Managing your technical career?

It is predicted that someone joining the workforce today will work for 10-15 different companies compared with only 2-5 companies 40 years ago. Therefore, how do you navigate a career over 35+ years ensuring that you keep motivated, continually learn, and increase your earning potential over time.

I thought it might be useful to share my observations around this changing career landscape.

Identify what you really love in the technical world

The number one trait that all clients look for and is certainly in every brief we’ve worked on is “we want someone with energy and enthusiasm”. The odds will certainly be stacked against your career if it is drifting towards an area of technology you don’t enjoy! How long can you remain motivated and enthusiastic?

Over the long term are you more suited to becoming a Specialist or a Technical Manager/Leader

The two main routes to progressing your technical career are 1) become really specialised or 2) go down the technical management/leadership route. Generally, individuals who tend to be good managers and technical leaders have a broader perspective, having gained a variety of different experiences and are naturally good with people with more of a strategic view. There is no right or wrong route, but you need to make sure you’re not kidding yourself that you have specialist or management potential when you don’t.

Career pointers for specialists

After the early part of your career, start to pin down the technical area(s) you want to specialise in and try and learn as much of as possible including all associated areas. Move around different divisions covering Women’s, Men’s, Kid’s. Etc. As you career develops start to think about working for the best retailers, brands and suppliers that are synonymous with your specialist area; a denim wash technologist working for Levi will probably be more valuable than a denim technologist working for a UK high street brand. Having personally managed several specialists who are globally renowned for their technical expertise, the one thing they all developed was their amazing global network, they knew everyone in their specialist area, and they rarely annoyed anyone! Ultimately this is where your value will lie, it’s about using your specialist network and your personal reputation to get things done!

Career pointers for Technical Managers/Leaders

Here you want to move around more frequently than the specialist route but not too much; be careful! We see this all the time, if someone has moved around too much there’s always a question mark from the recruiter and the client about the suitability of the candidate.

If you are going down the management route you need to continue to build as much variety of experience as you possibly can; working across different product types, distinct roles within technology or associated areas such as, ethics, sustainability, suppliers, international, sourcing offices…etc. Volunteer and manage interesting projects outside your immediate remit as well as moving roles and jobs. Building a credible CV with lots of different experiences gives the employer the confidence that you’ve gained first-hand knowledge of lots of different perspectives and ultimately you could manage or lead large parts of the technical team due to your broad perspective. This vast array of different experiences will develop your big picture thinking, strategic outlook and people management skills.

E-commerce Experience

There is no getting away from the impact of online and e-commerce. Over a 35+ year career, experience of working for a predominantly online business rather than only at traditional bricks and mortar businesses will always be valuable.

Use Recruitment agencies

It’s sometimes difficult to get an honest perspective about your career aspirations. A good recruitment agency should be able to give you an honest overview of how your experiences to date would be regarded; how would you be viewed by a potential recruiter/employer and is it reflecting the direction you want your career to move in.

Conclusion

Never forget, your career is a long-term play, a working career of 35+ years is very common!

Therefore, you need to be patient and think carefully about navigating your technical career around the areas of technology you love. Generally, people who love and enjoy what they do often do very well for themselves and are obviously more motivated and happier!