Have you ever noticed that most discussions of technology careers are almost relentlessly positive? Studying technology is portrayed as a guaranteed path to a great high-paying job, sometimes at a workplace that offers all the luxuries of a high-end resort. Courses on tech careers, including my own, reflect this in a way – promising to teach skills that will let you take full advantage of the opportunities a tech career offers. When we talk about our careers we tend to focus on the cool projects we’re working on.
Most people in technology do have pretty good careers, but that’s a far cry from “happily ever after”. Bad things happen. People get laid off, projects get cancelled, and companies fold. There’s politics, interpersonal conflict and various forms of discrimination and unfairness.
Bad things can happen in any career. But we in technology often seem to be blindsided – caught by surprise when things go wrong. The focus on technology, and the positive outlook we find in schools and books and courses doesn’t prepare us for reality.
My latest Pluralsight Course “The Dark Side of Technology Careers” sets out to change that. It’s about the challenges, obstacles and traps that almost everyone faces sometime in their career – how to spot them, avoid them, overcome them, and if necessary survive them. It’s about the things that we, who have been in the industry for a while, learned the hard way – the things we wish we had known starting out.
Those early in their careers will find this course an invaluable map through previously hidden career minefields. Those well into their careers will discover that they are not alone in the challenges they face, and will likely discover some they had never considered.
I invite you to sign up for a free trial to watch it on Pluralsight if you aren’t already a subscriber.