Taking Ownership Of Your Career

I have been mentoring several engineers and a common theme has emerged.

We often don’t spend enough time actively managing our own career.

These are the positive steps you should ask yourself.

1) The things I am working on right now, are they important and will they help further my career?
2) If they are not, perhaps I should stop doing them or hand them off to a junior person who wants that responsibility
3) Who in the organization would give me an honest opinion besides my manager?
4) What do I want to be in 3 years and is what I am doing getting me there?

Another good exercise is to write your year end review in the beginning of the year and you will notice what is glaring obvious.