Sensual Woman
A Young Woman's Career

A Young Woman's Career Path Where Do I Want To Be In Five Years Time? by ~9-5~

Not long after I first started working in IT, my first boss asked me a really important question. Where do you want to be in five years time? Being new in the job I didn't want my boss to know that I hadn't really thought about it. So in the end I cam up with some long-winded explanation of where I wanted to be. I could tell, by the look he gave me, that what I was saying definitely wasn't a five-year plan. Thinking back on it now, if I had stuck to what I had said, I would still be facing a life sentence.

All my boss said at the time was…

"No. Where do you really want to be in five years time?"

The short answer to that question was I had no idea, but what sort of answer is that? It has taken me quite a long time to work out in my own head what the answer is. And I know the thing that I am aiming for now would never have crossed my mind when I was first asked the question.

That one simple question has plagued my thoughts for what feels like a long time. I have come up with many answers but none seemed to feel quite right. During a discussion with my sister, on the topic of handbags, she told me that before you buy a handbag you have to have the feeling to know it's right. You can't base your decision purely on looks or colour because if you do you will end up buying more handbags then you know what to do with. You also have to base your decision on the feeling. You know! When it feels just right. At the time of that discussion my sister was talking about handbags but I was thinking about where I wanted to be in five years time and it just fitted.

The most important thing I realised at the time was that I had the horse and cart backward. I kept looking at where I was at the time and trying to develop that into a five-year plan. What I really needed to do was decide where I wanted to be in five years time and work backwards to the here and now.

So I did it. I decided where I want to be in five years time and I'm now working towards it. I don't have a hard and fast plan set out but I know the general direction I need to head in. I guess you could say that instead of following the map I'm following the compass. I may not make it there in five years. In fact there is no guarantee that I'll make it there at all, but let me tell you that I am going to be working mighty hard the whole time to make my dreams come true.

I'll let you in on a little secret before I go - I don't want to be in IT in five years time.