How to get ahead

Recently, due to the unexpected changes in life as it always is, I am out of job and find a lot of time on my hand. So I take advantage of it and start to check off the ever-growing To-Read/To-Do list that get accumulated during my hectic working days, lot of them new technologies that I found relevant yet didn't have time to explore. And also I a lot of catch up with all blogs I subscribe to and my own blogs.

Then it hits me that all those bloggers are working professionals too. Just like myself when I was employed, they have products to deliver and they have family and kids and they cannot always sit in front of the computer during their spare time. How could they find time to enrich themselves? How could they grow their skill and advance their career while serving the needs of their employer? Where did they find the time to research and blog about their research ?

Then I ran into this statement by Juval Lowy, a highly respected developer:

I think you have to be a professional developer. I think you have to understand that you have spent part of your time honing your skills, it's an ongoing life goal. It doesn't stop because you learn one thing, there is going to be changes. You should also search for a more nourishing business environment -- if they don't let you learn on the job [then] it's probably not the best place to work for.

Seriously I mean, the rate of change today is such that learning is part of the job. No ifs, no buts, that's the way it is.

Hah! That's it. If the place you work for just doesn't allow you to explore new things, you just won't get it. And if the culture in the workplace is against exploring new things, the innovation just won't thrive and all your poor souls just going to wither out like dry lily.

FIND A RIGHT PLACE TO WORK THAT IS HOW YOU GET AHEAD.

But how?

1. Only join a company that seeks to hire best. Even if you don't think you are the best, by all means, give it a try. When you work day in and day out with the best, you grow every day. Human beings are products of environment.
   
2. Only join a company that is the best in its niche. Good won't cut it. It has to be the great.