Not to long ago, I was at the hair saloon and my stylist told me her son had decided to be a computer engineer. I began asking all sorts of questions about what he wanted to do in the information technology industry. At this point, she responded in “You’d have to ask him. Most of what he says is greek to me!”
Of course, this is not unusual for those outside IT to feel like we have our own language in IT and to be honest, we do. I’ve been in IT profession since the 1990’s and held many different titles, from tecnhical writer to software developer to data engineer. The longer I’ve been in IT, the more often I come across those just starting out and I can see where a few words of wisdom might be helpful.
In this post, I’m going to provide the top five “words or wisdom” for someone just starting out in their IT career — and the things I wish someone had told me!
1. Find your focus
Information Technology as become so diverse that it’s impossible to know it all. You will have your strengths. Other folks in the room will have their strengths. Find the the thing you really like and excel at it. Don’t worry about weather a data engineer vs a data scientist gets paid more. If you like digging around in a database and writing queries, do that. If you like applying statistical models to data, do that.
If you try to know it all and be an expert at everything, you will end up being mediocre in everything and totally stressted out trying to keep up with all the changes. Use your college experience to explore and find your focus. Hone in on what you are good at.
2. Develop a “Yes, and …” mindset
In the early days, computer programmers tended to work in isolation. The solo programmer is a thing of the past. Today, you will be working in teams on collaborative projects. It is not unusual to spend half the day with 2 to 3 people doing pair programming. Even if your job is 100% remote, you will find yourself on a 3 – 4 hour call where folks are sharing their desktops and creating the product together.
Collaboration is a skill. Some folks don’t open up very well while others will overpower the team with every idea that pops into their heads. Some folks shoot down every idea other than their own and others will go down every rabit hole presented in the collaboration meeting.
The first trick to successful collaboration is to keep an open mind responding with yes’s instead of no’s. The second trick is to identify the direction for the yes. Is this something we can explore here? Yes, and let’s look at …. Is this something that is off topic? Yes, and why don’t we put that on the board for future research? Is this something that you don’t agree with or maybe don’t understand? Yes, and can you elaborate on that point a bit more?
3. Learn to set boundaries
When I first started in IT, I had to go to the office to do any work. In the early 2000’s I got a lap top and the 50 hour weeks started. Not long after that, I got my first mobile phone and started being connected all the time.
Twenty years later, we are so used to being connected all the time that it is not unusual for us to be pulling all nighters and working weekends, then doing our day shift and evening shift. Before you know it, you are working constantly and have lost a social life, lost connection with your family, and generally isolated in the world of work.
We talk a lot about work / life balance in IT careers, but we suck at achieving a work / life balance. The culprit is beause most of us don’t know how to say no, turn off the computer, and go dancing. Keep your life outside your work priority. The job will always be there — if not the one you are at now, but another in the future.
4. Max out your 401K
Most corporations provide a 401K with matching benefits. When you are first starting out, that 401K feels like a waste. Why am I dropping 10% or more of my salary in something I can’t use for decades?
Those decades are going to go by fast. That employer match is free money for the future. Take advantage of it. Your senior self will thank you!
5. Be nice
I’ve had to work with a lot of folks, some of them not very nice. There were days when I literally was crying at my desk because of someone being mean, cruel and generally creating a toxic environment. None of that was necessary.
There is no need to be a workplace bully or to create a toxic workplace enviornment. Also, there is no reason you need to stay at a job where you are being bullied or in a toxic environment. Life is too short.
Let’s face it. We won’t want to be best friends with everyone we work with. That’s ok. But there is no reason to not be polite and to treat the people we work with respectfully.
To be honest with you, I can say I have not followed these words of wisdom 100% my whole career. And I still struggle with some of things, like work life balance and contributing to a positive collaboration. But, I’m getting better with practice!