[a_bonobo]

One of the more interesting 'career advancement' things I've done is the Gallup Strengths thingy. At the time it felt like corporate BS, an expensive corpo version of 'which Harry Potter house are you?'-tests.

However I've learned that my 'top strengths' have really re-shaped how I design my career. My 'strengths' are all about learning and impact, very little about team building, social glueing etc. From there I've reshaped how I plan my own career, and the things I look for in job ads. Will I be able to learn new things? Will my work have an impact? Doing strategy design, vision designs etc. are of zero interest to me. That means most managerial roles are out for me: that's just not who I am.

You can do a lot with data skills - I'd suggest contacting someone within a local nonprofit, you learn a lot and have impact, but you make little salary - and from there check in again in a few months.

[mrlkts]

Did you do the CliftonStrengths 34 thing? I'm thinking about buying it as I've been in sort of a rut lately.

[a_bonobo]

Yep that one! It's a bit pricy for 'private' people (I think 300 or 400?) for what you get, it's essentially a bunch of statements you click on as fast as possible, and then you get a PDF with a final report. If your employer pays for it, go for it. I think it has helped our management a bit with shaping team 'even-ness' - some teams should be good mixes of all strengths, not just 100% 'input' as you get in regular data teams.