Command Prompt has been providing infrastructure support to enterprises for over 20 years. As we are the only Postgres company still operating since the 90s, how is it that we’ve stayed standing? The answer is simple; we as a company and as a community firmly believe in the power of professional development. We frequently encourage everyone in our team, from interns to owners, to continue to learn and grow, both professionally and in their personal lives. With this in mind, we interviewed our team about professional development, and we found there were far more commonalities than differences in what they had to say:
There’s no reason not to
“The bottom line is: you have nothing to lose. Best case, you pick up a skill and you're great at it; worst case, you learned something from trying to learn something. No one’s going to make fun of you for it.” - Lindsay Hooper, Director of Marketing & Events
You have every reason to focus on professional development. It increases job opportunities, makes you better at handling challenges and everyday responsibilities, and helps you get to know yourself. And at the end of the day, the only person who can judge you is yourself.
It keeps you at the top of your game
“The open source world changes all the time and moves very fast, so you have to get signed in to newsletters and news sites just to see what’s happening. Otherwise, it moves on without you and you get left behind.” - Eric Worden, Senior DBA
If you don’t put effort into professional development, there’s a good chance that your skill set will soon be out of date. Especially in a fast-moving, ever-evolving world such as tech, not practicing professional development could spell disaster for your career. As everyone around you learns and adapts, if you stay in the same place, you’ll begin to lose opportunities and your expertise will become irrelevant. On the other hand, keeping up with the way the world is changing will keep you at the top of your game and give you all the same benefits mentioned in the above paragraph.
It takes perseverance
“You're learning a new skill and it's just like exercise, there's no shortcut; go in and spend time and carve out time doing it.” - Justin Graf, DBA
There’s no way around it; professional development takes time, hard work, and perseverance. It won’t be easy - in fact, it may never be, but that’s how progress is made. It can be frustrating and start to feel pointless, but it isn’t. You have to push through those feelings and the difficult times in order to improve.
Resources are all around you
“What's most important is that you don't just have to read a dry technical course manual for professional development. A great resource can be more diverse and encompassing, such as the American Genius Network.” - Debra Cerda, Director of Business Development & Compliance
If you’re stuck on a certain topic, confused on where to start, or even just looking for enrichment for your development, the great news is that there are resources available everywhere you look. The device you’re using to read this, the library downtown, and the people around you are wealths of knowledge. If you know what you’re looking for, you’ll always be able to find it.
On the other hand, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, start with things you love to do and let yourself fall down the rabbit hole, discovering new areas that might suit your goals. And if that doesn’t work, we’d love to help; give us a call and mention Intrepidus Vita, and we’ll put you in touch with some fantastic brainstormers.