While I was a student, my ultimate goal was to study hard and get a job. I always thought once I got the job, my whole world would be sorted out, but I was wrong. After getting the job, I quickly realized that I could not manage my professional career.

There is a famous line success is harder to attain than success to maintain. This article will give you an idea of how you can manage your professional career as a software developer and maintain your success.

Here are three topics I will cover in this article, so let’s get started before making any further delays.

1. Stress Management
2. Manage your manager
3. Career Planning

Stress Management

There is a famous quote great power comes with great responsibility. At the same time, as your career grows, your responsibilities increase, which will bring stress in both your personal and professional lives.

There is one question that arises, what are the causes of stress?

For example:

• You have too much workload and you are not able to handle it.
• You are a team leader and your team is not performing well.
• You have some personal issues and at the same time, you have to deliver your project.

These are some examples maybe for you there are others, but if you are experiencing any other professional problems. There is only one solution: communicate better.

Schedule a meeting with your manager and let him know how things are going. If your manager does not listen, mail your senior manager.

If a personal issue is causing you stress, speak to your family and resolve it.

There are a few things you can do to avoid stress:

• Exercise every day
• Spend time with your friends and family
• Take a short break every hour when you are working.
• You can watch the movie
• Listening songs

Calmness is the cradle of power -Josiah Gilbert Holland

Manage your manager

As a software developer, the most challenging part is managing manager expectations.

Maybe there are some issues that you are facing with your manager like:

• Your manager not giving you respect and value.
• Your work is not appreciated.
• There has been some misunderstanding between you and your manager.
• A cold war is running between you and your manager.
• For the last few years, your manager didn’t think about your promotion or salary increment.

I listed above some issues maybe your issue is not in this list, but whatever issue you are facing with your manager. The ultimate solution is you need to make your manager happy.

To make your manager happy you can try out the below points:

• Try to deliver your task on time.
• Always present your work to your manager, So he will aware of what you are doing. It doesn’t matter work is small or big.
• Don’t criticize any other coworker in front of the manager.

Great If you are following all the above points and still you are not getting a salary increment or promotion then move on and work where your work is appreciated.

Today's market is very competitive and you can always make good money somewhere else if your organization does not care about you.

By the way, many things depend on the situation and you need to be smart enough to understand the situation and act accordingly.

Management is about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could -Steve Jobs

Career Planning

Today’s professional life is very dynamic and moving along with it we need proper career planning.

When we start our career as a software developer we don’t know how we are going to perform in this industry. So you can work 4-5 years as a software developer after that you can think about what you are good at.

For example:

• If you want to continue as a software developer forever. This is a good option for many people who like coding.
• If you are good at designing software components and your past work is appreciated then you can think to become a software architect.
• If you are good at managing people and your communication skill is good then you can become a manager.

Whatever it is once you are sure about where you wanted to reach in your career then you can talk about this with your manager. Most organizations give the chance to their employee to choose the career which suits their interest and work accordingly.

If your current organization is not providing you the chance you grow in your career then you can move.

The future depends on what you do today -Mahatma Gandhi

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed as a professional how you can manage your stress, manager, and your career. This is a crucial part of our professional journey. Over time few things we learn from our mistakes. I hope you like this article.

Thanks for reading…