Do you have or make professional goals?

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item Do you have or make professional goals?

  • We kind of have to as part of professional development. They are agreed and chiseled in rock. There is lots I'd like to do. Unfortunately right now and for the foreseeable future it is just trying to get what we need to get done, done. :crying:

  • call.copse - Monday, January 15, 2018 3:01 AM

    We kind of have to as part of professional development. They are agreed and chiseled in rock. There is lots I'd like to do. Unfortunately right now and for the foreseeable future it is just trying to get what we need to get done, done. :crying:

    This, exactly. Everyone wants to improve themselves, unfortunately that rarely corresponds with the needs of their organizations. I wrote about this on our BI blog last year. The TL;DR: 1)don't learn a new language if you aren't planning to use it in six months, 2)don't network - instead, communicate with your end users more often, and 3)don't look for a new job - learn to take more pride in your work. If you are a developer, you are critical (though often undervalued) to your organization.

  • It's always good to have goals. This was actually the topic of the #tsql2sday in December. I wrote about mine here: https://www.mlakartechtalk.com/t-sql-tuesday-97-setting-learning-goals-for-2018/
    There's a famous quote that goes something like "People often over-estimate what they can do in a year and under-estimate what they can do in 20 years". I like to keep this on my mind when planning for goals because it helps me think long term.

  • Great topic, Ben. I'm surprised to not see about 10 pages to this topic already!

     I had a goal, for 2017, to move onto another situation. Don't get me wrong, my current job is OK, but it lacks challenge and other things. Getting a new position didn't pan out. So 2018 I've decided to try and start a small software development business on the side. Something I can do a few evenings each week and on the weekends.  I've been challenged to come up with goal as to what sort of software I'll work on. Towards that end, I'd welcome any input I can get from people here.

    Rod

  • Doctor Who 2 - Monday, January 15, 2018 6:42 PM

    Great topic, Ben. I'm surprised to not see about 10 pages to this topic already!

     I had a goal, for 2017, to move onto another situation. Don't get me wrong, my current job is OK, but it lacks challenge and other things. Getting a new position didn't pan out. So 2018 I've decided to try and start a small software development business on the side. Something I can do a few evenings each week and on the weekends.  I've been challenged to come up with goal as to what sort of software I'll work on. Towards that end, I'd welcome any input I can get from people here.

    Hi Rod,
    It does surprise me sometimes which topics people resonate with and others they just don't.  As far as your side business, how are your web skills?  A good way to make some money is some sort of SAS (Software As a Service) website.  The users pay a monthly fee to use your website.  Not sure what that website should do.  At a previous job we had SAS website that was taking in $10,000 plus a month.  Of course, the problem is always figuring out a system people need and will pay for.  Best of luck with all your endeavors in 2018!
    Ben

  • bkubicek - Tuesday, January 16, 2018 7:17 AM

    Doctor Who 2 - Monday, January 15, 2018 6:42 PM

    Great topic, Ben. I'm surprised to not see about 10 pages to this topic already!

     I had a goal, for 2017, to move onto another situation. Don't get me wrong, my current job is OK, but it lacks challenge and other things. Getting a new position didn't pan out. So 2018 I've decided to try and start a small software development business on the side. Something I can do a few evenings each week and on the weekends.  I've been challenged to come up with goal as to what sort of software I'll work on. Towards that end, I'd welcome any input I can get from people here.

    Hi Rod,
    It does surprise me sometimes which topics people resonate with and others they just don't.  As far as your side business, how are your web skills?  A good way to make some money is some sort of SAS (Software As a Service) website.  The users pay a monthly fee to use your website.  Not sure what that website should do.  At a previous job we had SAS website that was taking in $10,000 plus a month.  Of course, the problem is always figuring out a system people need and will pay for.  Best of luck with all your endeavors in 2018!
    Ben

    Hi Ben,

     (Replying from my work account.) My web skills are reasonably good. Its all on the Microsoft stack, though. ASP.NET WebForms and some MVC. I've been learning Razor Pages, too. I don't have skills in Angular nor others like that. I'll have to look into the SAAS, such as you describe. That's actually the better idea, as I've finding that there's a lot of options out there for customers to use to develop their own, what I call "brochure" websites. Heck, even Facebook allows someone with no skills at all to throw up a simple business website, put up some pictures, links to the business phone number and emails. So, I know I've got to do more than that.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • roseanne.winn - Monday, January 15, 2018 6:18 AM

    call.copse - Monday, January 15, 2018 3:01 AM

    We kind of have to as part of professional development. They are agreed and chiseled in rock. There is lots I'd like to do. Unfortunately right now and for the foreseeable future it is just trying to get what we need to get done, done. :crying:

    This, exactly. Everyone wants to improve themselves, unfortunately that rarely corresponds with the needs of their organizations. I wrote about this on our BI blog last year. The TL;DR: 1)don't learn a new language if you aren't planning to use it in six months, 2)don't network - instead, communicate with your end users more often, and 3)don't look for a new job - learn to take more pride in your work. If you are a developer, you are critical (though often undervalued) to your organization.

    I venture to disagree. Life is an adventure. I take pride in my work (i.e. skill) but it does not mean I should stick to the same path till the end. I don't want to watch the same movie over and over again. Imagine the people and opportunities you will encounter when making a change.

  • I chuckled at the advice to write my goals down.  I do that all the time.  My desk is cluttered with sticky notes with goals.  So many the 'sticky' dried out and they fall off my display.  It got so bad my wife got me one of those pointy note holder thingamajigs.  I did complete one last week, at which point I discovered another one to replace it.  This created a whole new perspective on step-by-step.

    Rick
    Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )

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