Lateral Moves vs. Stepping Stones

In general, making numerous lateral moves is not good for your career. It makes recruiters and hiring managers think your career has not been moving forward.

Still, there are cases where lateral moves are warranted. For instance, one obvious possibility is if you lose your job, or are on the verge of losing your job. Any port in a storm, as the saying goes. But let’s put that scenario aside for the moment. What other reasons are there for making a lateral move?

One is when a lateral move is not just a lateral move but a stepping stone. Perhaps you have a certain desired job in mind, but it’s difficult to get there from where you are at the moment. For instance, you’d really like to become an ASP.NET web architect, but you are currently a C++ desktop application developer. Realistically you are not going to achieve your goal in your current job, or most likely, even in your next job.

In a situation like this you may have to take one or more baby steps. Fist, you’ll need to transition out of your C++ desktop environment to a .NET web development shop. And since not too many web shops will take someone with minimal experience in the area, you may have to make a lateral move into a position at a less than stellar outfit, just to pick up the skills.

Once you’ve earned your chops at web development you might set your eyes on the prize, that of web architect. But then, your job as a CRUD web developer at JoeSchmoe, Inc. may not provide a path to a Web Architect position. In fact, your CRUD web shop may not even have architect positions at all. Hence you’ll have to try to land a position at a more attractive web organization, one which has an architect track.

But wait, that glamorous web company obviously won’t hire you on as a web architect, coming as you are from some no-name CRUD shop. They may take you on as a web engineer, however – another lateral move. But now at least you’re in the major leagues, there amongst the pros – and you have a chance to prove yourself. So all you have to do now is show you’re smarter and better than everyone else there, people who’ve been doing serious web development for half their lives. Piece of cake, right?