Upload
ramtin-rostami
View
222
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/4/2019 IT Career Development Bulletproof Your IT Career
1/3
TechNet M agazineSign inUnited States - English
IT Career Development: Bulletproof Your IT Care...
IT Career Development : Bulletp roof Your IT Career
There are some positive steps you can take to solidify and advance your career, even in these
challenging times.
Romi Mahajan
There are two battle-tested schools of career development:
1. Invest in constant growth and development.
2. Make yourself indispensable to an organization in any of a variety of positions.
To truly bulletproof your IT career, you need to commit to both schools simultaneously. Heres alook at how to do so while enjoying the here and now, and not simply projecting into the future.
Before we start, lets examine some assertions about the lives of IT professionals, gleaned from
poring over reams of data and hundreds of conversations with IT pros. Some clear themes emerge:
IT pros feel l ike theyre always under the axe. Theyre asked to manage more complexity with fewer resources and
justify what little they need.
IT pros feel like theyre always under the microscope. Its as if someone is w aiting for IT to mess up so the executive
suite can find yet another reason to cut IT.
IT pros would like to spend more time on skill development and continuing education, but the reactionary nature of
their jobs doesnt allow for this luxury.
IT pros feel unrecognized as value creators and innovators.
IT pros feel alienated from other employees in the organization, citing a lack of empathy and understanding of what
they do.
If none of these seem familiar, no need to read further. You must have gotten it right and set
yourself up for great success in the organization. On the contrary, if these themes resemble your
experience, read on.
Theres a six-step approach every IT pro can use to overcome these obstacles.
Step 1: Stop and ListenWhen polled, most IT professionals indicate that they have no time to get out of reactive mode. The
irony, they say, is that they want to get closer to the business and get in the mode of driving
innovation. However, the constant nature of fixing whats broken disconnects them from
communities within the organization with which theyd like to connect.
IT pros get into an inertial frame far too often and dont take the time to slow down, halt for amoment and redirect their energies to high value-added areas. In order to prosper, you have to
break out of that closed loop.
Step 2: Shadow and LearnAs you break out of your circuit, you must positively embrace a new role and new role model. This
could be an adjacent operational area or it could be something deep in the heart of the business.
Either way, find a mentor, shadow him, learn from him and learn more about your business.
You will not only learn a great deal throughout this process, you will also create real advocacy for
yourself within another part of the organization. This will serve you well both now and in the future.
Step 3: Know Thy CustomerThe single most important trait of any professional in any role in any company is to know the
customer. You must know the customer both from the perspective of deep knowledge of the
customers business and business processes, but also from the point of view of a personalrelationship.
Never accept that as an IT professional, youre in a support role and you have no customer. Your
customers are both internal and external. Your customers are both the business unit leaders and the
sales force, and the businesss customers who visit your Web site and see it as the face of your
company.
Know your customers and embrace them. They can be a great source of inspiration and innovation.A positive relationship with your customer is the surest way to safeguard yourself in times of
change.
Step 4: Beat Your Own Drum
Understand and Use the Exchange Control Panel[ http://technet.microsoft.com/magazine/b0856fb0-9ee4-45a7-9f2c-2af99593a9a0.aspx ]
Get an overview of the Exchange Control Paneland how you can use it to manage Exchange from
just about anywhere.
SQL Azure: Cloud Database Security (July 25,
2011) [ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh352139.aspx ]
Deploy Windows 7 Your Way (July 11, 2011)
[ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/magazine/hh273489.aspx ]
System Center 2012 Deep Dive (June 27,
2011) [ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/magazine/hh320997.aspx ]
Windows Phone 7: Managing Mobility (June
13, 2011)
Integrate It All with Windows Server (May30, 2011)
Best of TechEd 2011 (May 16, 2011)
Build and Manage VMs in the Cloud (May 2,
2011)
Lync Every Office (Apr 18, 2011)
Manage Progress with Project Server (Apr 4,
2011)
Refresh Your IT SKills for the Cloud (Mar 21,2011)
Remove Desktop Deployment Stress (Mar
14, 2011)
Home [ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/default.aspx ] [ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc296584.aspx ] [ http://technet.mic
Tip of the Day [ http :// technet.microsoft
TechNet ON: Previous Issues
Page 1 of 3IT Career Development: Bulletproof Your IT Career
8/10/2011http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh343281(printer).aspx
8/4/2019 IT Career Development Bulletproof Your IT Career
2/3
IT professionals can teach others, but they can also learn a lot from others within the business.
Specifically, IT can learn much from the colleagues in marketing. Their stock-in-trade is messaging
and communication.
The single most powerful e-mail Ive ever seen from an IT manager was a marketing message.
Knowing how busy, productive and passionate his team was, he sent a company-wide e-mail thatexplained to the company exactly what his team accomplished during the past month. The e-mail
included detailed statistics like IT blocked X number of spam e-mails, and moved a datacenter with
only two hours of e-mail and line-of-business system downtime.
Not a single person on the receiving end of the e-mail was annoyed. Instead, everyone was stunned
at the amazing work the IT team had quietly accomplished behind the scenes. There wereunprecedented kudos for the IT team following that message.
Step 5: Lead with PassionApproach your job and your career growth with unparalleled intensity and passion. Youll find that
attitude is infectious. More importantly, by displaying such enthusiasm, youll defeat the unfair and
nearly ubiquitous stereotype of the IT professional as functional, but low in emotional or social
intelligence.
Youll soon find yourself in the role of a real leader. That role and posture is a pleasant change from
the defensive or reactive position in which IT often finds itself.
Step 6: Improve. Rinse and RepeatThe learning and growing is a constant process. Never become complacent. Never think that going
through these five steps only once will y ield huge results.
Get better at each step, each time with a larger framework in mind. Youll soon find yourself
transcending your earlier state, looking forward to the future and thoroughly enjoying the present.
Career management might appear to be a luxury in the constantly busy world of IT. Managing your
career should never be consigned to the back burner, though. The role of the IT professional has
changed dramatically in the last 10 years, with new technologies, new management structures and
economic turbulence conspiring to create a time of both opportunity and nervousness. You need to
ensure youre spending time doing things that will truly help you reach your potential.
Related Content
Digital Marketing: IT and the F uture [ http://technet.microsoft.com/magazine/gg981693.aspx ]
IT Skills: I nternational Options [ http://technet.microsoft.com/magazine/gg690152.aspx ]
The Business of IT: Turbocharge Your Career [ http://technet.microsoft.com/magazine/hh241319.aspx ]
Windows Azure Security Essentials (Feb 21,
2011)
Go Virtual to Cut Costs and Carbon (Feb 7,
2011)
System Center in the Cloud (Jan 24, 2011)
Security and Management Converge (Jan
10, 2011)
Maximizing Windows Server 2008 (Dec 13,2010)
Internet & Intranet with SharePoint (Nov29,2010)
Building BI into Your Organization (Nov 15,
2010)
Accelerating Windows 7 Deployments (Nov
1, 2010)
SQL Server 2008 R2 Migration (Oct 18,
2010)
Desktop Security Primer (Oct 4, 2010)
Virtualization Best Practices (Sept 20, 2010)
Silverlight @ Work (Sep 6, 2010)
General IT; Skills Curriculum (Aug 23, 2010)
Email in the Cloud (Aug 9, 2010)
SharePoint Workflows and Productivity (July26, 2010)
Green IT (July 6, 2010)
Office & SharePoint 2010 DeploymentGuide (June 28, 2010)
Cloud Security (June 14, 2010)
[ http://technet.microsoft.com/ff819857.aspx ]
TechNet Flash Newsletter
[ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/cc543196.aspx ]
TechNet News Feed[ http://services.social.microsoft.com/feeds/f
MSDN Magazine[ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/magazine/default.aspx ]
MSDN Flash Newsletter
[ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/aa570311.aspx ]
Not a TechNet Subscriber?
Become a subscriber today[ http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptions/bu
and get early access to thousands of Microsoft
products, such as:
Windows 7
[ http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptio
pv=36:350 ]
Internet Explorer 8[ http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptio
pv=36:342 ]
Windows Server 2008 R2[ http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptio
pv=36:137 ]
See the entire list...[ http://technet.microsoft.com/subscriptio
Romi Mahajan [ mailto://thekkmgroup.com:25/default.aspx ] is president of KKM Group.
Prior to joining KKM, Mahajan was chief marketing officer of Ascentium Corp. A well-
known speaker on the technology and media circuit, he serves on a variety of advisory
boards and speaks at more than a dozen industry events per year.
Resources
Page 2 of 3IT Career Development: Bulletproof Your IT Career
8/10/2011http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/hh343281(printer).aspx
8/4/2019 IT Career Development Bulletproof Your IT Career
3/3
2011 Microsoft. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Trademarks | Privacy Statement | Site Feedback
Page 3 of 3IT Career Development: Bulletproof Your IT Career
8/10/2011http://technet microsoft com/en-us/magazine/hh343281(printer) aspx