Watching my son climb up, down, and around the jungle gym to reach the top, I finally see parallels to my 10-year career in tech through software development, management, and, now, advocacy.

Just like climbing a straight-up ladder is less enjoyable to a child than a climbing frame with twists and turns, a fulfilling career is full of twists, turns, and challenges. But it’s often not until you look back that you remember how much you’ve enjoyed and accomplished.

Taking the First Step

Like many before me, I started working in tech fresh out of university. Upon graduation, I had the misapprehension that careers are a horizontal ladder that you need to climb up through a series of promotions to be successful. Just like how my son initially climbs up onto the first jungle gym platform.

This assumption in our industry builds the misapprehension that you need to be on the promo list in your target year or you are a failure. In some industries, such as banking – where I started – promotions are spaced years apart. Celebrating only those wins leaves long periods of disappointment and lack of recognition in between. That can be a very demoralizing experience.

Finding Your Feet

The early years of my career were spent building expertise, learning technologies, and responsibilities. Being ineligible for promotion for several years meant I progressed sideways through roles without questioning my status. Exactly like how my son walks sideways across platforms or horizontal segments to find a good way to progress up to the top.

My way of moving left and right was slightly different from his. I tinkered with new technologies. A brief stint as a Business Analyst helped me realize I miss coding and want it to always be a part of what I do. Mentorship and teaching developers coming in the door afterward gave me a glimpse of how to lead in a non-managing way. Working as a front-end web developer and learning new technologies ignited my passion for UI. I was able to learn and be successful in a different way.

While there is a difference in the skills we are learning, both my son and I are building mastery to serve as a foundation for us to ascend when we are ready.

“Conquering” the Next Level

When I got promoted after 6 years I was thrown into the crazy world of team management and leadership roles. These were enjoyable for a while. I loved growing engineers, and still do. I got to learn so much about the finance domain and interact with users of our software to solve their problems and reduce the time they took to perform key tasks.

But when I returned to work after having my first son, I found this role didn’t align with the tasks I enjoyed doing or the learning-focused leadership style I wanted to present. Having a full day of meetings while working from home during a pandemic with an infant crawling around my feet was not sustainable. Neither was the endless admin and hygiene management I had to perform or the juggling of competing expectations.

The Fall?

It was not surprising when I burned out. Self-care for me at this time was to decide to go back to development and rebuild my confidence in coding again after an almost 2-year hiatus. Almost like my son climbing down a tier as his current route didn’t quite work out. Or that he wasn’t quite confident enough to take the next jump without slipping down.

When I moved back to being an engineer I felt a sense of loss and disappointment in myself. My status as manager was gone. I realized that my perception of leadership as managing people is extremely narrow and inauthentic to me. Management of people and deliverables is not leadership.

Instead, I found a love of leading through mentorship and sharing knowledge and experience. That led me to an amazing role in developer advocacy. I get to share, speak, mentor, and support engineers as a technical leader and role model every day.

When my son makes it to the top of the frame with a huge smile of achievement on his face, the other kids will see they can do it too. Role models like us show us that we too can achieve these same heights. I beam with pride not only when my son makes it to the jungle gym summit, but when I see others I know progress in their careers and also share their journey and expertise.

Reaching My Next Summit

Don’t assume you need to manage to lead. Or progress up the metaphorical vertical career ladder one step at a time. Your career is a jungle gym. You need to experience achievements, promotions and setbacks to develop yourself as a well-rounded individual within your field.

Use guidance from others along with your own instincts to shift left, right, up, and down to find the career you want and the sense of achievement you deserve.