findings and knowledge with others - especially in our organisation, I want to create.
When I joined Property Finder we were introduced to the Personal Growth Framework as part of the on-boarding process and then it hit me… Independent Contributor (boom, yeah… - Thank you Donna!). So obvious - why did I miss it?
The puzzles all fell into place when I stumbled upon an article by Keavy McMinn. She says:
Technical leadership is a difficult path to be promoted into or hired for. Some companies won’t hire very senior engineers, […]. Other companies just don’t quite know what to do with these very senior engineers who want to… stay engineers.
I thought there was something wrong with me that I did not want to progress into a managerial role (btw: I do not like to call it “position”). On the other hand, I felt that what “they” say is not necessarily better than what I think. Had I followed my intuition, I would have researched this issue more thoroughly.
My tip for you: Trust your gut! When something does not sit well with you, push harder to find out what really lies behind it. Challenge the “common knowledge”, gather insight from outside of your social circles. This is how you can find your way.