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Survival Tips - ITIT Survival Tips for the Non Pros
- BACKUP / RESTORE
- Respect
How much time can you afford to lose? Consider the important data that changes every day. How often is that data backed up and where is it stored? Have you ever done a sample restore to be sure it is being backed up and readable? Do it now and do it at home also. Buy an external hard drive and use the features that run the backup automatically of your important folders.
Show respect for technology. It can be a great tool when treated with respect and used properly. All techies are not created equally. Just because you're a techie, doesn't mean you know all or can do all. There are different areas of expertise and chances are, the techie will be better at one thing, then the rest. Maybe they can do it all, but you won't be getting the best. Example: Web Site -- The best results are when using a Graphic Designer for the images, a Programmer for the Web Development and a Human Factors Expert for the Interface Design. Please avoid designing a site around your personal familiarity and expect code to be written on the fly without any requirements. This typically leads to unsatisified customers (because it was never communicated/documented clearly what was wanted) and great expense because of all the revisions.
The job outlook has been extremely tough over the past 10 years and especially for the IT industry. IT is more than an industry at this point, it's a needed knowledge base for every single business. And that was the inevitable and prediction that left you with the feeling that it would provide steady employment. In reality, it doesn't feel that way. There is no magic formula or guarantees of course and we all know the common 30 year career at one place is history. There are some things you can do along the way with your career no matter what your age or experience and the first thing is to actually manage your career. Here are my other suggestions I consider
Survial Tips for the IT Profession
- Proactively Manage Your Career
- Stay Current
- Specialize
- Volunteer and Moonlight
- Accountability
- Talk to people - about them
- Network
Set your goals. Write down what you want to be doing 5 years from now. What does it look like? Think about what it looks like then figure out how to get there. Have that action plan ready to go. This is so much more than just saying to have your resume up to date. But speaking of that, while on the job, make mental notes of your accomplishments and consider their bullet point worthiness. Summarize the accomplishment in a bullet point list and add it to your resume. If you're not sure, listen carefully to the feedback from a manager or peer. Bottom line, no job lasts forever, have a plan in place for the next steps and actions you need to take if you suddenly unemployed.
Easier said than done. Finding the time to learn new languages can be more difficult for some than others depending on your life situation. But learn as much as you can, especially when you are young and have fewer responsibilities or people relying on you. If you don't have time to form your own opinions, then read others. Then when talking to others and it comes up, it will at least catch your ear and you can inquire more from the people that know.
This one needs some explaining. There are so many different languages and platforms and certifications and acronyms. You just can't do them all. Whatever you do, be really good at it. You need to be better than 80% of the other people that also claim to know how to do that or have that acronym on their resume. Be clairvoyant and pick the language that's going to be around a while. I mean, stay flexible. That's where it might sound like a contradiction but it's more about preparedness. And don't kid yourself about your expertise, there where always be somebody that knows more or has had "different" experiences. Look for an environment that challenges you and provides opportunity for growth with support. That's the optimal and boy do I miss the 90's. And one more thing that has nothing to do with specializing, you have to know how to sell yourself. No matter what your opinion is about salespeople, you have to be able to do it to survive.
Volunteer to help out with something that interests you. This will make the time more enjoyable and if it is something outside of work, it helps establish a diverse branch of your network. Taking on extra work can help you diversify and be more flexible discovering additional career options and/or it can provide you with an opportunity to increase your skill set or knowledge base.
Call it whatever you want but you need to be a part of a group (or team of 2) that keeps you on track and accountable for doing what you said you were going to do. It works and keeps you going. I've been part of what I call a "Dual Mentorship" effort since 2005. I was looking into a seminar by a "Life Coach" but really didn't want to accept the financial burden of it. Find someone that you have something in common with and that you respect. Setup a regular meeting time that you are both fully committed to. Split the time in half and you each get to talk about what you accomplished last time and what you need to get done before you meet next time. Have your goals and action items to meet those goals.
The thing that people really want to talk about is themselves. It's the easiest thing to make happen. Just ask a few of the right questions and you'll learn more about that person and they'll reveal more to you than you thought you wanted to know.
I used to take this term what I learned to be quite litely when in a safe, and large corporate network. Networking is truly something that takes effort and needs to be lifelong, not just when you need it. This should be no trouble for those people persons. Join a networking group or volunteer to be part of a group that supports something you are interested in.
