I advise that you consider these career-planning issues:

Choose the steps (i.e., decisions and actions) that you will take to achieve your career goals. What are the common steps that other people have taken to prepare for and to enter the particular area of IT you have chosen? Your career should be a series of calculated steps that lead to an end result. There may be more than one path to reach your goal, but which is the right path for you?

These actions and decisions may include training, certification, formal education, work experience or internship. Some cases require a change of attitude, job, location or work environment. Consider these steps carefully and choose the ones that you believe will work for you. You may also choose steps that are entirely unique to you as long as you are sure they will get you to your destination. The decision on what these steps are and where they will ultimately lead to is uniquely yours. You must own the process; set a course and stick with it.

Most of the time when we look at IT careers we focus only on opportunities and demand. To succeed you have to consider the challenges and obstacles you might encounter as you attempt to reach your career goal. Don't avoid challenges. But which resources can you muster to overcome each obstacle?

Time to achieve your goals is a serious issue you must consider. You need to have a means of measuring your progress. Since the career planning is done using a step-by-step approach, how long should it take you to complete each step you have identified?

It is not enough to identify the steps you are going to take, you must also decide on the step-by-step process you will take to achieve your ultimate career goal. In which order will you pursue your career plan? Set your priorities. The order you follow is often determined by opportunities and resources available to you.

Implement your Career Advancement preferences. It is not enough to plan you must follow through. Implement your career plan based on the (1)-(4).

In considering these points, it helps to talk to human resources personnel, career planners, academic/career counselors and employment agencies that hire people in your area of IT. Talk to people who have or are currently working in the IT career you're considering. Find out as much as you can about the profession and the types of skills they had to develop. Find out about the challenges and how to overcome them.

You can also discuss your career goals with your manager, counselors, teachers, or instructors. For example, if training is a requirement, find out about the training required to reach your goals from training schools and instructors.

Visit websites and online career guides for the IT industry to learn more about the career you've chosen for industry outlooks, current articles, and news.

You should also review employment adverts in newspapers, job centers, IT job openings (formal and informal) to learn more about available positions in your area of interest and the skills required to get them.

Constant Evaluation/Assessment

Note that career planning should be dynamic, and not static. What did you like and dislike, after implementing? Were some of your assumptions wrong? You need to be sensitive to changes in your Career Path by being flexible and open to new avenues. IT as a fast growing and fast changing field presents a challenge for all of us who want to work and succeed in IT.

Keep yourself informed on a continuous basis. The continual study of new technologies is necessary to keep computer skills current. It is your responsibility to keep on investing in yourself. Always look for ways to grow in your career and skills, through continuous skill development, by attending work or career -related training / seminars, reading relevant text, taking online courses or pursuing further education.

In IT, the importance of managing your career-and keeping informed about developments that touch on your career preferences is imperative. In this respect while your career planning must be focused, it must not "lock-you-in", by being inflexible to changes in the environment and your desires.

It's your life

I hope you find the ideas in this article useful. However, at the end of the day, it's all about attitude. Nothing is cast in stone, so keep your options open. Career planning is all about taking your destiny in your own hands. You cannot succeed with career planning if you approach life in an unplanned, careless manner, by just hoping for the best. "The person who waits for roast chicken to fall into his mouth will wait very long."

Approach your career planning with sincerity and wisdom. Career planning is neither difficult nor time-consuming if done properly. You simply need to be focused.

In the words of William Ernest Henley, "It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

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