Summary

Your professional development is so important to your career and the SE life can move so fast that if you let it, years will zip by and you will have missed opportunities. However, if you plan properly and move with a purpose, you can truly act upon the best practices we have laid out in this chapter. Whether you join a professional organization, teach an internal class to other SEs, or take a new industry certification exam, you will be improving yourself, and that matters. Whether you start looking at exotics that you can do internally within your company or ones in the general industry, you will truly be improving and sharpening yourself. When you improve, you become a more dynamic SE that is well-rounded and therefore a greater asset to your team, your company, and the customers you support.

In the next chapter, we will dive into travel logistics and best practices around being an effective road warrior.