One of the sales managers at Redgate Software posted an origin story about how he came to work at Redgate Software. It's an interesting story, and while I don't work in sales or have the same origin story, I don't know that I could have seen the place I'm in now early in my career.

When I saw the video, it made me think of this movie scene, where Rafiki asks us to look beyond what we see. I think this is a hard thing for many of us, especially when many of us have been leaning on our skills in the past. What we know and what we are good at doing has led us to this place. Picking a new direction, or thinking in a new way might be hard.

For lots of us, we might be concerned about the cloud, and what we should learn or where this might lead us.  Azure or AWS? Some might be concerned about moving into management. Will I be good at it? Will it be a better career for me? Others can wonder about specific technologies. Power BI or Tableau?

I wouldn't recommend a specific thing for anyone without knowing more about their situation, but I do advise people to be open to opportunities, investigate and ask questions, and embrace possibilities. Look for what might be slightly out of focus or uncomfortable for you. Look beyond what you see and consider what you haven't seen before.

My origin story is getting an electrical engineering internship. Finding that the group needed help with Lotus 1-2-3 macros. Realizing I liked working with computers more than walking around a power plant and working with electricians to follow designs. I then realized that I didn't love programming or network support, but I saw an opportunity in 1991 to work with SQL Server, and I took it. I looked far beyond what I had thought about as a teenager, as a college student, and even as a young person in my career. I embraced an opportunity to write an article and that led me to SQL Server Central and now Redgate Software.

Think about the directions you could take in any situation and open your eyes to the possibilities. You might find an opportunity that changes your life.