Are you doing lots of non-promotable work?
Are you getting closer to your career goals?
Here’s my takeaways from this insightful write up by @whereistanya on being glue and other tech career tips https://noidea.dog/glue
PS Read this if you’re underrepresented in tech 👩🏻‍💻
1. Ask yourself what you want to get better at
It’s not about what skills you have but what skills you want because most of our learning happens on the job.
Don’t deprive yourself of an opportunity before even trying.
2. You get better at what you spend time on
Keep doing glue work and you’ll get better at glue.
Keep coding and you’ll get better at coding.
No matter what you end up doing though, you are unlikely to regret feeling more confident in core technical skills.
3. Learning can and should happen at work
If the skills you wish you had are part of the job you’re doing all day, that’s pretty much learning on the job.
We need to talk more about learning in public because so much of the tech industry is built on this very skill.
I particularly found comfort in this paragraph 🥲
What are the skills you want? It’s not about what skills you already have! The vast majority of our learning happens on the job. But I see people not considering the roles they want because they don’t feel like they already have all the skills of that job. I’ve had a lot of CS college students tell me they’re not applying for programming jobs because they don’t feel like they’re strong programmers. Of course they aren’t! They’re still in college. The vast majority of our learning happens on the job.
4. Leaving a technical role early could potentially limit you
It sucks, but as soon as “Engineer” is removed from your title, people assume you’re not technical.
It’s a common implicit bias.
It could potentially make it difficult to come back to a technical role in the future.
5. Questions to ask yourself when job-seeking:
- What would you love to get better at?
- What is a job that you’ll feel happy and proud to do?
- What doors are you comfortable making hard to reopen?
- Where will you feel safe?
6. Women volunteer more. Women are volunteered more.
“When there is non-promotable work to be done, women volunteer to do it 48% more often than men.” Harvard Business Review
It’s not that men don’t volunteer. It’s just that they know a woman will volunteer if they wait.
7. Non-promotable tasks should be shared equally
When there’s work that doesn’t really fit anyone’s job descriptions, it needs to be shared equally between teams. It needs to be tracked too.
It shouldn’t just get picked up by whoever is free.
8. Titles do matter, esp for underrepresented folks
Stereotypes in tech mean that if you don’t fit a certain persona, people assume you can’t code / don’t belong.
Job titles help underrepresented folk save time and energy they don’t need to validate their credibility.
9. If you’re underrepresented, getting promoted is diversity work.
You can’t be what you can’t see, so you getting promoted can be a huge inspiration to others in your shoe.
You’ll also be in a better position for sponsorship and mentorship.
TL;DR
- Ask yourself what you want to get better at
- You get better at what you spend time on
- Learning can and should happen at work
- Leaving a technical role early could potentially limit you
- Ask yourself these 4 questions when job-seeking (see post)
- Women volunteer more. Women are volunteered more.
- Non-promotable tasks should be shared equally
- Titles do matter, esp for underrepresented folks
- If you’re underrepresented, getting promoted is diversity work.