Blog Post 2: Professional Identity

 With one foot out the door, I have started to wonder what my professional identity really even looks like. In my mind, this was always something that I felt was years out from needing to be something I worry about, but with this being my last full-time semester I am now realizing that might now be the case.

That said, following a lecture we had on networking and identity in class the other day, I feel as though I have at least a bit more of a refined idea of who I could be in my professional field. Firstly, when deciding who I wanted to be I had to consider where I wanted to be in terms of markets, which immediately placed me in a space to consider both my talents and my passions. Currently, I would say I am still in a bit of a toss-up between education and database development, which does seem like a bit of an odd toss-up. On my professional skill side, I really enjoy sitting down and writing code. At a soft skill level, I really enjoy coaching folks and being a part of their support system. It is an interesting pickle to be in from the most social to non-social disciplines being my interests lol. All that said, when listening to our lecture the other day I did come to understand that being in only one discipline doesn't necessarily mean both skill sets won't be utilized. 

With this in mind, I think the identity I have designed for myself is that of a software engineer who thrives in a team environment, facilitating team projects and relaying feedback from members to management. I feel as though this is something incorporating not only my skills but also my interests. I know it always won't be so clean for everybody when finding the middle ground, but I would love to hear if this is something some of y'all have been able to find as well.