In recent years, there has been a dramatic shift in the way we look at work as a society. Many of these trends have accelerated following the pandemic. Nevertheless, certain fundamentals remain the same if one builds a stable long-term career rather than hold a string of jobs. At the LSEG Tech Talks series October session, Senior Software Architect at LSEG Technology, Lilan Priyashantha, dove into this topic to share how one can build a stable long-term career in the new normal of our world.
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Building a solid foundation for your career
“When fresh software engineers join the industry, we’ve noticed they look at careers very differently compared to earlier generations,” explains Lilan as he goes on to highlight there is a difference between a career and simply holding a job. In the new world that we are moving in to, careers will be radically different. As such, it’ll demand we leverage new skills. Further, advances in medicines mean we may live longer and therefore have multiple careers across our lives.
Hence, it’s essential to have a strong foundational set of skills that quickly adapt to evolving trends. Taking the example of a software engineer, Lilan illustrated this point by saying, “When you have a strong foundation, then it’s easier to understand any new trends. For example, if you know service-oriented architectures, you can understand web services and, in turn, the current trends of microservices. This is because any new technologies we use are built upon those we utilised earlier.”
But such foundations aren’t laid overnight. Instead, they are the result of hard work over a long period. Here Lilan refers to the 10,000-hour rule, which is a theory stating that masters of any skill spent that much time until they honed their craft. But, he goes on to say, “The idea isn’t to necessarily spent so many hours studying. Rather, it’s to have a long term plan mastering the on the job so you can build a long term career with clear focus and not get hyped with the latest job posting.”
Having a great career in the new world
Throughout the pandemic, new patterns of working, such as remote work, have emerged. They’ve challenged many notions we’ve held about work. As such, Lilan believes there will be more significant levels of flexibility in jobs in the future. He goes on to describe it, saying, “People may decide on the company and projects they want to work on. It means companies will be forced to adapt.”
At the LSEG Tech Talk series October session, Lilan explored how you can take advantage of this flexibility to build a great career. He also touched on other topics, such as the importance of building a solid personal brand, utilising feedback, and various other tools and strategies you can use to develop your career. Stay tuned for more Tech Talk sessions on LSEG Sri Lanka Facebook page.
