- Design a 40-hour "work week" that provides time for:
- Code (ideally, 2-4 hours a day will be dedicated to coding)
- Outreach
- Research
- Network
- Any other areas where you'd like to grow? How much time will you spend on each? When will you do each thing?
Going off what Jeff said in the Mod 5 sessions, I'll plan to spend 6+ hours a weekday, divided into four 90-minute sessions for 1) Coding, 2) Research, 3) Networking, & 4) Clean-up.
- Backwards planning: What is your cut-off for ending the job search? When do you want to receive and sign an offer by?
My personal goal is to get a job at some point. Before the 45 day average would be great.
- Based on what you outlined above, create monthly, weekly, and daily goals in order to reach your big goal.
- What skills would you like to improve or develop?
- What is feasible in your schedule?
- What actions will give you the most impact in your search?
My goal for each day will be to be productive within each 90-minute session I've scheduled. In that time, I'll continue to follow through on the activities that have been suggested throughout the program.
- Block out time on your calendar now to adhere to these goals. At the end of each week, assess what worked with the schedule and what didn't so that you can make adjustments as needed and manage your time even more effectively for the following week.
Done.
- What "barriers" tend to hold you back in the job search? What steps will you take to overcome those "barriers"?
Not looking in the right places => Ask around more? Losing confidence => Communicating with my support network, yoga, self-awareness & self-management
Where do you want to go in your career?
Reflect on this narrative rule described by Emma Coats, former Pixar story artist:
Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously.
Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
- Imagine that it's 5 years from now - what have you accomplished during that time? How is your life different? What steps did you take to achieve your goals?
Challenged myself, continued to build my network, given back to Turing.
- Create a vision statement for these longterm goals.
I will continue to learn. I will increase the breadth and depth of my network in the Denver tech industry. I will work in a job that I enjoy with people I enjoy and have the flexibility in my workday to continue to maintain work-life balance.
- Reference what you outlined in your Flower Exercise -- what preferred level of responsibility do you want to move to? Do you want to start your own company? What kind of work do you see yourself doing longterm? In your first year on the job, what skills do you want to develop to work towards your longterm goals?
I'd like to be an individual contributor in a 40-45 hour work week. Longterm I'd like to lead dev teams and on the way to that have the opportunity to bring my previous career into my new one. In my first year on the job, I'd like to develop skills for adding value to a dev team, as well as further develop my coding foundation.
You're encouraged to pick one of the below options to work on in addition to the previous two. However, these are both completely optional.
What side project(s) do you want to work on? How could you decide on a side project?
Take these steps:
-
Generate and come up with an idea:
- Read and research -- what problems need solving?
- Brainstorm -- what's important to you?
- Have fun! What would be fun and exciting to try out?
-
Document a plan for your side project:
- What will your MVP look like?
- When do you want working software by?
- Who are your users?
- Etc.
How do you want to contribute to the developer community?
- Find an Open Source project couple projects you’d be interested in, why you’re interested, how you would like to contribute
How do you want to be involved in the developer community?
How you could approach this option:
- Research at least 3 conferences you'd be interested in attending -- what would you get out of them? Do you want to speak at a conference at some point?
- Find 3 new meetups to join -- how could you contribute to those meetups?
- Write 3 new blog posts -- how can you share information with others?