Slashdot Mirror
What Mistakes Can Stall An IT Career? (cio.com)
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?"
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?"
Hate to say it, but starting one. I went to university for engineering ended up in I.T. -- the first firm I worked for had me doing more I.T. type work than actual engineering, and I discovered there was good money in going freelance. Fast-forward 10 years, and I'm bored.
Now I'm going to graduate school for biochemistry and am much, much happier -- will probably end up either teaching or in medical school. I'd rather troubleshoot problems created by evolution, G-d, what have you, than clean up after bad programmers' mistakes.
...not liking sports. Even though these grown men never played anything more than flag-football or a coed softball game they carry on about their favorite teams with the pronoun, "we," like they had something to do with the team's success. Many are huge fans of teams for whom they've never lived in the state that the team is based in and only attend games when that team comes to town for one game against the local one.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Two huge ones I feel they missed are sticking with a single company without advancement for too long, and waiting for responsibility to be given to you.
While hopping between jobs every 10 months is a big red flag for most, staying at the same company in the same role for 10 years is even worse (IMHO). Every time I meet a developer who has been at the same company for a decade while staying at a mid-level developer position, I expect mediocrity. Only once have I been wrong. In your mid 20's to mid 30's you need to be moving up in responsibility rapidly, and most of the time a non-enterprise sized company cannot keep up with enough opportunities.
Also most coworkers I have had wait until being formally given responsibility instead of just taking it on themselves. Every time I have gotten a significant promotion my day to day responsibilities were largely unchanged. This was because I was already doing that role and the company was just making it official. I hear many coworkers complaining about how poorly their department is being run without ever finding ways they can improve it themselves without direction. If you have a boss that doesn't like this, get a new boss. But you cannot just wait for opportunities to present themselves; create opportunity.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
I'm not sure how to formulate it properly but it's about provable skills vs actual skills. As in, when you're job hunting it doesn't matter if you're really good at something if nobody knows about it or nobody believes you. You get a stack of resumes and... what does it say really? From and to dates and a title. You probably have referrals, but almost everyone can get someone to speak positively about them. A short test on the interview probably says more about who's a smooth talker and how they handle a quiz than everyday work. Ideally you want tangible proofs that you're an accomplished professional or passionate developer, second best is networks and people who'll vouch for you and third are degrees, certificates and other formal papers.
I think it also depends on how big of a niche you're in, despite living in a >100k city I find that many of the same people are circulating around the same oh, maybe 50-100 jobs. I don't feel the need to really actively "market" myself, people I've worked with in the past either at other companies or have left for other companies means then you've seeded quite a few ex-coworkers who hopefully have a good impression of you. But you have to make that impression, you can't just hide in a corner and do your own little thing. Personally I don't think I could, I got fingers in way too many pies and is actively trying to *not* get caught up in more. Mostly because I'm the one stuck cleaning up the train wrecks when things derail.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I somewhat disagree. Most systems exist for many years or even decades after they should have been replaced. Here's an old but good article from Joel on Software:
https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/06/things-you-should-never-do-part-i/
It talks about how code rewrites almost always fail. I could easily come up with another hundred examples. We've started rewriting our inventory system three times and failed three times. I heard the last failure cost over 20 times what the software originally cost to write. If you're the go to guy for a legacy system and are willing to slog away at maintenance and work on the uninteresting problems that others don't want to, then you are a great asset.