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What Mistakes Can Stall An IT Career? (cio.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the vim-instead-of-emacs dept.

Quoting snydeq: "In the fast-paced world of technology, complacency can be a career killer," Paul Heltzel writes in an article on 20 ways to kill your IT career without knowing it. "So too can any number of hidden hazards that quietly put your career on shaky ground -- from not knowing your true worth to thinking you've finally made it. Learning new tech skills and networking are obvious ways to solidify your career. But what about accidental ways that could put your career in a slide? Hidden hazards -- silent career killers? Some tech pitfalls may not be obvious."
CIO's reporter "talked to a number of IT pros, recruiters, and developers about how to build a bulletproof career and avoid lesser-known pitfalls," citing hazards like burning bridges and skipping social events. But it also warns of the dangers of staying in your comfort zone too long instead of asking for "stretch" assignments and accepting training opporunities.

The original submission puts the same question to Slashdot readers. "What silent career killers have you witnessed (or fallen prey to) in your years in IT?"

4 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. The only real carreer killer is complacency by SuperKendall · · Score: 5, Informative

    Over time in development and IT, I've seen guys who carreers stalled - but it wasn't from anything like failing to attend social events, it was just being complacent doing one thing, and not even really excelling at it but just being "the guy who does X" for years on end.

    You really do have to push to try new things, get training, or try to get some other tasks besides something that is pigeonholing you. In the earlier days of career I would even do things like take vacation and pay for my own conferences, which greatly paid off later (also sometimes I was able to get a company to expense a conference after the fact, so don't give up even if they say no). However key is that you have to try and make use of what training you get, even if it's just prototypes that show alternative ways the company could be doing things. Very often those can spring up into real projects.

    Going back around to social events, like I said I don't think they hurt your progression - but that's within a company. The thing talking to people in the company and getting to know them a bit does do, is make it much easier to find jobs later as people move on and disperse to lots of other companies. It's a great help to be thought of well by someone who works at a company you are thinking of working for, and even better having an inside person lets you invite them to lunch and ask real questions about what it is like to work there. So longer term, I don't think you have to go to every event but do make an effort to not only be friendly but also interested in the lives of those around you.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:The only real carreer killer is complacency by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Over time in development and IT, I've seen guys who carreers stalled - but it wasn't from anything like failing to attend social events, it was just being complacent doing one thing, and not even really excelling at it but just being "the guy who does X" for years on end.

      You really do have to push to try new things, get training, or try to get some other tasks besides something that is pigeonholing you.

      This is true about any knowledge worker career, don't be the "the guy who just does X" for years on end and wonder why you get laid off when X is no longer in use and have a hard time finding new jobs that still use X.

      Going back around to social events, like I said I don't think they hurt your progression - but that's within a company.

      What I've found is that at least going to events and being well known socially gives you some extra security during lay-offs, usually the first ones to go are the loners who don't even talk about the weather as nobody, especially the bosses, even cares a wit about them unless they are really, really good at their job though I have yet to see anyone who was super good at their work and anti-social at the same time.

      The thing talking to people in the company and getting to know them a bit does do, is make it much easier to find jobs later as people move on and disperse to lots of other companies. It's a great help to be thought of well by someone who works at a company you are thinking of working for, and even better having an inside person lets you invite them to lunch and ask real questions about what it is like to work there. So longer term, I don't think you have to go to every event but do make an effort to not only be friendly but also interested in the lives of those around you.

      This is one of the reasons I try to make friends with outside sales engineers that work for me vendors, they visit so many companies and often know about job openings before they even get posted.

    2. Re:The only real carreer killer is complacency by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is one of the reasons I try to make friends with outside sales engineers that work for me vendors, they visit so many companies and often know about job openings before they even get posted.

      Lessons from a long career:

      Make friends of all those sales people, sales engineers and anyone they put you in touch with. Stay friendly with them. Remember, that to you they are a nuisance, but to them (and you may deal with them for five minutes), you're just one of 20 people they may meet this week. They will network in a week with more people than you will in a month.

      They always know who's hiring, or who may have a similiar network/It setup that you can jump to fairly quickly.

      Posting anon, too lazy to login.

  2. Being over 40 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    To be fair, that will stall many careers.