How to build your own journey to succeed in tech by Yslen Gonzalez

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Embarking on Your Tech Career: Insights from a DevOps Engineer's Journey

Building a career in tech can sometimes seem like a daunting task. Each journey is unique, marked by individual experiences and perspectives. Isle Gonzalez, a successful Cloud and DevOps Engineer at Improving Nurture, deconstructed her journey into tech, addressing challenges and accomplishments that shaped her professional growth. This article captures insights and key takeaways from her journey.

The Beginning: A Transition into Tech

As a Bionics Engineering undergraduate, Isle Gonzalez initially had little knowledge about what a career in Cloud and DevOps entailed, nor was her field directly related to it. However, her interest piqued when she encountered concepts of artificial intelligence (AI) during her time at the university. That's where her special interest in software began, leading her to join the women in AI Mexico community and taking up a six-month stint as a research assistant in the field of AI and biological signal processing.

Defining the Path

To start a career in tech, defining a path is crucial. A career in technology widens to diverse roles such as web development, product design, project management, app development, testing, data science, and more. To establish which role works best for you, engaging in sustained research is key. Once a path is defined, it’s important to join specific communities and find mentors who can guide you and help you take the next step in your career.

Joining Communities: Connecting Globally

Joining communities and attending as many workshops, webinars, events, and conferences as possible plays a key role in gathering industry knowledge, acquiring new skills, and updating yourself with emerging trends. Moreover, trying new things and embarking on new learning opportunities drastically improves your chances of getting noticed by potential employers.

Networking and Skills Enhancement

Networking, especially through professional platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter, can help you build connections beyond your immediate circle of acquaintances, providing opportunities for in-depth learning and potential career opportunities. Networking also brings surprising benefits - you'd be amazed at the potential of your connections. In Isle's case, a post on LinkedIn about her experiences with Quick Labs grabbed her present employer's attention, leading to her securing her current job.

The Challenges: Overcoming the Impostor Syndrome

Every journey introduces its set of challenges, and the tech journey is no different. Isle highlighted the impostor syndrome as one of the main challenges she faced. This is when an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments, constantly fearing exposure as a "fraud". Overcoming this challenge involves changing perspective - instead of undermining your achievements, celebrate them, no matter how small they are. Also, it’s essential to be okay with admitting you don’t know everything and to ask for help when needed.

Opening Up New Avenues: An Introduction to DevOps

DevOps, coined in 2009, combines the processes of development and operations. It focuses on enabling developers to focus on coding and optimizes the processes of software deployment. Continuous learning and upgradation of skills is key to becoming successful in the field of DevOps.

The Takeaway: Trust Yourself

In this tech journey, trusting yourself, being true to yourself, and believing in your capabilities are essential. It’s all about keeping learning and staying updated on industry trends. It's never too late to make a career transition and every step you take towards it, however small, contributes to your journey towards a rewarding career in tech.

Note: This blog article is based on the real journey of Isle Gonzalez, a Cloud and DevOps Engineer. The aim is to help aspiring tech professionals develop understanding about how to navigate their careers into technology.


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