I feel stuck in my career. How can I level up in my job?

5 minutes

Moving jobs may see you taking a step “down” in title. What can you do when you feel stuck and you want to rapidly progress?

Hi Maria,

I’m currently a lead developer managing five engineers. I’m planning to move to a new job as a software engineer to learn new skills. Currently, I work with .NET and haven’t had the chance to learn other technologies like Angular or .NET Core. I’ve neglected my career growth and need to upgrade my skills.

How can I quickly advance in my new job to reach a lead role again?

Thanks,
Mizuki

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Hi Mizuki,

First of all – congrats on the new role! Beyond that, congrats on noticing that your previous path was no longer a good fit and taking the steps to change it.

From intention to everyday action

Intention is the key to speedily achieving your goals in your new role. Intentionality is quite clearly present in your question already: you want to get to a lead developer role. Use that end goal to drive your actions, decisions, and conversations in your new position.

This will require a two-pronged approach: process and substance.

Process is about understanding how you reach your goal in the context of this new company. Learn about the path and processes that the company uses so that you have as much information as possible. See your manager as a partner and champion in this: bring up your goal in an early 1:1, regularly ask for feedback on how you’re tracking, and ask them to keep an eye out for opportunities as well.

The substance side is arguably the harder and more important aspect; it’s all about creating value for the company and your coworkers. You likely know this having worked in a leadership role before, but actively seek places where you can add value and build trust. For example, add clarity to fuzzy direction, drive progress on work that feels stuck. Above all, build a reputation for delivering on promises of high quality and at a sustainable pace. Involve others in the process rather than doing it all yourself.

These fundamentals will take you a long way. To further accelerate your progress, speak with your manager about company culture – which is really just about behaviors the company values. What steps have others followed to achieve promotion? Use that as input to carve your own path. Public displays of your accomplishments and expertise (like blog posts) may be valued. In this case, dedicate time to explicitly communicate and publish learnings from your work on a consistent basis. Similarly, if visible leadership on projects is an important factor for gaining a promotion, work with your manager to proactively find these opportunities.

Support networks

We rarely achieve great things alone, including personal goals! Think about two important networks that will support you in this next chapter: your professional one (especially inside of the company), and your personal one.

Part of leadership is the ability to influence others towards a common goal; to do that effectively, you need to understand what others in your area and beyond care about, what they’d like help with, and what they’re proud of. On the flip side, think of how you can help or collaborate with them. Especially during the first couple of months, make a point of booking introductory 1:1s with your new co-workers; your manager can help you identify the first few, and you can ask each person for recommendations too.

The second support network will be the one outside work. Often, life outside of work balances out life at work; personal challenges can make us appreciate a steady pace at work, while new work hurdles might require extra support at home. That balance is very personal; reflect on how family, friends, a partner, or perhaps a coach can help. Set up this support structure early on.

Prioritizing your personal growth in the future

I see the regret of having deprioritized your professional growth in your question. You’re definitely not alone; work gets busy, and personal growth is often the first thing to fall by the sidelines for most of us.

To protect against that scenario in the future, I’d suggest two things: sign up for work that challenges you on the new skills you want to build, and schedule learning just like you would a work event.

Taking on projects that require you to learn new things pushes you to rely on fundamental principles, a crucial leadership skill. It will also speed up your learning of the new stack or architecture that you’re looking to ramp up on. The more directly you run towards work that will challenge you, the quicker you will pick up new skills.

Book time in advance (quarterly, twice a year, whenever) that you dedicate to learning and growing your skills. Reflect on what format works better for you whether that be conferences, courses, or books. Research your options and earmark time in your calendar to tackle them. 

Enjoy the process

All that said, I want to caution you on a few things. The concept of speed can be tricky especially when a career move seems like a step back. It’s easy to feel pressure to “get back” on track. It’s a mindset that can bring out our inner critic, making us feel like we’re not progressing fast enough, or that we’ve failed. Keep an eye out for this tendency. Contrary to what our brains might try to tell us, our lives and careers only move forward. We only ever build on top of what we’ve already built in the past, and while growing faster is great if we start to rush things, then our efforts become counterproductive. 

Make time to occasionally pause and check if you’re still heading in a direction that feels right for you – this definition might change with time but could mean doing work you enjoy, alongside people who you respect and who respect you. If you want, make a habit of checking in on yourself at a frequency that works for you (could be weekly, monthly, or quarterly). Reflect on these questions: 

• Since I last did this self-reflection exercise, what have I driven forward? 
• What feels right and what feels off about my current path? 

Over time, this reflection will form a feedback loop, helping you stay intentional and make necessary adjustments.

Do you have a work challenge that you’d like some additional perspective on? Submit it here, and it might feature in a future column. All submissions are edited for anonymity.

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