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Does decision fatigue or decision paralysis have you overwhelmed when asked "Where do you want to be in 3 years?". Enter Mo O'Connor. Whether you want to be an individual contributor, a people manager, or a hybrid, Mo leverages her experiences to share a process to help you map your career.
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In her presentation, "How Can I Move Forward When I Don't Know Where I Want To Go?", Mo O'Connor addresses the prevalent issues of decision fatigue and career direction within the tech industry, specifically targeting individuals who may feel overwhelmed about their future career paths. Mo engages the audience with interactive prompts that reflect common struggles, such as feeling boxed into unsatisfactory roles and experiencing decision paralysis. Her talk details her personal journey from a ceramics degree to a career in tech, emphasizing the importance of recognizing personal skills and passions. Key points discussed include: - **Audience Engagement**: Mo begins by encouraging audience participation to identify common experiences related to career decision-making. - **Personal Journey**: She shares her unique path, starting from managing coffee shops to moving into art consultancy, and finally transitioning to software engineering. - **Career Track Options**: Mo outlines three main career tracks: Individual Contributor (IC), People Manager, and Hybrid roles, explaining the characteristics and opportunities of each. - **Individual Development Plan (IDP)**: She elaborates on the significance of an IDP as a tool for setting and achieving career goals, encouraging participants to create their own with managerial guidance. - **Learning through Job Applications**: Mo shares insights from her own job applications, emphasizing how the interview process can serve as a valuable learning experience, regardless of the outcome. - **Reflection and Decision-Making Techniques**: Mo introduces light-hearted decision-making techniques, such as flipping a coin, to help clarify feelings about career choices. - **Mentorship**: She discusses the critical role of mentorship in career growth and the value of building connections within professional networks. - **Roadblocks**: Mo briefly mentions potential challenges, such as lack of opportunity, social anxiety, and insufficient mentorship, that can impede career advancement. - **Looking Ahead**: Toward the conclusion, she inspires the audience to see their changes in direction as positive and encourages continued self-reflection and exploration of interests. The main takeaway from Mo's talk is the understanding that career paths are seldom linear and that it is okay to reassess and adjust goals over time. She empowers the audience to embrace uncertainty and explore what truly excites them, urging them to keep moving forward in their careers.
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