Career aspect: Programs & training - Restless patience in career journeys series

Building upon the article I published in January 2022 titled Be restlessly patient & take control of your career journey, and based on the feedback and interest I received on the topic, I've initiated a series of follow-on articles to extend details on the different career aspects I've introduced in the first article. The aim is to make the career aspects as clear as possible; providing pointers and examples where applicable, in order to make them actionable, allowing you to plan and track the different activities against them easily going forward.

In this article I'll introduce the Programs & training aspect. In my first article titled Be restlessly patient & take control of your career journey, I've briefly introduced this career aspect as follows:

Programs & training: which you need to advance in your career, they could be long term programs (internal in your organization, or external), as well as short term activities and courses.

Basically they are the skills you need to develop as part of formal learning, programs, training or curricula. The aim is to do better at your current job & role, and pave the way for your future job and role.

Note that this aspect serves other career aspects at the core; feeding you with the necessary skills, in order for you to flourish in the different aspects. For instance, while shaping your Domain of expertise (technical eminence), you would identify certain technical, non-technical, soft-skills you require to advance. So you would accordingly look for certain programs and get the necessary training to learn the skills. Similarly, to perform better at the: Networking & visibility, Social eminence, IP, IC, publications, Certifications & credentials, or find your next best Opportunities to excel, you may need to undergo targeted training to be able to venture with confidence in those career aspects as well.

The programs and training can be long term, similar to certain degrees, diplomas and accreditation that could take months or year+ to complete. They can also be short term, such as week+, days, or hours of training. The delivery of the training can also vary, be it classroom courses, self-paced, virtual live/recorded. They can be internal propitiatory programs within your organization, or externally available from other organization, open/free or exclusive/with cost. Certain internal programs may be by nomination only, others may be open for all to consume. The point to make is, with the wide range of options, variations and the many avenues to pursue, you need to be focused when it comes to exploring and locating the best options. Additionally, with cost being a factor to consider, you may need to plan for them ahead, and check the opportunities within your current organization to fund them for you, or if certain programs require nomination, then make sure you align with your management line to be considered for the opportunity whenever possible and ensure their support.

Another tip would be to leverage your network to recommend and locate applicable training you need, you'd be surprised as to the benefit of collaborating with your colleagues, and what may come up in casual conversations on various topic, which you can then take advantage of for your own career progression. Keep an eye for it, and be open to receive, as well as share such information. Similarly, seek advice from your Mentors & sponsors as part of your on-going career conversations, them being ahead of you on the road, would have valuable insights as to the learning you need to fuel you along the way. Additionally, them getting to know you over time allows them to make recommendations for areas you may have missed yourself. You could also run your ideas for new learning opportunities by them, for validation. For instance, if you intend to invest in doing an MBA, a PMP, or an M.Sc., you could take their opinion on it, understand how it can make you truly go ahead and shape the way you go about at it accordingly.

With so many options and alternatives out there to choose from, you also need to locate the "best" program or training you would pursue once you have identified a certain topic or domain you need to train yourself in. For this too, you can use your network, however, it is also important to do some due diligence in researching the best option, and so perhaps you could: reach out to people who underwent the same programs, use public search features, utilize social networking features; review ratings, comments, likes and shares metrics on certain programs or courses, on both the learning itself as well as the institution/organization that offers it. This will all help raise your confidence that it will meet your objectives and be worth your investment. Always remember to give back though and pay it forward to others - more to come on this when I introduce the Give-back aspect at a later point.

In conclusion, it's paramount that you take charge of your career development journey and proactively seek the opportunities you need. This applies to all career aspects alike, and the actions you plan for each while different, and vary in effort, time, cost.. it is all still one step on the road for you to go further and faster on your own charted path.

This concludes the fourth article in the Restless patience in career journeys series - more to come as I expand on the rest of the aspects, so stay tuned.