203. 5 Strategic Changes To Improve Your Career

Why isn't my boss different? Why don't more companies hire people with little experience? Why am I not getting paid what others are getting paid? Why don't companies invest in my career? These are the questions we will answer in today's episode of DevQuestions. 

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey. Join us each episode as we tackle the questions you are asking about a career in software development, understanding the industry, and new technology. If you're just starting out or you want to grow stronger as a developer, this is the place to get your questions answered. Now, here's your host, expert developer and online educator, Tim Corey.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Why are my leaders so incompetent? Why don't more companies hire people with little experience? Why am I not getting paid what others are getting paid? And why don't companies invest in my career? These questions come up a lot, but they all have one thing in common. So let's talk about that in today's episode of Dev Questions. Now, that one thing that all those questions and more have in common is that there are things that are outside your control. Okay? So we're talking about why are your leaders the way they are? Why can't you get a job without work experience? Why, like all these other questions are all talking about things outside of your control. So, what do you do when something outside of your control is affecting you? Now, here are some common responses that I see people go through. I'm not recommending all of these, but let's talk about what I see a lot of. The first one is denial. Things like that shouldn't be how things are. Things should be different. Companies should, dot, dot, dot, whatever that is, companies should do this, companies should do that. That's denial of what is actually happening because you'd say, well, yeah, it may be happening, but it shouldn't be happening. Number two is I see people do respond with anger. This industry is messed up. These are major problems. I'm gonna quit, I'm gonna walk away, I'm gonna become a farmer. First of all, visit a farm first. Okay, just that's a side piece of advice. But you know, the idea that you get really angry about the things that you can't control. Or the third response I see a lot is depression. Things will never change. I'm just gonna be abused all my life. This is how it is, woe is me. Okay, so these are the common responses I see when people are faced with things that are unpleasant, that are even detrimental to their career, that they don't control. But all of these responses are normal, but none of these responses are solutions. Okay, so all are normal, none are really helpful. Now, I was raised with two phrases that my parents drilled into me a lot, and it may um uh inform why I am the way I am, but the these two phrases are kind of hand in hand. The first one that my boys kind of roll their eyes because they've heard it from me a lot, but the the phrase is your response is your responsibility. All right, your response is your responsibility. Whatever somebody else does, how you respond is on you. Okay, that's the first thing that I learned growing up. The second one is it's a quote from somebody, I'm not sure who it originally came from, but the quote is life is 10% about what happens to you and 90% how you choose to respond to it. And I like that philosophy because it says, yes, it acknowledges that there are things that are going to happen to you that you can't help. You know, you're gonna break your leg, or you're gonna have a person treat you poorly, or you're gonna have a bad boss, or you're gonna have like whatever these things may be, there's things that are gonna happen to you that are outside of your control. And that's we need to acknowledge that is the case. But the biggest majority of life is about how you choose to respond to it. I have seen people get locked up where something bad happened and it affected the rest of their life, where they couldn't let go, they couldn't move on. And the reality is yes, that happened to you. And yes, you need to grieve. Yes, you need to go through the different stages of grief, uh, including, you know, denial and anger and uh bargaining and um and uh depression. You know, go through that before you get to acceptance. You need to go through that, but there does come a time where you have to kind of accept what is and figure out how am I going to respond now. The people I see succeeding are the ones who get through the stages of grief and move on to that acceptance. Now, acceptance is not being accepting of being walked over. Acceptance is not just giving in or saying I'll be passive. Acceptance is accepting the reality of a situation. It is what it is. Here is the reality. Okay. Only when you accept the reality of a situation can you start making a positive change. So, what that what might that change look like? Because you know what, you don't have to live in a bad situation. There are things you can potentially do. So, how do you do that? I'm gonna give you uh five different things that I've worked through that that I have found to be helpful. Now, not everyone will apply to every situation, but in general, they kind of all do. Okay, so let's talk number one, lead up. All right, do what you can to be a help to leadership. So you say, Oh, my boss is an idiot. My boss just makes bad decisions. How can you help in that? Okay, the reality is your boss makes bad decisions. Okay, that let's acknowledge that reality. Now let's figure out how you can be a help to that. All right, propose better choices. And you might say, well, my boss ignores me. That's okay. Okay, accept when you get ignored, just accept that and do it again. Don't retaliate, don't be the I told you so person. Um, I've had situations where I've had employees give suggestions and I say, well, you know what? I'm not gonna do it that way, we're gonna do it this way. And sometimes I was wrong. And when that happens, I've had employees be like, okay. And I know that they they said the opposite. Like, I know that they disagree with me. They said that we should do something different. And it turns out they were right. I know they were right, they know they're right. They don't rub it on my face, they're like, okay, let's let's do the next thing. And when that happens, I more and more begin to trust them, maybe even give them more leeway. I say, hey, what do you think? And maybe allow them to make a decision or give more weight to their decisions because they are proving that they know more and can make good decisions. And you know what? You don't always know the entire picture. So there's times when you'll be shot down, even though you think it's a good idea, because it might not be. Okay. But propose better changes. Be accepted when they're ignored, don't retaliate, try again, keep working at it. Build up this trust with your boss. Try to lead up, try to show your wisdom without being miserable. That's a big deal. All right. Number two, work within the system. Okay. So companies don't work without, don't hire without work experience. You're just fine, you can't get a job if you don't have work experience. Okay, so get work experience, which sounds harsh, right? No, be be creative about it. Volunteer a nonprofit, build an open source project, create an amazing portfolio that is hard to ignore. All right. There are things that you can do that you have control over. Now, you cannot control what a company chooses to do or who a company chooses to hire, but you can control how you shape yourself into being a person more likely to be hired by a company. All right. You might have to do some extra work. Okay, you might have to put in more effort than you think you should. But again, let's accept the reality that is rather than wishing for something that isn't. Number three, work to make yourself more valuable. All right. So spend the time it takes to invest in yourself. Instead of being angry that your company doesn't pay you to train, spend that time training. So instead of spending time grumbling every night, oh, I wish my company would do this. You know what? You've got lunch breaks, potentially, hopefully. You got lunch breaks, you guys after work, you've got late evenings, you got early mornings, figure out a time and put the effort in. Yes, you could be miserable. Yes, you could say, oh, my company should. That's not reality, that's fantasy. Okay. So work with what is, work with the reality that you're in. Yes, it might not be the best situation. Yes, I would like to see you have your training provided by your work, where your work says, yes, I want you to train. That that's the ideal situation. But it doesn't always happen. So work with where you're at. Okay. Make yourself more valuable. Because when you do that, well, either you become more valuable to your employer currently, and they recognize that and maybe even promote you, or you make yourself more valuable, which means you're better off in the job market. Either way, it's a win-win. Okay, number four. This is gonna be an interesting one. Become an optimist. Okay. I am not an optimist, at least not normally, not naturally. Become one. Work to find the positive in whatever situation you're in. You can go through some really hard times, find a way to find a positive in it. And here's why. Because when you are a quote unquote realist, or you're more likely just being negative about a situation, you find the negative, you're gonna find lots of negative. Then you find negative, it tends to snowball. And then what happened happens because of that? Well, you're miserable and you become more miserable and more jaded. You you have a harder and harder time talking to your boss or your coworkers without being miserable. And when that happens, who wants to be around you? And you make yourself less and less marketable, you make yourself less and less of an employee that people want to work with. So, guess what happens? The thing that you feared becomes the reality. You're not wanted as in a position anymore. You're not, you know, hired in a new position, you're not getting positive reviews from your boss because you've decided to take a negative outlook in life. Now, I do not want you to ignore negativity. Don't just say, oh, I'm looking at the positive, you know, I'm being abused every single day, but on a positive note, the sky is blue. That's not what I'm talking about. What I am talking about is where you put your focus. Okay, identify the negatives and figure out how you can make them better. But let that go, find the positive. Find how you can have a positive attitude at work. Find out how you can be positive and find the good things that are happening. It will make your life better. Just choosing to look at the on the bright side will make you brighter, will make you feel better. And you know what? Isn't that what you want? Don't you want to feel good? Okay, number five kind of goes along with number four, and that's have a good attitude. People with a positive attitude are noticed. Okay, so if you see two people, one is miserable and one is whistling and smiling and and making jokes and enjoying life, who do you want to hang out with? Okay, so people notice people with a positive attitude. And when you have that positive attitude, you can make a positive impact on those around you. You can make other people's lives better because of your positive attitude. So be the change you want to see in the world. If you want to have a better workplace, be the better workplace. Okay, be the one shining beacon in that better workplace. I have seen people who have progressed, who have gotten more work, gotten more raises, gotten more attention because of their attitude rather than just their skills. The person who is really, really good at something but miserable only gets so far before they're kind of pushed off in a corner and kind of ignored. People don't want to work with a Debbie Downer. They don't want to work with a person who is just miserable. And so choosing to have a good attitude, going along with choosing to find the positive in a situation, can really make a difference when it comes to your impact on those around you. These things are really important, not just because it makes your life better, because it will, but it'll also make those around you better, make them happier, and make them look at you in a better light. That will get you better situations, that will get you some of the change you're hoping for, and it will also get you better recommendations when it comes to choosing a new job. So there's a lot of things you can do to make an impact on your situation, the things that you can control. And while you cannot control your employer, you cannot control the market, you cannot control your coworkers, what you can do is make the best choice possible you can for what you can control. And really, at the end of the day, that's all you can do. You can't just change things outside of your control. But if it's in your control, you can make the best choice possible in order to set yourself up for the best potential outcome. It's basically creating your own luck. Okay. So, yeah, there may be, there is some element to luck when it comes to work. Maybe finding the right person or talking to the right person or the right job opens at the right time. But you know what? Some of it is the luck that you create. And that's by putting yourself in the best position possible to have the best chance to get that luck. Okay. So those are my five recommendations. I know it's not always fun to hear you have to change in a situation where things are around you are frustrating. And I've been in a lot of frustrating situations, but I have seen these work. It's hard, it's difficult, but if you can practice this, if you can work on this every single day, it will make a positive impact in your life. All right. So thanks for the questions. Thanks for listening. And as always, I am Tim Corey.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Thank you for joining us for this episode of Dev Questions. Tim is committed to making it easier for you to become a developer. If you would like to help make more content like this possible, please like, subscribe, rate, and share Dev Questions. You can also send your questions to questions at Iamtimcorey.com. Until next time, remember, you are too smart and your time too valuable to waste it making all the mistakes Tim did. When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to imtimcore.com and enroll in a course.