253: Take Responsibility for Your Career and Work on Things You Enjoy with Dan Shappir

<p>Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Dan Shappir. He has been involved in software development for more than 25 years, having worked in a variety of different roles including engineer, team lead, architect, and chief technical officer.  Dan is currently the performance tech lead at Wix.com where he focuses on making their 100 million hosted websites load and execute faster.</p> <p>He is also an international speaker as well as a panelist on the JavaScript Jabber podcast.</p> <p>In this episode, Phil and Dan Shappir discuss the importance of being in control of your career. As well as how to change things if you are on the wrong path.</p> <p>Dan also explains why he thinks his biggest career highlights are still ahead of him and where today´s emerging technologies are likely to take us. He also shares why he is more interested in hiring problem-solvers rather than just people who are familiar with a specific technology.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:</strong></p> <p><strong>(5.25) TOP CAREER TIP</strong></p> <p>It is up to you to determine the meaning of your own success. Always choose the career path that makes sense for you. We all tend to listen too much to what others think. For example, so many people have switched to management and ended up being extremely unhappy because their role is no longer creative enough for them.</p> <p> </p> <p>If you feel like you are on the wrong path, don´t hesitate to make a change. It is all too easy to wait too long to do that.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(9.22) WORST CAREER MOMENT</strong></p> <p>In one of his former roles Dan ended up working with a CEO he could not see eye-to-eye with. Things got so bad that he did not even want to go to work.</p> <p> </p> <p>At the time, he held a very senior position. So, leaving almost inevitably meant taking a step down. Fortunately, his wife was supportive, and he was brave enough to do exactly that. In the end, it turned out to be a good move for him. One that actually gave his career a boost.</p>