Draw Your Own Map

For this weeks blog post I will be discussing the pattern known as Draw You Own Map. The context behind this one is that any given employer can offer only a limited subset of all possible career paths. The problem that would arise from this is that none of the career paths your employer provides actually fits you. The solution that would come from this situation would be to simply identify the next logical but ambitious next step in your career. Realize that it is not up to your employer, your career counselor or your professors to give you a hand up or decide your fate. Arriving at the next step and charting the course is a decision that ultimately comes down to your responsibility. You need to take the first step that is the most important part, even if that step doesn’t seem to significant. This first step should generate the momentum needed to help carry you toward your goal, no matter the terror you may feel. Try to define small, yet achievable steps allowing feedback that you can use to modify your road map which could also make it easier to get help from Kindred Spirits to achieve said goals. If the vision of which your employer sees of you and the one you see of yourself do not match your preferred accordance examine the opportunities to see if they’re heading in the desired direction. Instead follow other successful apprentice paths that share a resemblance to what you are going through. You should constantly reassess your map as your circumstances and values change. Sometimes the map will be in accordance with that of those around you, other times the map will require you to chart your own path through the wilderness. The only constant is that the map is yours, and you are free to redraw it at any time. A good action to take with this is that you could list three jobs that you think you could do while following the current one. Then begin to list three jobs each of those would lead to. Are these really the full range of desirable jobs for the next few years of your life? Ask yourself if this set of jobs is more representative of the range of career options you have before you and what places you want to take in this career. If you are unhappy with the list so far, repeating the exercise with different jobs, business or technology domains could help. Then repeat the exercise again to see where you would end up. Yet again this is something anyone who catches themselves in should do, as it will help you in the long run and in general.