Into the Future

    I had a one on one with my manager's manager. Our org chart is pretty flat but she is definitely above me on the food chain. we Talked for a while about the projects I am working on, how my job is, what else is going on in my life that may effect my work. How life in general is  I vented a little I don't think I said anything bad, the people I was talking about are retired or just gone. What ever my opinions are, were I don't feel that they are all that bad. maybe I am a little burned out. All in all iit went well. Until , she asked me what my career goals were. 

    I was little put out. I told her I really had not thought about them. I have maybe 10 years left at Queens college before I retire. I have already been here 19 years in roughly the same position. I have had the same job line title since I stared. I have watched 4 CIOs come and go during my time here at QC. I have applied for other positions and other responsibilities, I have been passed over and rejected regarding them all. I am a bit mad that in some of those cases I had been held back. At some point I just decided to keep my head down and do my job.  To find challenges, I after much cajoling went back to school to hopefully get my bachelors degree in something, . 

Back to career goals, lately I have ben getting into the habit of defining exactly what I am looking to do. I googled (that is a verb?) career goals in IT. I got a decent answer as well that was open enough to give it a lot of thought. the top four career goals for IT exactly what I thought for any job. 

    Improve yourself. This usually means learn a new or work to improve a work related skill or tool. It can also mean do something that will improve your self like go back to school. get healthier, or find a hobby to cut down on stress. These things will help with job production. I am already trying to take better care of myself. I am back in school working towards my degree. 

Start a business. I don't want to hang my IT shingle out. I get enough work without going out on my own. And that would be a big step that I am not prepared to make. Maybe after I retire i can do things that I like to do to make some additional revenue  

    Aim for a promotion- I don't know what else to do. I tried to get to other departments but none of them really interest me.   I may be gun shy as I had tried to alter my course and was shot down everywhere I tried.

    Aim for management. This would be the best option but that would be totally out of my control and comfort zone  The position has to be advertised. I will be passed over though because I am still working on my degree.

     I have never been particularly ambitious  . My career goals have been do a good job. complete the project. keep the user up and running. I applied to job opportunities when available. we had initially talked about it and a lot of the answers i gave her were pretty much on track. I am getting tired time to wrap up.   

High point of the day: It was a very productive day, it feels like I solved some problem and had a nice dinner with Lori.

Low point of the day: feeling like I am not in tune with my English class.

What I learned today:: patience and a good work ethic can yield unexpected rewards