Making The Jump One Click At A Time!
Tackling the jump from one level to another with practical steps!
As'salamu alaykum everyone!
The Deengineers community has been super active since our launch last month! Something we love doing is engaging with our community and talking about the different topics within the tech. One such conversation we've been having is on the topic of career progression.
What makes jumping levels so hard? Why is it so scary? Is there something I am lacking? Am I really good enough? Sounds familiar right? We've all been there! Thankfully there are practical mindset shifts and actions to help.
So we'll be taking a dive into what we can do to make the jump from Junior to Mid-Level and Mid-Level to Senior!
1. Take Action
If you look at the job specs from one level to another, you will quickly realise that there are more technical and conceptual skills to learn. You will also realise different roles require different skills. A Cloud Engineer may require in-depth knowledge in Azure, AWS or GCP compared to a Software Engineer who needs to be more focused on more advanced design concepts.
There's no easy solution but to take the time to research your next role and start picking those tools/skills up! Really take the time to understand:
What skills do I have that I can sharpen?
What tools do I need to pick up that are actually in demand for my role?
Are there design concepts that I need to also understand?
What are my practical steps for learning the above?
2. Git Good - Practically!
Imagine you need surgery to mend a broken part of your body. Who would you trust more? A surgeon who says he knows and understands how to perform the procedure and has never done it OR a surgeon who knows, understands and has ACTUALLY performed it?
It's simple. The person who's actually done it.
There are three key parts to learning:
Knowledge. Understanding. Implementation.
Emphasis on the last word - Implementation.
Too often we all get stuck in tutorial hell, going through endless cert courses and thinking we know something but in actuality we've never physically done it. If we never challenge our understanding through doing, how will be sure we can trust our skills? Like choosing the right surgeon, will we be confident in our own abilities without hands-on practice?
The easy solution: Build Real World Projects and do them with like-minded people!
3. Interviews Preparation
Interviews are never easy. However, there are things we can do to make them easier.
Know your skills and know your CV
Make sure you can confidently explain how you achieved a work objective by using a skill that you have put on your CV to do so. This is key!Know your company
The way we recommend learning about the company is not only via the usual social media, websites, etc but by actually reaching out and connecting to people on LinkedIn within the company. Get to know about their day-to-day, learn about what they do, and what skills they have and what made them stand out.Research:
Take some time to look at common interview questions within your role and their optimal answers. This will help a lot in making your own structured answers
Practise makes perfect:
Being successful relies on giving the interviewer confidence that your personal culture and values align with theirs. Everyone probably has similar or greater technical skill sets, but we differ in who we are. So being able to comfortably express yourself is important and you can do this by practising real mock interviews.
4. Experience is relative
Experience is a formidable force, and the only way to acquire it is through the right projects, people, and passions. Often, we hesitate to make a move because we feel that we lack the necessary skills.
However, that's perfectly fine! After all, you can't learn to make East Asian cuisine in a place that only teaches South Asian stuff, right? The same principle applies to work. You need to find an environment that provides you with what you need and more.
So rather than thinking "I can't move because I don't have the experience", think instead "I need to move so I can get the experience I don't have"!
5. You are not an imposter before Allah
Imposter syndrome is a difficult thing to deal with and often feels like you have the weight of everyone’s expectations on your shoulders. So how do we deal with this? Well, it's a matter of perspective.
The most important thing we need to recognise is our place in this world. It is only through the mercy of Allah that we are where we are today. So whether you are inspired to finally start making the move or you have done so already, always think that Allah put you where you are today for a reason. You are worthy. Knowing that can you truly be the imposter you claim yourself to be?
Allah is the best of planners, forever and always. Trust in his plan!
New events are on the horizon!
Hopefully, the tips above will help you in your journey! In the meantime, we've been working on bettering our communities experience and planning exciting things for the future. One such development is the formation of a Discord Bot Team called The Bot Whisperers! We'll be sharing how that will be coming along later in the year insha'Allah!
Stay tuned to our social media channels for updates on upcoming events and how you can get involved. Connect with us on:
For now, that's all from us folks, let's continue to work together and elevate each other as Muslims into the tech one click at a time!