I was talking with my little sister about investing in her career while out west last week. She responded that she isn’t a career gal, and doesn’t see herself investing much in that–she just works. I tried unsuccessfully to dissuade her of the idea by telling her that neither was I, but I think the narrative playing in her head was too loud for me to cut through and convince her of anything. Anyways, it left me thinking a lot about my “career” on the way home from our gathering, and just how unconventional my career is, and something I am very thankful for at this moment.
Back in the 1990s I felt the same way as my sister. I didn’t have a college degree. Hell, I didn’t have a high school diploma. Careers are something you went to a university for and then worked at a large corporation, and retired after working yourself to death for your entire life. A career is what other people did. Not me. I didn’t set out to have or build a career. I set out to develop a better understanding the machine, rather than live outside of it, or simply be consumed by it. I wanted to understand how things work. I wanted to make a decent living. I wanted to be good at something. I most of all wanted to get out of the small town and the region I grew up in Oregon.
So, what is my career? I am a technologist? I am a software architect? No, I am the API Evangelist! I am one of just a handful of people who specialize in understanding HTTP APIs which power all the desktop, web, mobile, and device applications we depend on each day. I study, write about, and consult with small, medium, and large companies about how they produce and consume APIs. It is’t a career track you will learn about in high school or college. It is a career track that didn’t exist until this century. I would also say that it isn’t a well known career, and I think many folks would still scratch their head when you call it a career.
Is a career something you make, or something someone else creates for you? I guess that depends on how you see the world. A career is defined as, “a long-term path of work or profession that involves acquiring skills, knowledge, and experience, and is often driven by personal goals and aspirations.” I’d say that definition works for me and what I’ve done. I don’t believe that work or profession has to be defined by someone else. It can be defined by me. In my definition I get to decide what skills, knowledge, and experience I acquire. It is truly driven by my goals and my aspirations. My career doesn’t exist within any specific corporate structure or industry. Being an API Evangelist is just about seeing and telling stories about a technological concept that has emerged across every aspect of our world.
I have a career. I have been developing my career for all of this century. If you had asked me last century if I was interested in developing my career, my response would have been the same as my sister. However, now I see having a career is about me. It is about owning my own professional narrative as much as I possibly can. I consider a career adjacent to entrepreneurship or running your own business, but it is something that will span multiple businesses, and give you much more control over the work you do and the money you make. A career is about me. It isn’t some category on a college aptitude test. My career isn’t chosen for me. I was told that I would never be a computer scientist or a writer back in high school, and now I am a mix of the two, with my own spin on it. I am making six figures, doing what I love, and getting to choose who and where I work—-this is what a career means to me, and something I hope I can share with my siblings and kiddo as well.
