How Personal Development Improves a Developer’s Career

“Change is the only constant.”

That is a benchmark thought that every software industry follows when it comes to professional as well as personal skill development. Even here at Turing.com we have analyzed over thousands of resumes/CVs of IT professionals from across the globe and also interacted with them to analyze their personal and professional development goals. The results of this internal research were exciting because the data helped us categorize IT professionals into 3 broad categories that we'll discuss later in this article. This broad categorization is based on their personal development skills or career success.

The first, category belongs to active and continuous learners. These professionals understand the gravity of personal development for career success and try to incorporate those qualities continuously throughout their careers. Such highly motivated individuals get to see higher growth in their career and salary, and achieve professional development due to their calculative risk-taking capabilities, time-management, and attitude. They gradually become specialists in their respective fields and make impactful decisions that help them enjoy their personal, private and professional lives at the same time.

However, on the other side of the story, there is a category of people who keep mere technical skills and technical development above personal development. They tend to get satisfaction in what they do without any zeal for achieving or learning anything new. They stick around the same professional career and the organization for years and feel comfortable with it. Gradually they might lose their confidence and motivation for continuous learning. However, there is nothing wrong with it until they are enjoying higher perks or having a learning experience.

Personal development quick tip: There is a metric to learn more about how to switch, which we’ll explore later in this blog.

Finally, we have a category that hangs in between the two above. Though they understand the utility of personal development for career success, they either don’t start it at all, or once they start might abandon making progress midway. These individuals make progress at the initial stages of their careers but gradually become stagnant as they lose the zeal for learning something new. Though they’re capable of taking a head start anytime in their career they need an outside force or energy to drive & guide them.

Personal development quick tip: There is a pro-tip for such individuals, attached later in this blog.

Now a genuine question arises- "How to analyze which category one may belong to?"

Don't worry, at Turing.com we have developed a simple test. This test simply requires the answers of-

1. Where were you 2 years ago and where are you now?
2. Where do you see yourself between 2 to 5 years from now?
3. What are you doing to achieve the goals in question 2?
4. What is your career vision and mission?

Based on your answers you can easily place yourself in one of the above categories. If you belong to the 1st category then you’re good to go just keep engaging in personal development for career success. However, if you belong to the other two, then you need to start working more consciously toward personal development coupled with career development.

What does one need to do for better personal development?

We suggest two key points for better personal development-

1. Soft skills like communication, emotional intelligence, and attitude
2. Developing a career development plan for yourself

Soft skills can be improved through constant personal and professional interaction and interaction comes from community-based engagement. Start engaging in tech events, conferences, and chapters (updates on current developments and also to know what other people are doing and talking about). In addition to this, start writing blogs, share your thoughts on forums and portals, and also read others’ viewpoints. This two-way communication will help you in designing a holistic career development plan for yourself.

Other than that there’s a popular question that keeps coming up in the mind of every professional.

How do I know when it's the correct time to switch to a new organization?

According to an insightful LinkedIn story, the metric for this is based on the below-

• Higher perks
• Learning environment

So if you've-

• Both of the above at the same organization- Best case
• Either of the above- can stay around
• None of the above- switch, immediately!

Therefore, if you fall in the third bucket, make sure you start today! Stay updated with new developments in the community through reading. A quick 10-minute read a day over coffee should be handy. Through these minimalistic steps, you will automatically start engaging in personal development for career success and might find opportunities for you to make the career switch you might need.