Prologue
In my own experience, taking a pause from something that we do in order to keep track of something that needs immediate attention is very important, especially if unattended items tend to affect your peace of mind.
But, before we get started on technical things and other stuff, let's say hello to ourselves before we proceed on the long journey of Computer Science. Or in the IT field as a whole. Am I good? Can I still do it? Do I need some rest? It's a highly subjective process but you get the idea. Let's assess our personal life first.
Before we start doing something, let's check ourselves first. Just like you would check a car before going on somewhere. The different parts of the car must be safe before traveling, especially if the destination is far away.
Check your mental health. But, take it easy. This is unskippable. Ask yourself:
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Do I need to rest?
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Am I tired?
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Do I need someone to enlighten me on this vast field of a profession?
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What things do I need to consider?
Giving ourselves time to pause and assess our life is a crucial part of understanding our current state of mind before a new undertaking. Some of us have our own battles and silent wars to fight, which no one else knows about. And taking a little time to get a bird's eye view of what's happening in our lives is always beneficial.
It can give us an idea of where we are lacking. It also gives us a different perspective on our strengths and weaknesses, ups and downs, improvements and lapses, etc. Different possibilities. Regardless of whether or findings are mostly positive or negative, being able to find anything is a win in itself.
Ways to Assess Yourself
Taking Notes
How can we do it?
Well, it depends on our own preferences. I recommend that we try to list our own personal positives and negatives. About the positives, try to analyze what their future is. Do I need to leave them behind? Do I need to pursue it? The same goes for the negatives.
We can grow in doing this process as we make ourselves up to keep track of important points in our life that we should consider as we are on the way to building our careers. And as time goes by, we must always have room for improvement is very vital especially since our field is aligned with technology.
Also, taking notes is very important because our notes are an extension of our brains. This is one of the important things I learned on my personal coding journey. The truth is, when we train ourselves to take notes over time, it will help us with learning how to code as a whole. The more we take notes, the more the knowledge sticks.
So, if we want to assess our personal career and progress, taking notes is one of the best and easiest things to do here.
Seeking Assistance From Other People
If we're in a relationship and have a circle of friends, relatives, or even a dog that could talk, seeking assistance from them is also important. Why? Because you or we have a different POV about ourselves. More POVs, means more factors to consider and review. More perspective could also mean more possibilities. Who knows?
We can also ask for help on how to plan and assess our life. The truth is, no man is an island. Yes, sometimes. So, we must grab the privilege that we have to make up for these things. In this way, we learn how to socialize and communicate better with other people. Which is important in the IT industry as a whole. Communication and socialization are very crucial. Let's normalize these things. Very important in one's career.
BTW, if we have professional peeps that are known such as personal doctors like Psychiatrists, Software engineers, etc., seeking pieces of advice from them is also helpful.
Research
Lastly, research. And research. And research. Just like training to always take notes, we should also train ourselves to always browse the web through a search engine like Google. In fact, Googling is a skill. Solving a particular problem through means of using specific keywords to find a solution is a skill. Let's normalize that. A very crucial skill that could place us in a better place in the long run in our future careers.
In fact, aside from the other 2, this is also an unskippable part as solving a particular problem involves seeking possible and justifiable solutions just like what we learn from Science.
Now, here's the thing. Researching every aspect that is unknown to us while assessing our life could really help us. Searching other people's stories to build their careers to success, browsing some great testimonials from them, and being inspired by their personal experiences could leverage the assessment of our career.
Be inspired and motivated by their stories. There are a bunch of successful stories in tech. They also share their personal struggles and how they overcome them. A college dropout before, now a professional software engineer. A former nurse turned data scientist. Engineering major turned mobile developer. There are a bunch of these kinds of stories.
Also, there are many professional recommendations by professionals. Just kindly check them out. The testimonials from those kinds of people are also different.
But know the limits. Don't compare ourselves to them. Being inspired and imitating someone are two distinct qualities. Always remember that everyone's journey is totally different from others (even though we always hear this thing every single damn time). Just don't compare ourselves to others. It's one of the root causes of human negativities.
And yes, you got the idea. Just research all along. Let's use the free privilege that we have. Search engines are free. So, why not?
Epilogue
And that's it. Assessing our life is crucial as we start and build careers in tech. Considering also our mental health is a very significant part of this life-long career. Also, we have also tackled the ways how we can do it. Maybe, we have other ways or methodologies which are good. We can just combine it all along. It is somewhat highly subjective.
I just want to tell everyone that assessing one's personal life should be a priority and unskippable. I also introduced some ways how to do it. We can use these ways and combine them with our own ways. We can just grow in these ways and then as time goes by, it is possible to increase. But for the most part, these are things that are highly suggested which other professional folks could also suggest. These are just things that worked for me.
Just for the sake of clearing our minds filled with doubts and worries, please, take time to assess. Take time to reflect. Take time to find out the state of our life at least once. I hope (if not all), these pieces of advice could help and contribute at least a little. To set as motivation and inspiration to continue for the better.
The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement.
Helmut Schmidt
Also published here.