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A thread about ambition & career dev’t in the fed gov. I offer this to those who need to hear it, because I went over a decade in gov feeling like there was something wrong with me, and I still struggle with it from time to time. (1/8)
I’ve never been concerned with ladder climbing. I’ve navigated my career by making lateral moves to seek out interesting & challenging files to work on with amazingly talented colleagues, which has worked well for me and has made me the analyst that I am. (2/8)
BUT all around me there has been this constant churn of analysts as they competed & climbed, competed & climbed. The more people around me climbed, the more I started to feel like there was something wrong with me for not wanting that. (3/8)
Even though I could work (and effectively have been working) at a higher level, I just don’t want that, officially. I have a whole 2nd career outside of my day job, and moving up the corporate ladder would jeopardize any semblance of work-work-life balance I have. (4/8)
It took over 10 years in gov before I heard an exec say clearly, out loud, to the whole team: there are climbers and there are people like me, and BOTH ARE OK. I vastly underestimated how much I needed to hear that. (5/8)
I occasionally get a bit rattled when told “You really should be an EC-XX” or when someone projects their own career ambition onto me (most recently when I declined a talent mgmt plan). But I refocus on what I value: interesting work, good people, balance. (6/8)
So, if you’re not a ladder-climber and you feel like something is wrong with you: YOU ARE FINE. You do not need to feel embarrassed or explain to anyone why you’ve been at the same level for years. (7/8)
There are so many ways to be ambitious. I may not want to climb the ladder, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a fierce drive to do a damn good job and keep getting better at what I do. We don’t talk about this nearly enough in gov. The end. (8/8)
