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Getting a new job is just the beginning of your journey ahead. Your career path still lies before you, so it’s important to take the right steps with your new job.
[Careers Foundations, with Dan Gorgone]
0:00
[Professional Development - Deep Dive]
0:02
It's a great feeling to get that call from a prospective employer
0:04
and hear that you got the job.
0:08
It can be a crazy mix of emotions.
0:10
Sense of success, joy, redemption, and, most of all, relief.
0:13
But now it's time to get to work.
0:18
But getting the job is just the beginning of your journey ahead.
0:21
Your career path still lies before you.
0:24
So it's important to take the right steps with your new job.
0:27
Every company is different,
0:31
requiring you to get acclimated to a whole new culture.
0:33
How you interact with other employees, other departments,
0:36
managing your tasks, and communicating with others
0:41
often determines how successful you'll be.
0:44
You may have to change some of your personal habits
0:47
or the way that you get things done, but in the end,
0:50
don't feel like you're abandoning your individuality.
0:54
Being a team player means adapting to the situation
0:57
while still bringing the best that you have to offer.
1:01
>>Professionalism is very important in any job you do,
1:04
whether it's your first or last, and the reason why is
1:08
you can be fun to work with, you can be creative,
1:12
but if you're not a professional at what you do,
1:17
no one will want to work with you.
1:20
So to me, professionalism doesn't mean wearing a suit.
1:23
Or speaking a certain way or driving a certain car.
1:26
It means are you serious about what it is you do.
1:30
>>What really matters are finding the people
1:33
with the right personality and right attitude.
1:38
So every company has its own culture.
1:41
And you need to find people that fit in with that culture.
1:46
That kind of have the same outlook on life.
1:50
Not the same types of people. You don't want everybody to be a clone of one another.
1:52
But kind of have the same attitude towards work,
1:57
the same attitude towards business, and that kind of stuff.
2:00
>>If you've done nothing but hacked code on your own,
2:02
working in teams will offer an environment full of opportunity.
2:06
Not only can you discover the skills and talents of others within your company,
2:10
but you should take the time to dust off those networking skills
2:15
and get to know your team members as well.
2:18
Networking internally can help you discover opportunities
2:21
to work on interesting projects with talented people.
2:24
And sometimes all it takes is a conversation to get things started.
2:27
Your new company may rely on specific work flows and strict deadlines.
2:32
However, working under pressure doesn't mean rushing
2:36
and doing as much as you can in the shortest amount of time.
2:40
It's about time management.
2:42
>>Well, early on in my career, I didn't have a very good work-life balance.
2:46
It was really hard to kind of nail down for me.
2:51
But early on in your career, you do have to pay your dues,
2:54
and you have to work more than maybe that's ideal.
2:57
I would go to work for nine hours, and I'd come home and do freelance
3:01
or school work or just projects to further my career.
3:05
Since then, I've kind of found a way to balance it out,
3:10
where I actually dedicate a certain amount of time per week
3:14
to work on new fun projects.
3:19
So I think it's just—you're going to work more if you want to get somewhere faster.
3:21
So you don't have to work overtime, and you don't have to work beyond the 9 to 5,
3:26
but if you want to get somewhere sooner
3:31
and quicker and faster, and be better, you're going to have to.
3:33
>>Work-life balance as a web developer can be interesting.
3:36
There is a temptation if you're really passionate about a field
3:40
to work on it after hours, too, which kind of goes back to what I said about
3:44
putting source code on GitHub.
3:48
So you find about a really cool project, and you hack on it in your spare time.
3:50
That's great to do, but it's also pretty important to maintain
3:55
a work-life balance. But as a web developer, that's something that can get kind hairy at times.
4:00
Because, depending on your job, you might be the person that
4:05
is called when the site goes down at 2 or 3 in the morning.
4:09
So it's definitely important to maintain a work-life balance,
4:12
but it can be challenging at times.
4:16
>>Understanding how workflows and other processes within your company work
4:18
will help you understand what's expected of you.
4:23
If you want to take things to the next level
4:25
and figure out how you can make your job easier,
4:28
don't just figure out the workflow. Improve upon it.
4:31
Discovering inefficiencies is an opportunity to improve a process.
4:35
But if you can learn how to offer solutions and put them in place,
4:40
you'll have a better chance of meeting all your professional goals.
4:43
Another important part of the company to understand
4:47
is the way its people communicate with each other.
4:51
What tools or platforms are used?
4:53
Some places rely on email, while others use internal chat boards
4:56
and project-management platforms.
5:01
Get yourself up to speed, so you know how these platforms work.
5:03
And follow the conversations you need to be involved with.
5:07
When you do communicate, always be professional.
5:10
Consider each internal contact like you would a paying client.
5:15
Offer help and provide all the important details.
5:19
If you have any kind of experience communicating online,
5:22
you've probably received or sent some messages that weren't taken the right way
5:27
or understood completely.
5:32
Learn from your boss or fellow coworkers' examples.
5:34
Make note of the tone and language they use in their messages,
5:37
especially to higher-ups or external clients.
5:41
Like networking, remember that speaking with others face to face
5:45
is often the easiest and most effective way
5:50
to get certain messages across.
5:53
Besides, they may only be one desk away.
5:55
There will be many ways to show off what you can do.
5:58
And it goes beyond your coding or design skills.
6:01
If you feel you have more to share, take the initiative and offer to help.
6:04
Or speak with your boss about more ways you can use your talents
6:09
on top of your regular duties.
6:12
Just be sure to get your own job done before asking for more.
6:14
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