4 reasons why you should pursue a challenging career path

Challenges are inherently uncomfortable. We biologically evolved not to face situations that cause discomfort, but it’s no longer a survival benefit but rather a hindrance to our growth. Looking for a role that puts you out of your comfort zone is advisable when exploring career opportunities.

Millennials are not driven by “company loyalty”; instead look for new jobs every few years to build their credentials. It also helps them re-focus on exciting projects, re-engage with their skills, and learn new ones. Accepting challenging opportunities is one of the best ways to progress in your career path.

The professionals who challenge themselves are not only more engaged with their jobs but keep things exciting and fresh.

Let’s examine some important reasons you must pursue a challenging career path.

1. It is necessary for career growth 

Most people look for challenging career paths to promote growth and learning. When you move up the career ladder, you often have to take responsibilities and own tasks that come with associated risks. Setting career goals is easy, but achieving them takes confidence and skill. It is why to progress; you must take on challenging roles. Most employers using Talent500 to build their remote engineering teams look for candidates who take the initiative and keep learning to improve their skills.

2. Greater job satisfaction

The feeling of accomplishing something great is gratifying. As long as you have the room to grow in your career, you’ll have the opportunity to achieve your full potential. Studies find that 64% of the professionals satisfied with their job put ‘passion over pay. The same study finds that when there is no scope for growth in their careers, the employees become part of a frustrated workforce.

When you take on challenging roles, you are motivated to pursue your development resulting in a boosted sense of employment. Continuously learning makes you more valuable to your company and the industry, opening many more opportunities for you. It is also one of the key skills that you will need to succeed at work in a post-pandemic world.

3. You get to network with new people

Networking with people is one of the most significant growth factors to progress in your career. When you take up new opportunities, you make meaningful professional connections. As you climb up the corporate ladder, you are challenged to improve your communication skills and ability to collaborate with others.

According to Simon Gottschalk, a professor in the department of sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, “The skills necessary at the higher echelons will include especially the ability to efficiently network, manage public relations, display intercultural sensitivity, marketing, and generally what author Dan Goleman would call ‘social’ and ’emotional’ intelligence. This also includes creativity and just enough critical thinking to move outside the box.”

You get to meet top talent in challenging roles and learn from them. It accelerates your learning process. You get the assistance you need to know fast and benefit from other people’s knowledge and benefit. 

You are encouraged to engage with new personalities and adapt to an unfamiliar working environment by undertaking a role that puts you out of your comfort zone. All these unknowns contribute to your growth as a professional.

4. Helps avoid complacency

Complacency can be risky, especially in a highly dynamic industry like IT. Software development evolves extremely fast, and if you are not keeping up the pace, you lose to the competition. Changing jobs and embracing challenging opportunities keep things fresh, and you don’t get the chance to become complacent. Changing jobs and starting fresh is exciting; you learn new skills and find rewarding opportunities.

Working on something unfamiliar can be daunting, but exciting endeavors open up as you learn and grow. Challenging roles push you to learn faster and adapt to the changing environment in the workplace. Suppose you are not yet confident in looking for new opportunities with a different company. In that case, you can discuss with your manager any changes to keep things interesting in your current position. Diversification of skills is necessary. You can ask to help with other teams’ assignments or voluntarily take a new role.

Conclusion 

Undertaking challenging career paths is the surest way to future-proof your career. At the pace technology is evolving, it’s hard to anticipate what your job might look like in ten years. You must maintain the zest to ambitiously climb the career ladder by taking up new roles and developing skills along the way. This is how you can keep yourself invaluable in your industry and contribute to the company’s growth.