when vacation no longer saves you
What advice would you give to those who decide to change their specialization?
Elizabeth: Be prepared to make bold decisions and don’t be afraid of the feeling that you have made a setback – this is temporary. Prepare a financial cushion, since for some time your income will be lower than your current one, and losing a certain standard of living is always unpleasant and painful. Explore new specialties that are in demand on the market – no one has ever canceled the desire to have a well-paid job, so be on trend! Believe in yourself and your strength. “A drop wears away a stone not by force, but by frequent falling.”
And one more piece of advice, not as from an HR specialist, but as from an ordinary living person: maintain a work-life balance in work and study. Unfortunately or fortunately, we are far from cars, and our body needs rest and care.
Alexander: Don't be afraid to experiment. If you are a strong specialist in your current field, your skills and experience will stay with you. Fundamental knowledge does not become outdated as quickly as it might seem, and some short-term trends can be safely missed. Even if you later decide to return to your original specialization, you will not waste your time. Trying to change your specialty will give you valuable experience that will help you look at familiar tasks from a new angle.
Actively seek support. There are many professionals in the IT community who are ready to share their experience. Develop networking, attend conferences. This will not only expand your knowledge, but also open up new opportunities for career growth
Use the parallel career track method. Start developing skills in a new specialty without leaving your current job. For example, if you are attracted to the role of team lead, you do not have to immediately become a formal leader. Try organizing internal initiatives, such as internal meetups or board games night. This experience will give you valuable food for thought and help you evaluate your inclinations without taking any risks.
Egor: If we talk about changing specialization in IT, then we first need to figure out what kind of change in specialization we are talking about. Because specialization can be changed horizontally (for example, from business systems analysts to testers, or from testers to developers), or we can talk about a vertical change in specialization, when a person worked as an analyst and now wants to change his role to the head of the analytics department. I myself went through a change of vertical specialization twice. It is often called career growth, but the transition from the position of head of a department to the position of RP or architect cannot be called such; it is precisely a change in the specialization of activity. Therefore, first you need to decide which vector of changes is interesting to you.
If you understand and determine for yourself in which direction you want to move, then you need to make a plan, identify gaps in knowledge and skills and begin to fill them. If I want to become a developer, then I need to master a certain programming language and gain minimal experience, so I either need to study it using a tutorial or take courses. Next, I need test projects on which I will train, and after them the first commercial projects on which I will solve real applied problems.
If you have the opportunity to change specialization within your company, and the company supports it, then this is great, because you will do it in a comfortable environment.
Any other situation, when you have to change your specialization with entering the labor market and changing companies, is a more stressful story, where you will encounter more obstacles, simply because you are moving from your position of an experienced specialist again to the category of juniors, and, well, juniors, As you know, not everyone needs them; everyone is looking for mature specialists with experience. Of course, you have a plus – experience in IT, and it will be valued in comparison with other candidates, but it will not give any fundamental advantage.
Risks VS Tips
Experts admit that changing specialization in IT is fraught with:
a possible fall down the career ladder (from middle or senior back to junior);
difficulties in finding a new job;
loss of wages;
the need to learn and adapt to a new role.
The following will help mitigate the consequences and make the decision successful:
attention to your desires and interests;
clear definition of the direction of development;
detailed action plan;
presence in the market trend, but reliance on fundamental knowledge;
seeking support from the community: colleagues or professionals in a new field;
“parallel career track” method (developing skills in a new specialization without leaving your old job).
But the main thing is not to be afraid to experiment and be ready for bold decisions.
