What I know now, that I wished I knew then
This blog entry was inspired by a post I saw on LinkedIn where the poster was thinking over their 5-year career as a software engineer. What they would have told themselves when they first started. This got me thinking about my IT career & what I would have told myself when I first started in IT back when I worked at NAMM. It’s been 10 years since I worked at NAMM & a good 10 years at NAMM working in IT, so a couple decades ago…
What do I wish I had known then that I know now?
Where you start in IT will evolve & change.
Do not be afraid to change direction. It is OK to quit a job.
Always be learning new things to stay relevant & nimble.
The only one you can make happy is YOU. Stay true to yourself.
My preferred IT focus will always be around databases but the platforms I have supported have evolved & changed with time.
My IT career started with FileMaker Pro. I supported NAMM’s Membership & Trade Show FileMaker systems, developed new functionality as time & business processes changed plus developed completely new systems for their Events department. This eventually grew into working with SQL Server & Personify AMS. Post system migration from FileMaker to Personify, I developed new functionality & supported existing Personify AMS systems for several employers. The experiences I had with those three employers (NAMM, ANA & ACP) varied, but all focused around keeping their Personify AMS functioning to meet their business needs. I stayed in that specialized realm for a very long time - over 10 years!
I decided to pursue other systems as it is next to impossible to find a job focused on Personify. It is a very specialized non-profit system that very few associations use anymore. When I had first considered leaving ACP, I had reached out to several associations using Personify & all were moving away from it to Salesforce. In hindsight, I stayed too long with specializing in Personify. I should have transitioned my skillset to a different area a decade prior, but live & learn.
A lot of what I managed with Personify is the same with Salesforce. Only difference is Salesforce actually works! That is one thing I do NOT miss about Personify. Half the time, it did not work as expected & you had to either fix the bad code the vendor provided or convince the vendor to fix it. Salesforce is a more mature system with lots of jobs available & lots of people that know it. There are positives & negatives to Salesforce as no system is perfect, but the positives far outweigh the negatives imho.
I've spent the last 4 years focused on Salesforce. I have learned a lot during that time frame. I am excited to see what the future holds!