Step Into a Growth Mindset

Introduction#

Outside of growing physically, growth can be defined as gaining knowledge, creating/changing habits, looking at things differently, and/or helping someone else do any of these things. I've been a software engineer for several years and during most of my time as a software engineer, I have focused on learning new languages/technologies, getting elevated to new roles and titles, and acquiring certifications. At first glance, these seem like good objectives for my career path, and a lot of software engineers focus on these things as well. However, what I've learned over several years of focusing on these things is that I was always focused on a very specific task and when I would complete those tasks, I would look at those accomplishments as something that should speak for themselves.

Early on in my career, I was elevated to the title of Senior Software Engineer. I let that go to my head and I assumed that because I had a senior title, I knew enough about software development to feel confident in applying to other companies as a Senior Software Engineer. Again this makes sense and is what other software engineers do all the time. However, as it would turn out, what one company thinks of in terms of a Senior Software Engineer can be completely different from another company. This was a humbling moment for me and I learned at that point how little I knew.

For a couple of years now, I have developed what I refer to as a growth mindset. There are 5 main concepts that I focus on with this growth mindset: getting feedback, improving myself, elevating my role and title organically, sharing what I know, and finding positive influences. These concepts have helped me grow in ways that I've never really paid any attention to in the past. As a result, I have a deeper understanding of myself, my strengths and weaknesses, and where I can provide the most value.

Get Feedback#

You can't grow without feedback. It's really the only way you can tell if you're growing at all. Otherwise, you're just guessing and possibly even lying to yourself about where you think you're at in terms of growth. I find getting feedback to be very important to my growth. I feel this way so much that I make every effort to get feedback from my coworkers, friends, and family regularly. I also look to get that feedback in a face-to-face conversation as I believe it's more personable and you're able to ask better questions in an ad-hoc way. Getting feedback is a great way to ask specific questions that you may have concerns about as well as listen for opportunities to grow. I usually take notes when getting feedback and I look for things that I need to improve on as well as things that I should continue doing. These things provide me with objectives to focus my growth around. I use the things that I'm doing well to validate my growth priorities.

I have found that the number one reason that people are reluctant to give feedback is fear of how that feedback is received. In order to make sure you're getting feedback that is actually going to help you, you need to make sure you learn how to receive feedback. I find that in order to receive feedback well, you have to avoid trying to defend yourself from the feedback you receive. Instead, ask more questions to better understand the feedback you're getting. This helps generate better conversation around the feedback and also allows you to identify opportunities for growth.

Improve Thyself#

As far as I'm concerned, I always have room for improvement in the things I do, the way I handle myself, the work I do, as well as many other things. I look at myself as a continuous project where I'm looking to be agile and pivot when things don't work out. Because I have this view of myself, I'm always looking to make sense of why I do the things I do. This helps me identify my strengths and weaknesses. It also keeps me aware of opportunities for growth.

An example of this is something I realized the other day where I was watching recordings of meetings with a client and taking notes of the recorded meeting. All the meetings with the client have been mostly recorded. However, I've been in most of those meetings in real-time as well. During those real-time meetings, I took notes. However, I still felt the need to rewatch the recorded meetings. After getting through a few of the recorded meetings, I realized something very important. I realized that I'm not very good at taking notes quickly in a real-time meeting. I looked at this weakness as something I could improve on. I started by identifying why this was a weakness in the first place and why I was struggling with it. I then identified some simple things I could do to help myself improve on this. My goal moving forward is to make this big and visible so that I don't forget about it. I plan to continuously reflect and look for opportunities to get feedback on my progress.

Growth is not always about the big things. The small things add up and they can have a major impact on your life. Always look for opportunities for improvement big and small. This is the backbone of a growth mindset and it provides the greatest opportunity to help you provide yourself and those around you with the most value.

Elevate Organically#

What do career paths, progression programs, and certifications all have in common? They all can help get a new title in a company and take the next step in your career. The problem that I've found with focusing on these things is that there is usually some prescribed process or a prescribed amount of information you have to memorize to get to the next level. In other ways, you sometimes just have to be at a company long enough and you get a new title. There are also some cases where a company might ask you to get a new certification because it benefits the company in some way. In the end, having a specific title or certification doesn't really truly indicate your experiences, your knowledge, your ambition, or your potential.

Throughout my career, I have had various titles and roles where I've been an application engineer, software engineer, software engineer, senior software engineer, tech lead, solutions architect, IT manager, network administrator, software consultant, and senior software consultant. Some of these titles carry more weight with people than others and they tend to believe that because I had one role or another that my quality of work will be comparable to somebody else with the same title. I don't think about it this way because there is no standard definition for what a solutions architect or senior software engineer, etc. should be capable of. It's all relative to the person hiring you.

At one point in my career, it was recommended to me that I look into going through a senior software engineer progression plan. The expectation was that you should select someone to be your sponsor that will help identify whether you are ready to be a senior software engineer and if you weren't then they would help you get there. While the company was requesting that I go down this path, I wanted to make sure that I was growing as a software engineer and not necessarily chasing a title. In order to make sure this happened, I made sure that I didn't pick a sponsor that really knew me or my work at all. I also wanted to make sure that I picked a sponsor that I thought would be the most difficult to get approval from for moving to the next level. This was important to me because I felt that I was picking the absolute hardest path available to me to get to be a senior software engineer. If I was able to make it to the next level then I would grow in ways that were more meaningful. With this being said, I only identify one title on my resume and LinkedIn profile regardless of what level I'm at in a company.

By not getting caught up in what title I have or what certifications I have, then doing so allows me to focus on my individual growth. As long as I'm continuing to grow then there is a better chance of me getting elevated to new roles and titles organically rather than intentionally. This keeps me humble and avoids letting my title and role control my decisions. Growth is about recognizing your ignorance and addressing it. Let that be your focus instead of chasing titles and you'll be better off in the end.

Share Knowledge#

Everyone gains new knowledge through new experiences all the time. However, not everyone experiences things the same way or even has similar experiences. Growth is not just something you can do internally. I have found that the more I look for opportunities to help others grow, the more I grow as well as a result.

This article and the other articles that I have written are really a testament to me looking to help others grow. I'm not writing these articles because I really like creating content and I want to be a content creator on the side. Instead, I write these articles because I feel strongly about the things I'm writing about and my hope is that I can either provide one other person with some information they didn't have before or something that might help them in the future. In the end, after each article I write, I always tend to learn something that I didn't know before writing the article. Hence, sharing knowledge with others always helps me grow.

Surround Yourself with Positive Influence#

This sounds pretty simple and kind of corny, but I really only like surrounding myself with positive people and content that is uplifting. I don't find negative people to be very helpful in my personal growth. Because of this, I usually avoid those types of people. I avoid them both in-person and on social media. In fact, I have learned that whole social media platforms can be so consumed by the negativity from others that I have completely removed myself from those platforms. LinkedIn is my social media platform of choice because I find so much content that helps me grow and the majority of the content is very positive.

It's also good to surround yourself with other people that are also looking to grow. I attempt to do this by attending local user groups within my community where I can meet other software engineers and learn something new. These are positive experiences because they help me meet new people and join a community that is focused on growth.

I have found that my avoidance of negative people and influence has indirectly helped me maintain a positive attitude even in difficult situations. Try to identify people and influences in your life that may be having a negative impact and look to eliminate them from having any impact on your life. Doing so can only really help you focus on the positive things out there and that is a great place to be.

Conclusion#

I am not going to pretend that I'm some self-help guru that really knows what I'm talking about in terms of a growth mindset. I have not read any books or done any research at all on the subject. This is all a self-created way of thinking. I don't really know if the things I've mentioned above would really have any impact if other people adopted them, but what I can say is that I've been applying this mindset in my personal and professional life for a couple of years now and I'm happier with myself and more opportunities keep opening up for me to grow. It seems to be working for me. Who knows, it might work for you too.