I have formulated three career plans for the next 20 years or so. Obviously, things happen, but you can only do so much in planning for the expected. This is by no means a complete list, but it's a start. In order of preference:

1. Spend 5-10 years building up money and experience, then get an MS in Operations Research and go to work for some big multinational like GE as a sort of Mr. Wolf for complex systems.
2. Spend 5-10 years building up money, experience, and contacts, then (co-)found a software business. This would be an intentionally small business, say 5-10 people, rather than the standard Austin startup. We would make either a simple product with a broad market or a complex product with a narrow market. There are ways it can be bigger, but the goal should be to have a business that can work profitably on that scale; success should be achievable having to grow bigger. I definitely don't want to deal with venture capital either, which is part of what constrains both the scale and the timeline.
3. Continue along a logical extension of my current career path: developer, senior developer, architect...

I believe you should have some idea of where you want to go. You don't have to go there, but it's helpful to have a big picture in mind. Note that I did just say the next 20 years or so. A fraction of that is hoping to strike oil and being able to retire young, but, more realistically, I recognize the foolishness of making predictions of my future self in 2025. That's a long time.

¶ 1014 Posted at 08.56 PM ⇒ No Comments ( me )