Invest In Yourself With A Growth Mind-Set and Understand The Value Of The Knowledge You Gain with Ben Hong

In this week’s show, Phil talks to Ben Hong, a Vue.js Core Team Member and a Staff Developer Experience Engineer at Netlify as well as a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies & Map Platforms. He has spoken, taught and Emc’ed around the world at events such as VueConfUS, Vue Toronto and O’Reilly’s Fluent Conf. He is also a lead instructor at Vue Mastery, one of the premier learning platforms for the Vue.js community. Ben discusses the value in investing in yourself with a growth mind-set. He also talks about why we should always appreciate our personal career path, and the experiences that make it unique.   KEY TAKEAWAYS:   TOP CAREER TIP Always invest in yourself with a growth mind-set. Look for methods and ways to improve and develop in your own time, as every time your move forward, you add value to your career as a whole.   WORST CAREER MOMENT After completing a project, Ben was suddenly asked about which direction he wished to go next, and could not answer. This taught him the value in focusing on specific skills and directions.   CAREER HIGHLIGHT Getting the opportunity to join his current development team. For a long time, Ben had wished to reintroduce UX design to his portfolio, and this gave him the opportunity to do so.   THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T Ben is excited about the popularity of open source, and the wealth of ideas happening right now on the web. The possibilities are seemingly endless.   THE REVEAL What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Ben read an HTML book when young, and was instantly excited by the possibilities. What’s the best career advice you received? – Listen, learn, and then become the person that people come to with questions. What’s the worst career advice you received? – That his dream career path was not possible. What would you do if you started your career now? – Ben would have taken much better notes! What are your current career objectives? Content generation, and empowering others to build incredible things. What’s your number one non-technical skill? – Relationship building. How do you keep your own career energized? – Ben ensures that he associates with communities who understand the burnout that can blight many IT careers. What do you do away from technology? – Playing the ukulele.   FINAL CAREER TIP Never hesitate to invest in yourself, as no one can ever take away the knowledge you gain or the experiences you have.   BEST MOMENTS (4:19) – Ben - “You are getting the compound interest from skills at a much faster pace. This is key to long term sustainability when it comes to a career in IT” (10:24) – Ben - “That cluster of ideas, discussions and debates – that is what excites me. There’s a lot to come and it’s far from over” (12:49) – Ben – “By building relationships with people so they trust you, it does a lot for the impact and influence that you can have” (15:51) – Ben – “Coding problems aren’t hard. People problems are hard”   ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organizations to design, develop, and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.   CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_PhilBurgess LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess Instagram: https://instagram.com/_philburgess Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact Phil is also reachable by email at phil@itcareerenergizer.com and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer   ABOUT THE GUEST – BEN HONG Ben Hong is a Vue.js Core Team Member and a Staff Developer Experience Engineer at Netlify as well as a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies & Map Platforms. He has spoken, taught and Emc’ed around the world at events such as VueConfUS, Vue Toronto and O’Reilly’s Fluent Conf. He is also a lead instructor at Vue Mastery, one of the premier learning platforms for the Vue.js community.   CONTACT THE GUEST – BEN HONG Ben Hong can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bencodezen LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bencodezen/ Website: https://www.bencodezen.io/