Article by: Ted Kolovos (www.CSharpUniversity.com)
Welcome! Relax and enjoy yourself as you read this. May I have your full attention please?
Did you read Part 1 of this series? If not, find it at /2010/01/14/3-deadly-career-mistakes-programmers-make-and-how-to-avoid-them-part-1/.
Introduction
Ever wonder why some programmers always seem to get better? They
get the jobs they like. They become experts. They develop
on fun, rewarding projects. They make good money. They fit
the definition of success. Let’s call this the Happy Zone.
Yet other programmers always seem to make little progress. For some reason the right opportunities are never there. They feel frustrated about the projects they develop on. Perhaps they’re not happy about the money they’re making. Let’s call this the Unhappy Zone.
So, why does this happen? Why do these vast disparities exist? Are you in either one of those categories right now? I’ve been in both of them during the course of my programming career and the Happy Zone is MUCH, MUCH better!
In this series of articles, we’re taking an interesting look at 3 of the common career mistakes programmers make that keep them in the Unhappy Zone. By looking at these and evaluating your own situation, you will be one step closer to the Happy Zone. Perhaps if you are already in the Happy Zone, my hopes are that you can get to the Super Happy Zone:)
In the last article (part 1) we talked a bit about motivation and why that’s important to your programming career. I also gave you a simple exercise to get you thinking about your goals (what you want) and why you want them (the rewards of achieving your goals). Did you do the practice exercise yet? Try it. It just takes a few seconds and it will get you thinking. I promised to give you some mental strategies to generate tons of motivation. So here’s a couple of them that you can try too.
Programming Career Motivation Power Strategy 1
The first strategy that I personally live by is: Seek Projects and Opportunities That Are Personally Fun and Gratifying. Avoid
projects or assignments that are boring or without personal
satisfaction. Think about this for a second. Have you ever
taken a job or agreed to work on a project that you knew you probably
wouldn’t like? Perhaps the technology wasn’t something you wanted
to learn? Or it wasn’t the type of application that you wanted to
develop on?
The reason that it’s really important to seek programming projects that are fun for YOU is because you need motivation in order to achieve your goals. If you work on a programming project that you don’t like, you will find it hard to get motivated because of the negative emotions caused by the project. It’s just natural for people to work hard on things that they like and avoid things that they don’t like (it’s just how our brains are wired). Think about it. Do you normally spend your day doing lots of things that you like to do or lots of things that you don’t like to do?
There are many ways that you can practically apply this strategy:
- Look for jobs that you are really interested in (focus on the ones that seem the most interesting).
- Take classes for programming topics that interest you (preferably classed that require you to code).
- Specialize in a niche that you really love. My specialty is web programming because I love the Internet and web applications. I became much more motivated to work harder and I achieved much more when I transitioned from desktop programming to web programming many years ago. Say for example that you love mobile applications. You might want to consider specializing in developing mobils apps for the iPhone or BlackBerry. What you do love?
Programming Career Motivation Power Strategy 2
The second strategy is to: Challenge Yourself With Your Own Difficult Extra-Curriculur Programming Projects.
Give yourself a challenge outside of work or school. Think
of a programming technique or technology that you always
wanted to learn and then create a project that gets you some experience
working with the technique. Make the project difficult.
Preferably you should make it something that is a little above your
experience level. This is so that you can grow as a programmer.
Challenges are good! Challenges are necessary! You need challenges to grow and thrive as a programmer. The desire to complete a difficult challenge is a powerful emotion!
Conclusion and What’s Next
Do you have a desire to improve any part of your programming
career? Then try some of this tips that I’ve given you!
Remember, you are the best person to motivate yourself.
Stay tuned for part 3 where I’m going to reveal the Second Career Mistake Programmers Make and How To Avoid It.
In the meantime, do you seek projects that are fun? Do you challenge yourself outside of your work or school environment? What are the things that you wanted to learn but never did? Quickly leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!