Back to the Future

I want to better understand what I like and what I'm good at. To do this I'm going "Back to the Future" courtesy of some old journals kept from some prior career crossroads. I've learned that the things I'm best at, what I like to do, stays fairly constant. My strengths now are the same as when I was young. I think this is true for most people - my brother loved to write in 8th grade, and 30 years later he's an author writing books for readers in 15 countries.

I was a systems manager for 5+ years earlier in my career, loving it for the first three years, then gradually growing disenchanted as the job changed. Eventually I left management and returned to the technical side, which was a difficult decision at the time. Looking through the journals I kept then, it brought back a lot of things I had forgotten. It's an amazing thing to be able to go back in time and see what the 20-years-ago-you was thinking. My personal time capsule.

Here's some notes from that time that should help me focus down my job search in the present:

Likes:
Problem Analysis - solving tough problems
Intellectual challenges - mastering a body of knowledge and then applying it to some end
People style - a positive, helping approach
Macro-level technology / business problem solving
Direct people management / team building (small team)

Dislikes:
Organizing / process (nothing to solve or figure out)
Competing with others / Interpersonal confrontation / aggressive behavior (not my style)
Resolving people conflict
Handling minor details
Performing in hostile environment (need positive environment)

"Like dealing with technical solutions to business issues. Dealing with 60% what, 40% how."

"Like getting a task can "get my teeth into". Ideal is something I have complete responsibility for an ownership of. I can make the decisions as how best to do it (vs. having the solution dictated)."

"Like role of Systems Analyst, mixing business / technical solutions."

"I really loved having different situations to analyze, problems to figure out."

"Technology may be less important than working on something important that I believe in."