It’s a tough time to be in the Information Technology industry. Innovation from major players like Apple, Microsoft, and Google are causing major business disruption throughout the world, not to mention shattering old comfort zones of most IT staff. Yet, I’m stunned that the number one problem holding most teams back is still poor attitude and an utter disconnect from reality.
If you’re in IT and this is you, then you’re likely soon facing a RGE (Resume Generating Event) and possibly bounced to another industry:
- That passive aggressive, smile to your face and waste everyone’s time writing novel flame e-mails, while often telling your boss they have no technical knowledge is ridiculous and has no place in modern business.
- If you’re walking around bad-mouthing management, vendors, systems, and operations then STOP! You sound like an arrogant idiot and are simply telling everyone not to respect you.
- Counter punch mentality died nearly 2 decades ago. You can no longer sit and wait for that phone call or e-mail to come in or hope and pounce on someone else’s mistake. Your mission is to be proactive, anticipate, and get involved to provide value and prove your worth.
- Drop the line about “do you want me to document or do the work?”. The job is documenting processes and identifying improvements. You don’t get to “own” the knowledge and trying to do so identifies you as untrustworthy and apathetic.
- No one cares about tracking your every move, but management doesn’t understand what you do. That case management or ticket system is not about how many incidents or hours, but rather what categories do they fall under. Think about it. What positive regular feedback do you have for the powers above? No feedback or constant whining just cements the idea of little value and irritation to the organization.
- Finally, if your ego is tied to how many servers you have, built-in complexity or how many IT staff work under you, you’re no longer relevant. The average IT staff will be cut in half this year, along with half the servers eliminated. Better get with the new trends and applications, as that tired infrastructure knowledge is no longer necessary.
Maybe you are lacking some tools or training and there is limited budget. However, the most valuable people in IT are those that have great soft skills and are naturally inquisitive. The technical stuff is extremely easy to learn in comparison. Put a smile on your face, take that chip off your shoulder, and start helping the organization and growing your brain. You’ll be happier and more engaged with your value always improving.