How we deal with it! When I started my career as Developer/Tester 15 yrs ago, I have no clue about work environment, started a project where I learned how to use outlook, basic meeting structures, how do u translate requirements to code that is useful for end users, grew to today writing architecture on new big data technologies, so many tools that I banked into my skill set, multiple certifications in hand. Opportunities that pops up and how you grab them, is what makes all that different.
I should say what ever I am today, all this credit goes back to men in my life, my Dad always injected that bug since my childhood, whatever you do, you need to make a mark on it, I still remember the days he tells us that your name needs to be on top list and has to be published. Dad being not so educated, knows the value in it and pushed us towards that end hard. I may not be a merit student when young, but I always like to know the concept, that helped me in long run. Plus my husband who is always behind me and says do what ever you think is right for our family. Lucky to have these guys in my life.
Sometimes I took many daring decisions of leaving very flexible full time job to push myself into new technologies, lots of learning curve, I am my own guru in so many cases. Traveled & stayed away from family for career growth. Many stress full day & nights with working on a job, I have no clue how those tools work, learning where ever I can, it can be from a co-worker, internet, library. All that hard work made me what I am today, I can command and challenge the work I am doing. I can deep dive into technology, tools, business knowledge. I can say I am comfortable debugging a project written in any programming language..
Seen many people jealous of the opportunities I brag with my work, I am lucky to be in those places, what else can I say. Being an immigrant its not easy to work with all white male in the teams and get appreciation on what you do. But, talent and hard work will always be recognized. Finally now working on new revolutionary technologies of big data.
I am proud of my hard work, proud of how far I came with my learning and proud that I am still a learner. I hope this saga of challenging myself continues, be able to have the balanced work life. I love to be a in a position to be able to share the knowledge and skills I have. I will work on it this year, where I can publish some of my work and that can be useful for others…
I will end this post with a quote that I love : “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it”