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Confused About My Career Path. Advice Needed

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  • 30-06-2011 2:28pm
    #1
    um7y1h83ge06nx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,029 ✭✭✭


    Hi guys,

    I'm really confused about my career path and was hoping for solid advice. I'll keep things relatively general just in case there are colleagues on here.

    I graduated in a Computer Science/Comp Eng. Discipline in 2005 with a 1.1. I have since gained a Dip in Quality Management with distinction. I currently work as a Software Engineer, mainly in J2EE and Adobe Flex earning in the mid €40k bracket.

    Here are my skills I have listed on LinkedIn:
    J2EE
    (Expert, 5 years experience)
    C++
    (Advanced, 6 years experience)
    Flex
    (Expert, 3 years experience)
    Spring
    (Expert, 5 years experience)
    iBatis
    (Advanced, 4 years experience)
    C
    (Advanced, 6 years experience)
    Quality Management
    (Intermediate, 3 years experience)
    Oracle
    (Advanced, 4 years experience)
    J2SE
    (Expert, 5 years experience)

    There are main areas but there are a few other minor ones. In the last year especially I have decided I want to go down the Team Lead/Manager route in my career.

    Here are my 3 options as I see them:

    1. Stay in the company and wait for a position to open. (Company though has stagnated a little in the past 6 months and my Manager doesn't see that many opportunities. Also the recent trend is that more senior internal positions are going to the foreign head office, rather than here)

    2. Apply for Team Lead/Manager positions externally (currently doing this)

    3. Move to a larger, more progressive company as a Senior Engineer and hopefully this may present more career opportunities (not sure about this yet)

    The obvious best option is number 2 which I'm currently pursuing. I'm not entirely sure about option 1 and 3.

    Any opinions? Thanks.


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    fasty
    Registered Users Posts: 981 ✭✭✭fasty


    I don't see where the confusion is. You want to move into team lead positions, it's unlikely that there are any openings where you are now. Plus, the pay you're on now isn't exactly great for your experience.

    I don't use LinkedIn btw, does it decide that 5 years experience in something makes you an expert, or did you? How did you fit all of that into 6 years working in the industry?


  • Options
    #3
    um7y1h83ge06nx
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,029 ✭✭✭um7y1h83ge06nx


    True.

    I'm feeling very unsettled here alright in recent times. Just feel I need to push on. I'm very aware too that I don't want to make a bad career choice and get stuck in a hole. This is the second company I have worked for since college. The decision to move to this company was excellent, I've really developed and improved my experience and CV massively. Just think I have reached a plateau now.

    Probably the best thing might be to be patient, take my time and only apply for team lead positions. Think I'll avoid option 3 unless things take a nosedive here and while I'm looking for team lead positions option 1 is always progressing.

    I don't know if it's just me but I.T. seems a very hard industry to get career advice in. Maybe it because the options are so broad, not sure.

    Regarding the LinkedIn, you can just add in whatever you want. In fairness the Oracle piece is exaggerating too much, I should really change that. Apart from that, I took my cue from what to set my level at from my colleagues' profiles. No point in underselling myself if the others are upping themselves. Between the 2 companies I have worked on a lot of technologies and on large projects, so I have genuinely managed to squeeze a lot in.


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