Tag: career

One of the main reasons that I got into IT was the salary. Honestly, there were relatively few places where I thought I had a skill AND could make good money. I graduated with an economics degree, with the idea that I’d go to Wall Street, follow Gordon Gecko, and work 140 hours a week and make a few million.

That was until I wrecked my shoulder playing rugby my senior year, realized that I wasn’t invincible, and decided there were more important things than my salary. However I still wanted to have a good living, I had some skills in technology, and I moved in that direction. When I heard that our DBA was making $90k a year at a time when I was making $45k, I decided I should learn more about databases.

Across the last two decades of my career, I think I’ve been fortunate in my career. It’s been a lot of work, , and a lot of fun. I’ve tried to grow my career, learn new things, and find better opportunities over time and in new positions. I’ve had success, and I’ve found the experience has resulted in higher salaries for me. I found a blog about salaries recently that says it’s not only experience, but also location that matters in terms of salary. That’s probably true, though I think industry, the particular company, and other factors are important as well.

For most of us, we don’t necessarily want to change locations, but we can do something about our experience. I’ve seen it written before that for people that have 10 years of experience, it could be gained two ways. They could have one year of experience ten times, or ten different years of experience (or some combination). The point is that you should be continually expanding on your experiences, not just relying on skills you learned a long time ago.

You may or may not be able to get a job that pays you more with more experience. I’d like to think, however, that any investment in improving your skills and learning more about your craft, is never wasted.

Steve Jones

As I’ve given my Modern Resume talk at a number of events, I’ve found that there are quite a few people out there in the technology business that are searching for work. Or searching for better work. I’ve tried to give them some advice on things that might make them more attractive for employers and more likely to find another job. One of the things that I advise them to do is volunteer. Putting forth some effort to help others with your technical skills, or even with leadership or management skills, can help fill up your resume and show employers that you are motivated.

But how should you volunteer? I’ve suggested contacting a local non-profit or school and asking them if there is someting you can build for them that might be useful in their mission. I’m sure that there are many ideas and needs for these groups, who often can’t afford to hire a technology professional to work in a formal way.

Arnie Rowland, longtime SQL Server MVP, has a great new project that looks to assist those people out there that have a project idea. Project Phoenix looks to provide some resources to developers, or aspiring developers, out there. With a combination of software, books,and training, Arnie has built a program that will give people and non-profits some assistance in implementing technology into their environments.

This is a great program that looks to give back to communities and help some technology workers at the same time. If you are interested in applying, or know someone that might benefit from the help, please point them to the Project Phoenix page. You can view the people that have been awarded here.

Steve Jones

“Never underestimate what you can bring to the table.” – Rob Cooper, on StackOverflow.

I read that and immediately went back to a time earlier in my career.  I worked in a large team of IT workers, with a variety of skills and experiences. Each of us had an area we specialized in (databases for me), but we had to cross train and handle calls and issues in other areas at times.  Being a diverse team of about 20 people, we all had noticeable strengths and weaknesses. Some people were talented in almost all areas and could figure things out. Some struggled and sought out the experts in areas outside their own constantly.

We had one person in particular that was fairly low down on the skill level, and was in charge of a number of administrative-type tasks for the IT infrastructure. Things like basic group/user security, handling simpler AD tasks, things that you usually task to a junior level individual. I often heard others complaining that this person could not carry their own weight, or didn’t do enough work.

However when this person went on vacation, and someone else had to fill in, I’d hear more complaints about having to do basic tasks, like managing groups or setting permissions.  I couldn’t  imagine the way a team would work if it was filled with highly talented, highly capable superstars; we’d never get any work done because of the constant complaining.

We all have a role to fill at times in our lives. Sometimes it’s a high level role, and at times it’s a low level role. Each of us brings value for the work we do, and none of us is any “better” at life than any other. The lead developer might seem like they are more important than the secretary or the cleaning crew, but those other contributions are important as well. They’re valuable, and they should be appreciated.

Steve Jones