[kator]

Honestly I would get a mentor. Find someone either in your org or out of your org that has the skills and career you would like to work towards and start talking to them. If you hit it off you may have found someone who can help you through the bumpy parts of your career and help you plan your next steps. Some people charge for this as career coaching and that can also have some value but it's challenging to sort out the best ones. Every place I've gone I've looked for a mentor to bounce ideas off of and generally double check my thinking and how I'm approaching problems and my career. You can go to industry events and start reaching out or just look for people you admire and reach out and start a dialog.

I personally think the concept of apprenticeship is lacking in the technology industry and we loose out on what other older professions have with clearer career paths because of their established practices of guiding people though their careers. That said I've seen it abused too so there always needs to be balance in these things.

I personally coach about five people (for free) in my current company and they come from all areas of the org not just my group. I was very lucky in the early days to have several great mentors in my life who helped me and I feel it's my job to pay that back now in the latter years of my career.

Books are wonderful but nothing beats interacting with successful people.

[davidw]

> get a mentor

Seems easier said than done. I wouldn't want to share details of what I do with random people. Probably not with coworkers either unless it's strictly related to the job at hand, but at that point the advice they can give you is also more limited. Also, you need to find someone with more experience than you, so you don't have much to bring to the deal.

> Books are wonderful but nothing beats interacting with successful people.

That I can certainly agree with.

[lifeisstillgood]

I can't agree more with Kator's comment. Find a mentor - maybe pay for a business coach if you want but you would probably be able to find an experienced serial entrepreneur in your industry after one or two conferences.

I would however start today not with a book but a clean sheet of paper. Take a long hard look at you, your decisions and imagine explaining it all to a judge in five years time. What bits will you be proud of, which embarrassed by and which will land you in jail.

If I was to give five points I wish I had done more of:

- Always be hiring

- Always be filling the pipeline

- Always cut more out than you think is possible. Do less better.

- never ever lie, and stand up and speak the truth as needed

- know where the money is going

[kator]

Spot on, for sure a mentor is great but introspection is a powerful tool.

The first thing I ask when I start coaching someone is what are your goals with your career? In my career I can literally boil it down to four points:

1) Passion

2) Leadership

3) Compensation

4) Hybrid (Tech + Business)

At any time in my career I can score these 1-5 (5 being best) and the closer I get to 20 the better I feel. That said this is just the "what's your motivation" phase, next comes the "what's standing in your way" phase where you look deeply at your strengths and weaknesses and see how they block your ability to receive what you're looking for in your career. Then comes the "ok so now what" phase where you start setting goals to help shore up your weaknesses and magnify your strengths. Then it's "rinse and repeat" basically measure, adjust and execute.

[garrickvanburen]

In my experience a good mentor/coach/consultant prompts introspection in a much more powerful way than books are able.

[lifeisstillgood]

I like that - might choose a different four but the idea is solid

Also totally behind the rating on a five point scale.

[kator]

> might choose a different four but the idea is solid

The goal is to personalize these parts so they're your own. By all means I encourage people to pick their own but boil them down to succinct things you can describe in an elevator pitch.

They're very powerful when you talk to a manager or a potential employer about what makes you happy as an employee. It can be hard for a manager when you ramble on about what you want but I can blast these out along with a short example of each and use them as the basis of a productive dialog with the person I'm talking to.

In short, yes, pick your own, but know them cold and know how you measure them and how you can communicate to others when your not at a 5 in every area! :-)

[lifeisstillgood]

I think mine are :

- Autonomy - Collegiate - Purpose - Family - Money

Thanks for making me think it through !

[lifeisstillgood]

Listening to LSE podcast ("Risk savvy") and mentions defensive decision making - where an intuition is to take decision A but fear of lack of defensibility if it goes wrong leads to recommending decision B

This is an interesting corollary to my "never lie" - and if you have any cultural affect on the company push for "failure is good if we fail fast and learn from it"

Enjoy

[kator]

> > get a mentor

> Seems easier said than done.

Point made, it's work, and successful people will tell you that the road ahead is full of work. Take the challenge, figure out how to find and develop a trusting relation with someone who will be able to help you progress in your career.

> Probably not with coworkers either..

Yes I would suggest outside the org or if the org is big enough someone who isn't directly up your reporting tree. At one job I picked an exec who had lot more experience then me but he was in finance so he wasn't worried about my motivations, I didn't want his job nor did he want mine.

[GFischer]

It's a good recommendation.

Endeavor runs a mentorship program, I know some entrepreneurs which have been mentored, and they have been very happy with their mentors:

http://www.endeavor.org/

There are other, more local mentorship programs (I know some in my home country but I don't know where you're located).

[rodh]

This is very true and valuable advice. I've witnessed first hand the tremendous growth my boss (the CEO and co-founder) has undergone in the past year thanks to his mentor. I am actually in the progress of getting a mentor too, with the founders' help. I'm very grateful for that.

[mud_dauber]

Agreed. This should be step #1.