Create the Change You Want

Create the change you want

Want to learn new skills without changing jobs? Many people in the software testing industry don’t last more than two or three years in the same job because they get bored and feel they aren’t learning any more. It doesn’t have to be this way!

When you change jobs there is a lot of upfront effort of searching for the right job and then learning about your new context before any opportunities to learn new things arise. I think it is more desirable if you can skip all that and learn new skills where you are now.

You can use your existing status and long term relationships in your workplace to provide you with opportunities to initiate change. The status you create from working at the same job for a while means people will begin to really value your opinions. This means if there is something different you want to try or a risk you want to take, people are more likely to agree with you. If you can take risks and try new things out, this is a great way to learn new skills, increase your morale and prevent feeling stagnant. Make use of this opportunity and trust afforded to you and suggest changing things up and taking some risks. Try something new rather than enduring current procedures and methods because it’s just the way things are.

Relationships take time to develop and you will build strong relationships as you stay in a job long term. A strong relationship with workmates means you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This has several benefits. First you can utilize each other’s strengths and together create interesting solutions to challenging problems. Secondly, you can lean on the strengths of others to improve your own skills by learning from them and having them guide you. Thirdly, knowing each other’s weaknesses means people can help you identify the areas you need to grow in and work with you to create a strategy to improve in those areas. Make use of the relationships you build over time to push each other further and challenge yourself to grow.

Be inspired to make changes and improvements where you are without the hassle of changing jobs so that you will avoid boredom and can continue to learn.

About the Author

Peter Bartlett

Find out more about @peter-bartlett