Bill Trussell has an interesting post in his blog on "licencing administrators".
I agree that there may be a need in certain industries to truly license systems administrators or other technical personnel who deal with certain types of systems.
Even more important is the impact that certifications (licensing) has on our staff and staff members. Certifications allow us to qualify individual in the hiring process and provides a vehicle (training) for improving staff competency, providing avenues for individual advancement and/or bringing certain functions in house.
Showing posts with label Career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Career. Show all posts
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Housing / Financial Crisis - Impact on hiring
Back to the NY Times. An article in today's paper "Unsold Homes Tie Down Would-Be Transplants" by Louis Uchitelle tells an interesting story about the effect on our organizations ability to hire qualified staff. Specifically, to hire people who have to sell their homes to relocate. A common situation for many of us who have changed jobs in the past.Hiring often involves someone who must sell house a house and move to a job. What if that house can't be sold or can't be sold without a substantial financial loss? It's possible that your perspective hire might not take the job. Or he/she might take the job and take a financial hit that has a substantial negative impact. It's also possible that you might never interview him or her because of the requirement to sell a house.
It is also possible that you and your company might find a different solution. Commuting / telecommuting. I'm a fan of flexibility having worked for several companies where it was the norm to manage telecommuting staff along with employees housed in other locations including some that were far from home.
For me relocation pain hits close to home (no pun intended). I've had a senior I.T. position where I planned to relocate ultimately but could not. The decision was, in part, due to the real estate market and partially due to schools. No blame here - the culture in that company held that all senior staff live locally. I respect the decision because I respect that team. But the discussions on flexibility were particulary painful.
Change for the good? From my family standpoint no move, no new schools, no change - so maybe yes. From a corporate standpoint - we found my successor - who lived in that area - so little pain other than that imposed by the transition. Either way we've both moved on.
The issue posed in Mr. Uchitelle's article is that the ability of the workforce to relocate is reduced. Will this situation force changes in the way we acquire and retain talent? Will those changes be long lasting?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Business Week - 10 Rules for Getting Ahead
I was reading Business Week over the weekend and came across a very interesting article / slide show entitled "10 rules on getting ahead". The article is a great summary of the things that we all need to do to get ahead in life. It applies to life in corporate America, a job search and to a limited degree to getting what we all want out of our personal lives (the things that we do for fun beyond work).
There are several key messages. First, it's about your network - build it, use it, don't abuse it. Second, it's about knowing where you are going and being able to articulate your vision. Third, be flexible. Interestingly, it is also has a page on your on-line presence - a LinkedIn profile - a Blog - Podcasts and even Twitter...
Another important idea is that we must sell ourselves - all of the time. Everyone (who wants to get ahead) should all have an "elevator" speech" (probably more than one). A 30 second spiel on ourselves, what we want in a job, a consulting contract, a big project, etc. We must be able to articulate what we want in life.
In my earlier post "Personal Change" I outlined my thoughts (to the degree that one can in a blog post) on networking. But I liked what I saw in the BW article and will be putting those suggestings into action. I'm even going to check out twitter... ;-)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Work Place Stress
Americans are stressed - and work is a big factor. In an article by Kelly Holland in the March 23rd edition of the New York Times entitled "The Tension Builds (It’s Almost Monday)" it is noted that in "Poll results released last October by the American Psychological Association", "one-third of Americans are living with extreme stress, and that the most commonly cited source of stress — mentioned by 74 percent of respondents — was work. That was up from 59 percent the previous year."
In addition "More than half the respondents to the survey said they had left a job or considered doing so because of stress, and 55 percent said that stress made them less productive at work." and "some 48 percent of the employers in the survey said stress created by long hours and limited resources was affecting business performance, but only 5 percent said they were taking strong action to address those areas.
What does this say about leadership? We are knowingly allowing stress to impact our organizations - through loss of productivity and loss of people but are not taking "strong action" to fix the problem! I suspect that many companies are taking NO action.
Several other blogs have picked up on the article and the results. In Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog posting "Sunday Afternoons" Mr. Bock notes "If you want to head off the "chronic sadness of late Sunday afternoon," the best way to do that is to give people a great working environment to go to on Monday morning. And the key to that is great supervisors. Select them. Train them. Support them." That's each of us - anyone who is called "the boss" - company leadership.
There are two good examples of companies that have done something about stress - GlaxoSmithKline and PWC. The PWC example I find particularly relevant to I.T. and Technology Organizations. PWC focused on eliminating the interruptions on weekends. I.T. Organizations work weekends - either because of changes that have to be implemented during off hours or project deadlines that won't be met without extra hours or outages. But that doesn't mean that we should expect other work to be accomplished during those times. Giving people the downtime that they deserve, that they need, improves our organization's efficiency, decreases turnover, increases satisfaction.
Finally, in Spherion's blog post "Life in the Cubicle - Burning the Midnight Oil" (from which the graphic in this post was swiped THANK YOU Spherion)they note that "nearly one third of U.S. workers spend between 41 and 50 hours a week at the office, and another 12% clock 50 hours or more weekly.". While we all know that it is often necessary in I.T. to work long hours - it should not constant and leadership has to make sure that we do what is necessary to reduce the requirement for long hours with no break. We also have to make sure that long hours at work are rewarded - not considered normal and expected. A bit of appreciation.
My thanks to the New York Times - many great articles that make me think about leadership, and technology.
Leadership and the Workplace Bully
There is a very good article in today's (3/26/2008) New York Times on work place bully's. That article along with other linked articles and blogs and comments tell a story that we as leaders (manager or not) is important to the success and efficient functioning of our organizations.
A work place bully cuts efficiency, limits effectiveness, increases turnover, reduces communication, hurts our companies, hurts our people - the negatives go on and on. The damage to the individuals being bullied and our ability as leaders to contribute to the success of our company makes quick action a necessity.
Most of us who have been around for a few years have encountered workplace bullies and had to deal with them. My first encounter was at General Electric. At GE (many years ago) the company decided that management by "yelling" was not appropriate and that it was going to stop. We had one manager, in payroll, who had a history of yelling at employees in staff meetings, one-on-one's and occasionally in the hall way. The directive came down - no more yelling. I heard several times from people in that area of the building that he now feared loosing his job - and spent much more time in his office with the door closed. The people in payroll were noticeably calmer and the race to get out of that manager's area slowed.
Since that time I've dealt with situations where one employee didn't like another or where a manager had a problem with a member of his group. My approach has always been to try to take the emotion out of the situation - after all we are professionals. In some cases counselling has worked - either with me or with HR. In one case I moved the person at the receiving end of the bullying to another group where he was much happier and his performance improved dramatically. But I have had people leave - in one case there was a performance issue where despite counseling and changing the individuals position he never recovered. I don't know if I simply intervened to late or whether there were other issues.
Rereading the article I know that I will be more vigilant in the future to insure that this does not happen in my organization.
New York Time article - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/health/25well.html?em&ex=1206676800&en=31b986ad49824972&ei=5087%0A
New York Times blog post - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/meet-the-work-bully/
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Traveling workers - more changes
The next Garter prediction (below) is a bit more mainstream from a technology standpoint. Many of us were experimenting with Citrix and other server based remote desktop technologies in the early part of the decade. But this is a final push to acceptability of these technologies - outside of the firewall.
As a consultant (at least in my current incarnation) I will truly welcome this if I can find a workable solution from a service provider (inexpensive solution - please). I have used blackberry's for years but am not interested in a $50/month solution if I can find a workable answer that uses hotspots securely and can grab my mail off my providers web site. A friend - James Lee - is experimenting with an iPod touch as an answer to this problem and if successful I may go the same route at least for a time.
As a CIO I would welcome the opportunity to provide users with access to services inside the firewall without the burden of hauling a laptop on their regular excursions. The added benefit being the lowered possibilitiy of the loss of that laptop and the information it contains.
Gartner's second prediction.
By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices. Even though notebooks continue to shrink in size and weight, traveling workers lament the weight and inconvenience of carrying them on their trips. Vendors are developing solutions to address these concerns: new classes of Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and Web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. There is also a new class of applications: portable personality that encapsulates a user's preferred work environment, enabling the user to recreate that environment across multiple locations or systems.
As a consultant (at least in my current incarnation) I will truly welcome this if I can find a workable solution from a service provider (inexpensive solution - please). I have used blackberry's for years but am not interested in a $50/month solution if I can find a workable answer that uses hotspots securely and can grab my mail off my providers web site. A friend - James Lee - is experimenting with an iPod touch as an answer to this problem and if successful I may go the same route at least for a time.
As a CIO I would welcome the opportunity to provide users with access to services inside the firewall without the burden of hauling a laptop on their regular excursions. The added benefit being the lowered possibilitiy of the loss of that laptop and the information it contains.
Gartner's second prediction.
By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices. Even though notebooks continue to shrink in size and weight, traveling workers lament the weight and inconvenience of carrying them on their trips. Vendors are developing solutions to address these concerns: new classes of Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and Web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. There is also a new class of applications: portable personality that encapsulates a user's preferred work environment, enabling the user to recreate that environment across multiple locations or systems.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Green Criteria - a big change
The most striking single thing about Gartners 2008 predictions is that three of these "top ten" are about "green" initiatives. Something that we in I.T. have seldom, if ever, consider. We will be buying equipment with the intent of reducing cost but with added rationale of improving our company's green credentials. We'll be buying I.T. products with the intention of reducing our "carbon footprint" and then looking to our suppliers to do the same.
The Gartner Top 10 are about change. These will be a very interesting type of change one that we will be doing for reasons that are somewhat different then other types of corporate driven intiatives - one potentially for the greater good. One that our organizations and our staff should feel good about.
See the full top 10 in my previous post - but here are the green predictions.
By 2009, more than one third of IT organizations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods. Initially, the motivation will come from the wish to contain costs. Enterprise data centres are struggling to keep pace with the increasing power requirements of their infrastructures. And there is substantial potential to improve the environmental footprint, throughout the life cycle, of all IT products and services without any significant trade-offs in price or performance. In the future, IT organisations will shift their focus from the power efficiency of products to asking service providers about their measures to improve energy efficiency.
By 2010, 75 per cent of organisations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria. Most technology providers have little or no knowledge of the full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint of their products. Some technology providers have started the process of life cycle assessments, or at least were asking key suppliers about carbon and energy use in 2007 and will continue in 2008. Most others using such information to differentiate their products will start in 2009 and by 2010 enterprises will be able to start using the information as a basis for purchasing decisions. Most others will stat some level of more detailed life cycle assessment in 2008.
By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Those organizations with strong brands are helping to forge the first wave of green sourcing policies and initiatives. These policies go well beyond minimizing direct carbon emissions or requiring suppliers to comply with local environmental regulations. For example, Timberland has launched a "Green Index" environmental rating for its shoes and boots. Home Depot is working on evaluation and audit criteria for assessing supplier submissions for its new EcoOptions product line.
The Gartner Top 10 are about change. These will be a very interesting type of change one that we will be doing for reasons that are somewhat different then other types of corporate driven intiatives - one potentially for the greater good. One that our organizations and our staff should feel good about.
See the full top 10 in my previous post - but here are the green predictions.
By 2009, more than one third of IT organizations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods. Initially, the motivation will come from the wish to contain costs. Enterprise data centres are struggling to keep pace with the increasing power requirements of their infrastructures. And there is substantial potential to improve the environmental footprint, throughout the life cycle, of all IT products and services without any significant trade-offs in price or performance. In the future, IT organisations will shift their focus from the power efficiency of products to asking service providers about their measures to improve energy efficiency.
By 2010, 75 per cent of organisations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria. Most technology providers have little or no knowledge of the full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint of their products. Some technology providers have started the process of life cycle assessments, or at least were asking key suppliers about carbon and energy use in 2007 and will continue in 2008. Most others using such information to differentiate their products will start in 2009 and by 2010 enterprises will be able to start using the information as a basis for purchasing decisions. Most others will stat some level of more detailed life cycle assessment in 2008.
By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Those organizations with strong brands are helping to forge the first wave of green sourcing policies and initiatives. These policies go well beyond minimizing direct carbon emissions or requiring suppliers to comply with local environmental regulations. For example, Timberland has launched a "Green Index" environmental rating for its shoes and boots. Home Depot is working on evaluation and audit criteria for assessing supplier submissions for its new EcoOptions product line.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Gartners 10 Key Predictions for 2008 and Beyond
Gartner, Inc. has highlighted 10 key predictions of events and developments that will affect IT and business in 2008 and beyond in a January press release.
Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and Gartner Fellow noted - "These areas of focus imply a significant groundswell of change that may in turn change the entire industry."
According to Gartner "The predictions highlight areas where executives and IT professionals need to take action in 2008. The full impact of these trends may not appear this year, but executives need to act now so that they can exploit the trends for their competitive advantage."
I'm going to spend the next few posts on these predictions because I believe that several of them are critical to the broad trends that we will see in I.T. over the next several years.
These predictions include:
By 2011, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in Computers. Apple's gains in computer market share reflect as much on the failures of the rest of the industry as on Apple's success. Apple is challenging its competitors with software integration that provides ease of use and flexibility; continuous and more frequent innovation in hardware and software; and an ecosystem that focuses on interoperability across multiple devices (such as iPod and iMac cross-selling).
By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices. Even though notebooks continue to shrink in size and weight, traveling workers lament the weight and inconvenience of carrying them on their trips. Vendors are developing solutions to address these concerns: new classes of Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and Web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. There is also a new class of applications: portable personality that encapsulates a user's preferred work environment, enabling the user to recreate that environment across multiple locations or systems.
By 2012, 80 per cent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. Many open-source technologies are mature, stable and well supported. They provide significant opportunities for vendors and users to lower their total cost of ownership and increase returns on investment. Ignoring this will put companies at a serious competitive disadvantage. Embedded open source strategies will become the minimal level of investment that most large software vendors will find necessary to maintain competitive advantages during the next five years.
By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. With software as service (SaaS), the user organisation pays for software services in proportion to use. This is fundamentally different from the fixed-price perpetual license of the traditional on-premises technology. Endorsed and promoted by all leading business applications vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft) and many Web technology leaders (Google, Amazon), the SaaS model of deployment and distribution of software services will enjoy steady growth in mainstream use during the next five years.
By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital expenditures and instead purchase 40 per cent of their IT infrastructure as a service. Increased high-speed bandwidth makes it practical to locate infrastructure at other sites and still receive the same response times. Enterprises believe that as service oriented architecture (SOA) becomes common "cloud computing" will take off, thus untying applications from specific infrastructure. This trend to accepting commodity infrastructure could end the traditional "lock-in" with a single supplier and lower the costs of switching suppliers. It means that IT buyers should strengthen their purchasing and sourcing departments to evaluate offerings. They will have to develop and use new criteria for evaluation and selection and phase out traditional criteria.
By 2009, more than one third of IT organizations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods. Initially, the motivation will come from the wish to contain costs. Enterprise data centres are struggling to keep pace with the increasing power requirements of their infrastructures. And there is substantial potential to improve the environmental footprint, throughout the life cycle, of all IT products and services without any significant trade-offs in price or performance. In future, IT organisations will shift their focus from the power efficiency of products to asking service providers about their measures to improve energy efficiency.
By 2010, 75 per cent of organisations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria. Most technology providers have little or no knowledge of the full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint of their products. Some technology providers have started the process of life cycle assessments, or at least were asking key suppliers about carbon and energy use in 2007 and will continue in 2008. Most others using such information to differentiate their products will start in 2009 and by 2010 enterprises will be able to start using the information as a basis for purchasing decisions. Most others will stat some level of more detailed life cycle assessment in 2008.
By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Those organizations with strong brands are helping to forge the first wave of green sourcing policies and initiatives. These policies go well beyond minimizing direct carbon emissions or requiring suppliers to comply with local environmental regulations. For example, Timberland has launched a "Green Index" environmental rating for its shoes and boots. Home Depot is working on evaluation and audit criteria for assessing supplier submissions for its new EcoOptions product line.
By 2010, end-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT. The rise of the Internet and the ubiquity of the browser interface have made computing approachable and individuals are now making decisions about technology for personal and business use. Because of this, IT organizations are addressing user concerns through planning for a global class of computing that incorporates user decisions in risk analysis and innovation of business strategy.
Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels. The technology lets users send a file of a 3-D design to a printer-like device that will carve the design out of a block of resin. A manufacturer can make scale models of new product designs without the expense of model makers. Or consumers can have models of the avatars they use online. Ultimately, manufacturers can consider making some components on demand without having an inventory of replacement parts. Printers priced less than $10,000 have been announced for 2008, opening up the personal and hobbyist markets.
See Gartner's January 31 Press Release...
Daryl Plummer, managing vice president and Gartner Fellow noted - "These areas of focus imply a significant groundswell of change that may in turn change the entire industry."
According to Gartner "The predictions highlight areas where executives and IT professionals need to take action in 2008. The full impact of these trends may not appear this year, but executives need to act now so that they can exploit the trends for their competitive advantage."
I'm going to spend the next few posts on these predictions because I believe that several of them are critical to the broad trends that we will see in I.T. over the next several years.
These predictions include:
By 2011, Apple will double its U.S. and Western Europe unit market share in Computers. Apple's gains in computer market share reflect as much on the failures of the rest of the industry as on Apple's success. Apple is challenging its competitors with software integration that provides ease of use and flexibility; continuous and more frequent innovation in hardware and software; and an ecosystem that focuses on interoperability across multiple devices (such as iPod and iMac cross-selling).
By 2012, 50 per cent of traveling workers will leave their notebooks at home in favour of other devices. Even though notebooks continue to shrink in size and weight, traveling workers lament the weight and inconvenience of carrying them on their trips. Vendors are developing solutions to address these concerns: new classes of Internet-centric pocketable devices at the sub-$400 level; and server and Web-based applications that can be accessed from anywhere. There is also a new class of applications: portable personality that encapsulates a user's preferred work environment, enabling the user to recreate that environment across multiple locations or systems.
By 2012, 80 per cent of all commercial software will include elements of open-source technology. Many open-source technologies are mature, stable and well supported. They provide significant opportunities for vendors and users to lower their total cost of ownership and increase returns on investment. Ignoring this will put companies at a serious competitive disadvantage. Embedded open source strategies will become the minimal level of investment that most large software vendors will find necessary to maintain competitive advantages during the next five years.
By 2012, at least one-third of business application software spending will be as service subscription instead of as product license. With software as service (SaaS), the user organisation pays for software services in proportion to use. This is fundamentally different from the fixed-price perpetual license of the traditional on-premises technology. Endorsed and promoted by all leading business applications vendors (Oracle, SAP, Microsoft) and many Web technology leaders (Google, Amazon), the SaaS model of deployment and distribution of software services will enjoy steady growth in mainstream use during the next five years.
By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital expenditures and instead purchase 40 per cent of their IT infrastructure as a service. Increased high-speed bandwidth makes it practical to locate infrastructure at other sites and still receive the same response times. Enterprises believe that as service oriented architecture (SOA) becomes common "cloud computing" will take off, thus untying applications from specific infrastructure. This trend to accepting commodity infrastructure could end the traditional "lock-in" with a single supplier and lower the costs of switching suppliers. It means that IT buyers should strengthen their purchasing and sourcing departments to evaluate offerings. They will have to develop and use new criteria for evaluation and selection and phase out traditional criteria.
By 2009, more than one third of IT organizations will have one or more environmental criteria in their top six buying criteria for IT-related goods. Initially, the motivation will come from the wish to contain costs. Enterprise data centres are struggling to keep pace with the increasing power requirements of their infrastructures. And there is substantial potential to improve the environmental footprint, throughout the life cycle, of all IT products and services without any significant trade-offs in price or performance. In future, IT organisations will shift their focus from the power efficiency of products to asking service providers about their measures to improve energy efficiency.
By 2010, 75 per cent of organisations will use full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint as mandatory PC hardware buying criteria. Most technology providers have little or no knowledge of the full life cycle energy and CO2 footprint of their products. Some technology providers have started the process of life cycle assessments, or at least were asking key suppliers about carbon and energy use in 2007 and will continue in 2008. Most others using such information to differentiate their products will start in 2009 and by 2010 enterprises will be able to start using the information as a basis for purchasing decisions. Most others will stat some level of more detailed life cycle assessment in 2008.
By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain preferred supplier status. Those organizations with strong brands are helping to forge the first wave of green sourcing policies and initiatives. These policies go well beyond minimizing direct carbon emissions or requiring suppliers to comply with local environmental regulations. For example, Timberland has launched a "Green Index" environmental rating for its shoes and boots. Home Depot is working on evaluation and audit criteria for assessing supplier submissions for its new EcoOptions product line.
By 2010, end-user preferences will decide as much as half of all software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT. The rise of the Internet and the ubiquity of the browser interface have made computing approachable and individuals are now making decisions about technology for personal and business use. Because of this, IT organizations are addressing user concerns through planning for a global class of computing that incorporates user decisions in risk analysis and innovation of business strategy.
Through 2011, the number of 3-D printers in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels. The technology lets users send a file of a 3-D design to a printer-like device that will carve the design out of a block of resin. A manufacturer can make scale models of new product designs without the expense of model makers. Or consumers can have models of the avatars they use online. Ultimately, manufacturers can consider making some components on demand without having an inventory of replacement parts. Printers priced less than $10,000 have been announced for 2008, opening up the personal and hobbyist markets.
See Gartner's January 31 Press Release...
Monday, March 3, 2008
Personal Change
I've talked about changes that we, as senior I.T. leaders, have to make to our own organizations but what about more personal changes. Like when you find yourself looking for new opportunties. Anyone who has found themselves in a job search knows how difficult (on every level) that process can be.
Here are some things that those of you who have not been on a job search need to think about - network, network and network. I was fortunate to work for a boss who was a natural networker - he built his network without thinking about it and taught many of us by example. I'm not a natural networker. I have to think about it - but I do it. I do it because that network is now a background for many things that I do professionally. My list now numbers slightly over 1000 contacts (I went through it recently and deleted duplicates - people who I've lost track of and a few that are no longer with us).
I use that list if need a technical opinion, have a leadership question, when I'm helping friends look for jobs and when I've looked for a job.
We all have networks - we're just not very organizated about it. So first bit of advice. Gather all of your contacts in one place (electronically). If you need it in multiple places - join Plaxo - which will allow you to synch that list to multiple computers. Then take the time to put all of your contacts into that list. Take your business cards (suppliers, peers, friends, etc) into the list, add those friends who's numbers you know by heart. If you are on LinkedIn - use the vCard function to get the people in that list into contacts.
Once you have a good start - send a message, call or write to 5 contacts a week - just say hi - forward an interesting story, make a plan to meet for lunch. Build your network now - you'll find that you use it often and you are going to need it some time - when you find yourself in the middle of a change.
Here are some things that those of you who have not been on a job search need to think about - network, network and network. I was fortunate to work for a boss who was a natural networker - he built his network without thinking about it and taught many of us by example. I'm not a natural networker. I have to think about it - but I do it. I do it because that network is now a background for many things that I do professionally. My list now numbers slightly over 1000 contacts (I went through it recently and deleted duplicates - people who I've lost track of and a few that are no longer with us).
I use that list if need a technical opinion, have a leadership question, when I'm helping friends look for jobs and when I've looked for a job.
We all have networks - we're just not very organizated about it. So first bit of advice. Gather all of your contacts in one place (electronically). If you need it in multiple places - join Plaxo - which will allow you to synch that list to multiple computers. Then take the time to put all of your contacts into that list. Take your business cards (suppliers, peers, friends, etc) into the list, add those friends who's numbers you know by heart. If you are on LinkedIn - use the vCard function to get the people in that list into contacts.
Once you have a good start - send a message, call or write to 5 contacts a week - just say hi - forward an interesting story, make a plan to meet for lunch. Build your network now - you'll find that you use it often and you are going to need it some time - when you find yourself in the middle of a change.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Things to Love about IT
Justin James had a great list on Tech Republic's "10 things" blog on TechRepublic - "10 things that I love about I.T." This is a great list for I.T. Leaders. Do our people like the same things? Could they list 10 things that they like about working in our organizations?
Thanks to Justin - it's a great list.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=306
Thanks to Justin - it's a great list.
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=306
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Know where you are going.
Rule 2: Know where you (personally) are going and make sure that your key people also know where they are going.
When I was first starting my career - as an Analyst at GECC (General Electric Credit Corporation). My boss's boss made a point of having one-on-one's with everyone in his area. He asked me where I was going in my career (what I wanted to do) in a year, then 5 years, 10 years, 25 years and by the end of my career. I didn't know. He told me to think through it, write it down, and come back to him when I was done.
It took a while - but I finally came back to him with several pages of notes. We didn't really discuss the specifics but we did discuss a process - every time I had a career decision to make I had to open that notebook and look at what I had written. Did the decision at hand fit in the roadmap that I had created. If it did, great - if it didn't - was the roadmap wrong (needed revision) or was it right. Either way it made the decision making process easier (not easy). I've made mistakes - but for the right reasons.
I have (still have) a map, and I have a process. I've used that process throughout my career. I've put 10's of people who worked for me and those who I've mentored through it. It works.
When I was first starting my career - as an Analyst at GECC (General Electric Credit Corporation). My boss's boss made a point of having one-on-one's with everyone in his area. He asked me where I was going in my career (what I wanted to do) in a year, then 5 years, 10 years, 25 years and by the end of my career. I didn't know. He told me to think through it, write it down, and come back to him when I was done.
It took a while - but I finally came back to him with several pages of notes. We didn't really discuss the specifics but we did discuss a process - every time I had a career decision to make I had to open that notebook and look at what I had written. Did the decision at hand fit in the roadmap that I had created. If it did, great - if it didn't - was the roadmap wrong (needed revision) or was it right. Either way it made the decision making process easier (not easy). I've made mistakes - but for the right reasons.
I have (still have) a map, and I have a process. I've used that process throughout my career. I've put 10's of people who worked for me and those who I've mentored through it. It works.
In the beginning..
Any job that isn't fun isn't worth keeping!
I've met many I.T. professionals over the years who enjoy their jobs, enjoy their collegues and make an effort to keep it that way. I've met quite a few who can barely drag themselves through the day. A few of those are senior people, with many years of experience, who should know better - know that it's time to move on.
This blog is dedicated to finding ways to make the job fun.
I've been in Information Technology for longer than I care to admit (since 1979 - you do the math). During that time I've worked for company's that I liked (GE, ARINC, Lucent/Agere, Ames True Temper) and a few companies that I disliked (Black & Decker, USF&G). I've worked for myself (I like myself so I guess that qualifies as a company that I liked). I've had jobs that I disliked while working for companies that I liked.
I was fortunate to have friends / mentors who didn't counsel me to "hang in there" - they counselled me to move on when the situation was not right.
So my first rule is; if you are having fun - stay. If you are not having fun -figure out what you can do to make it better. If you can't make it better - move on.
This is true for you and it's true for the people who work for you. (It's also true for your friends and family)..
I've met many I.T. professionals over the years who enjoy their jobs, enjoy their collegues and make an effort to keep it that way. I've met quite a few who can barely drag themselves through the day. A few of those are senior people, with many years of experience, who should know better - know that it's time to move on.
This blog is dedicated to finding ways to make the job fun.
I've been in Information Technology for longer than I care to admit (since 1979 - you do the math). During that time I've worked for company's that I liked (GE, ARINC, Lucent/Agere, Ames True Temper) and a few companies that I disliked (Black & Decker, USF&G). I've worked for myself (I like myself so I guess that qualifies as a company that I liked). I've had jobs that I disliked while working for companies that I liked.
I was fortunate to have friends / mentors who didn't counsel me to "hang in there" - they counselled me to move on when the situation was not right.
So my first rule is; if you are having fun - stay. If you are not having fun -figure out what you can do to make it better. If you can't make it better - move on.
This is true for you and it's true for the people who work for you. (It's also true for your friends and family)..
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