layout	title
page	Career Journal Template

Career Journal Template

Overview

What is a career journal? The journal will help guide you through the process of discovering who you are as a new developer and how that translates into your career goals. It’s a way to check in with yourself through self-reflection, prompts, and questions, organize your targeted job search, and remember who you met as you build a professional network.
Make it your own. Add questions and areas to reflect on each week. Just don’t forget to share all of your successes and achievements along the way!
Ongoing progress checks. Throughout each module, you'll respond to the other prompts and update your progress in your document during professional development workshops and set aside work time.
Module Expectations. A completed career journal is required for successfully passing each module. The career development team will be assessing your progress throughout the module, and you will submit it for final review in week 6. You will also include highlights from your progress in your end of module portfolio presentation.

Directions

Copy the following prompts into your own private gist or Google Doc. Note: when creating a gist, please make sure to add .md at the end of the title to turn it into markdown format. If you're using a Google doc, please provide comment access.
Respond to the Mod 0 prompts.
Submit the link to your document in this survey for the career development component of your Mod 1 Prework.

Mod 0

When you've worked towards a goal in the past, what systems or tools have been helpful for you in accomplishing that goal? How could you adapt those same systems/tools to use while at Turing? In the past, I typically consulted with multiple stakeholders regarding expectations and timelines for a goal I was trying to achieve as well as potential obstacles I might have run into along the way. Additionally, I did my research online. For example, when I wanted to work on my MBA, I found friends that already had this degree and asked them about their experiences. I also consulted with hiring managers regarding their expectations of someone with that level of education.

Then, after gathering information, I evaluated my skillset or a lack thereof to see what can get me to the goal as well as resources I had at a time. If I needed to take additional classes or workshops, I did so. With time and persistence, some goals have been achieved, and some transformed into the new goals.

As you start this new career, what is one of your strengths and how do you know? Grit. Everyone I worked with in the past would describe me as a very determined person. When I am focused, hard work, persistence, consistency, and time get me where I want to be. It also works the other way. As soon as I stop seeing where I am going, my performance goes downhill.

Describe how you work best (conditions, environment, preferences, etc.): I am a mix of a loner and a team worker. I get frustrated when someone is way ahead of me and doesn't give me time to catch up. I also work better in teams because that way, I learn faster and become more creative as well as have less anxiety because my teammates validate me.

As for the environment, I need silence, dark room with one desk light, no disctractions, and my life chores need to be taken care of. I love grinding and feel very accomplished after long work hours, though I do need to take care of myself sometimes.

As you start this new career, what is your greatest area of improvement when it comes to your professional skills? I am very focused on work goals and cannot stand incompetence, especially when it is displayed by someone higher in hierarchy. I need to remember that sometimes work is not about work and be kind and sensitive to other people's feelings and insecurities. I have been making some progress in this field after being employed by companies during the last four years, but this is nowhere near where I want it to be. I have high standards for other people and especially myself. While I am not planning to lower my personal standards, I do need to accept and embrace my peers for who they are without trying to logically justify their course of action.

Other than that, I am a great team collaborator, a situative leader, a mentor and a mentee, and a negotiator.

How will developing a deeper understanding of your strengths and working preferences benefit you as a software developer? I am not sure yet how to answer this question, but I will try. I think understanding my strengths will help me put them to good use and develop them into my personal brand; something that will differentiate me from my peers. Understanding my working preferences will allow me to not waste time on trivial things and focus all my energy on learning. As the time progresses, I will be able to see whether my vision of strengths and work prefernces remain the same, and, if that's the case, translate them into the job search.

Describe the vision you currently have for your career after Turing: I invision myself working as a software developer for a company, more likely small, and have an area of responsibility. I will be learning back end and have passion for data and puzzles. I do, however, enjoy aesthetics and graphic design as well, so I am probably going to take extended studies to grow my skillset laterally, unless graphic design transforms into AI by that time. I want to eventually grow in my career, though, I do not aspire to be an executive of the company or a leader whose job is to manage people. I want to become an expert in my field and be respected for work I do and creativity I may bring to my team. Knowing myself, I am going to keep learning new languages and skills as the time goes, so my career will look like a river that will eventually take me somewhere.

Set Up Your Career Journal for Mods 1-4:

It's recommended that you use the following template to set up the rest of your career journal.