Getting on the train at work

My stepfather in particular sacrificed everything to ensure that I had everything I could ever want as a small boy. That included pretty expensive (at the time) computer equipment, hardware, electronics & pretty much anything else I wanted. That indulgence allowed me to become competent enough to get myself into an industry I consider myself privileged to work in & one which now takes care of my family and doesn’t involve me working down a pit, or in a factory or behind a counter. I love what I do. It’s me.

Therefore it’s an industry I treat with utter respect, I pay that respect by being as competent as possible in every facet of it. From system design & architecture, to user experience and IA to design, creative, development and data intelligence to web design & IT management, I proud to say I literally do quite a lot, really well. I’ve committed my life to what I do, I attend group meetings on every discipline, I run talks throughout the UK in the areas I feel I’m competent enough in, I belong to chapters & associations of the bodies which govern the industry so I can become better at applying my skill and I give back by teaching what I’ve learn to the next generation of people who may want to work in the industry too.

Getting on the train at work.

Subsequently I have standards which are high, standards which I’ve not always met myself but certainly standards I attain & aspire to every day, and the only thing (the *only* thing) I think I’ve ever looked for in my career is to be around enough people with more or less the same mission in mind, to make what I do as achievable as possible.

I don’t waste my time any more by trying to get people to travel on the same train as me, I guess everyone’s travelling their own journeys on their own trains (although I’m more than happy to help them jump aboard mine), I’m just looking for the train with as many people who are as similar to me as possible to take the journey with.

I think I write this blog post at a point in my career where just like reaching that point where you initially lose weight quite easily & then have to step up that little bit more to start losing even more, I’m working hard and searching for how to take what I do to the next level. I don’t know what the answer is yet – but I’m still learning.