Job Hacking

re: 10 Mistakes Every Leader Should Make... plus 1 more

There are plenty of ways to mess up as a leader. But there's really only one way to fix that, and that's admit it, move on, and learn from it.

Dan McCarthy has an insightful post on mistakes leaders make. I mean, hey, they're all true.

In the technology biz, there is one other I'd add to the list: Decide to take your IP to China to have a company there produce the product. Just don't do it.

Why you aren't a Software Engineer

From time to time, someone asks me for career advice. Then, I cringe. Why? Because on a very fundamental basis, I do not know what you want or what motivates you.

But, I will tell you that the one role I know of which is only increasing in demand, stature, and compensation is Software Engineer. (Note that I did not say Project Manager or Program Manager, or QA Engineer, or Technical Support, or Product Management, or Technical Account Management. These are all fine things to do, but they do not hold a candle to Software Engineer for overall job creating and market demand).

It's not so hard to figure out why.

First, just about everything we create has a chip in it, and usually more than one. Just about everything we do is dependent on a CPU doing its job, running the software. No software, no computer doing things for us. And, the technology is not static, and so when a new chip comes out, a new operating system with new features to exploit, more software is needed.

Second, becoming a Software Engineer is hard work. There is math involved, but most of it is new to you. Lots of typing. A lot of failure - until you figure it out. Constantly iterating, learning how to do new stuff. Then, once you've mastered one technology, one language, you gotta go do it again. So, you take all those algorithms you learned in VB, C++, Java or Python, and then go try them out in Ruby. Or, you jump to a new Operating System and work on figuring out how to do multi-threaded programming, or how to create in a very constricted memory space. Whatever. 

But remember what I said about the hard work.

Envy

Over the course of the last six months or so, I've become reacquainted with covetousness or envy through my work. Specifically, people ignoring their gifts, their capabilities, and thus, completely missing the market's view of those gifts.

There are plenty of ways to mess up your career, and envy is one of the saddest. It's like eating food that's bad for you (say, sugar) because it's doubly bad since you're replacing food that moves you in a positive direction with food that moves you in the opposite way!

How do you identify if you are falling victim to envy? These thoughts might be a marker:

• Why did Joe get the promotion over me? I've been here much longer...
• Look at Marg, over in Marketing, just made Director. I should be a Director. How did HR miss that?
• Phil's ideas always seem to get traction with Angel investors, and mine are technically much better. 

If you have these thoughts, how can you be focusing on the work you need to do, or on improving yourself? Or servicing your customers? You can't because these negative thoughts consume your mental cycles.  Drop the thoughts, move on. You'll be better off if you step away from negative thoughts and move on to thinking about how to achieve your goals, your dreams.

re: The workforce should be segregated. Maybe.

Penelope posted a thought-provoking, and what will be a very controversial article about work, lifestyle, and men & women.

It's a great read.

I don't know the science behind all she has written about. What I like about her article is that it directly attacks some of the conventional wisdom regarding work that developed during the heyday of the feminist movement, and in making this attack, she gets under those concepts and helps you hold up the magnifying glass to your own work behaviors, and career choices - choices which may ultimately be holding you back.

It's not that I don't like what the feminist movement has achieved for our country, creating a shining example to other societies to enable EVERYONE. But, like unions, feminism is an old, tired concept that has outlived its usefulness. It's high time to move on to the next topic. 

Which, I think, is going to be more and more about you, the individual. As we get better at understanding the details of our makeup (DNA, brain scans, etc), I predict that we'll come to a moment where we'll know much more about ourselves. My guess is that if we look closely at our performance at various things, and then layer over that a study about our DNA, or brain makeup or whatever else comes up, we may have a much better understanding about our poor performance regarding we've been attempting to delude ourselves about. 

For example, you might have been really bad at running in PE while in school. Or maybe, you really liked solving math problems. Or, you were always the center of social attention. In looking closely at these tendencies, you'll likely see a path forward which is more in alignment with your talents, and finds you with a better fit in the marketplace.

Should you set goals?

Yes, you should.

For some reason, Q1 of 2011 has turned out to be a long conversation about goal setting for me. I'm talking to my management team about it, I'm introducing it to our company, I'm talking to candidates about their goals (or lack thereof), and I'm talking to my former colleagues about their career aspirations, and you guessed it, their career goals. Then there are the discussion with my wife about the goals for her forthcoming book and writing career, and the discussion with my Boy Scout Troop about goals surrounding the inevitable leadership transition. Goals, goals, goals! 

Most people get that they need to set goals. But... they get turned off by all the focus on business-only goals. For those people, a great post from SideWise Thinking on goal selection. Hopefully, it will open a few mental doors regarding your potential futures!

re: Until we meet again...

Networking. We talk a lot about it, how important it is, how it will help your career. Blah, blah, blah.

One thing that is not often stated is what happens on the back end. The chapter that starts, 'Years later...'. Tess put up a great post about this part of networking, and if it doesn't change your behaviors regarding thanking those who helped you up the stairs, you're close to hopeless.

Do you need a degree for test?

A year or so ago, a colleague of mine who was working his way up the ladder of the QA function wanted to know if he'd be able to continue into management without a degree. At the time, I hemmed and hawed and said, "It depends, but you should probably get one sooner or later."

In retrospect, I got it wrong. He needs a degree, and preferably a Bachelors in Computer Science.

Here's why. When you apply for a job, you need every edge, every sparkle to stand out from your competition. That's what is required to land a role in our new career reality in 2011.

Because QA is a function which is an entry point for many into a company, or into a software career, there are a lot of people, a lot of competition. To rise above, you need to perform and make the team better (And yes, you're right, a degree is not a guarantor of this result - that's your own hard work). But, to get the interview two or steps later in your carerr you need both those great results, and the deeper Comp Sci background that is hinted at by such a degree.

Hiring Managers hire the best they can find - they want to succeed just as much as you. And given the unemployment rate, they are usually hiring a candidate who is more than the job requirements, not at par.

re: Don't be a Consumer of Work

Thought-provoking post by Laurie today regarding different frames to approach the relationship with your employer and vice versa.

One way or another, if you are working, you have to get zen with your work and your performance. And if it’s tough for you, it’s gotta be tough for your boss, too.

One thing that does come to mind after thinking about the two approaches stated in this article is how do the people who do great things approach their work? How do repeat Olympic Medalists think about long-term, mid-term and short-term work? Why are they better than the rest of their Olympic competition (who are no slouches themselves)? What methods does someone who is repeatedly successful in their investments like Warren Buffet use day in and day out? How does Matthew Weiner make all those great Mad Men episodes with nary a weak performance? And how does the best coder on your team make it happen?

One thing I’m fairly certain of, given the variety of humans, there are going to be a number of approaches which are successful, however you define that. As a starting point, try those that resonate to you. But don't stop there if they don't help you much - try another one on for size!

re: The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Boss Doesn't Like You

Laurie might be my favorite HR blogger, and this post is yet one more reason why.

She was being nice, though. There are a couple others that she could have added, and I *know* she's had to deal with these, too:

• You stink (Bosses & HR Folks love handling employee issues with body odor)
• You dress inappropriately (If your dress takes members of the team off their game, and you know it, fix it. Now).

One thing that can make you loved by your boss: Humility. There's just not enough of that to go around.

Rockstar, Redux

Over the last several weeks, I've taken notice of an uptick in the use of the work 'rockstar' to describe various things, usually in the context of defining a type of person who should inhabit a given role in a business. 

Most folks who use this term think of it in a positive sense. They are incorrect. Five reasons why:

• Janis Joplin
• Jimi Hendrix
• Courtney Love
• Rockstar Energy Drink
• Itzhak Perlman

Without taking anything away from Janis's or Jimi's impact on rock music, is there anyone who doesn't wonder what could have happened had they not died so young, due to substance abuse problems? Or does Courtney clarify this point? Rockstar Energy drink is just straight out bad for you body. And finally, if you could hire anyone for your team, wouldn't you want someone who is recognized as perhaps the best current living practitioner of their skill, and who is notable for their ability to work with others - Itzhak Perlman?

Here's the article that put me over the edge, The Rockstar Guide to Getting More Traffic, Fame, Success. The interesting point is that even in an article with a title using the word Rockstar, the author uses a classically trained musician to make a major point regarding showmanship, Victor Borge, who is certainly not a rockstar (but he was an amazing performer, nonetheless)! 

Here's the point: If someone who is ostensibly good at writing copy gets confused about the meaning of a term, don't you think that's an indicator to go find a better way to to describe amazing talent?