Invest in Yourself, Not in a Company
The layoffs of late 2022 and early 2023 in the tech sector remind us that there is no such thing as job security. Even if you are a talented and hardworking tech professional, you are not immune to layoffs or company downsizing. Therefore, it is crucial that you focus on your career development, both to improve your employability and to increase your earning potential. My great aunt Mildred worked for the same company in Tulsa for 40 years, retiring with a good pension and a nice write-up in the local newspaper. That is a bygone era, where employees stay with one employer for their entire career. In today's job market, it is common for professionals to change jobs multiple times throughout their careers. In fact, a recent study found that the average worker stays at each job for only 4.1 years.* In my own case, the longest I've managed to stay anywhere in the past 10 years was 4 years and 11 months. That's no reflection on me, but on the turbulence that the media technology...