How did you prepare for your career?

Yes. Way back when I looked at what I enjoyed doing and then tried to find a job that matched the stuff I enjoy. Over time I realised that the exact subject of what I was doing was less important than the job being interesting and, for me, not something that is samey and repeatitive.

My career planning is a very loose guide and it isn't practical to say I will be a manger in 3 years, something else in 10 years etc. The opportunities you get will come about effectively by pure luck. It is recognising an opportunity, seeing how it matches your loose guide and then the all important decision on do you take an opportunity or not.

Skills and capability are crucial and learning to be a good people manager can take years, learning to be a good technician not only takes years but then quite probably will require regular refresh learning as technology becomes obsolete and is replaced with whole new stuff. So understanding your career plan and how it influences skills you need to maintain and/or learn is also key.