Stop complaining it’s time to build a career!

TechnoparkToday.com >> Why at least some people are sitting in the same seat for a long time without major designation/role changes or financial benefits in Information Technology industry and keep blaming the system. And trying to suggest few things which you can tryout to become success in your career.

Why, why, why?
Have you ever thought or complained like:

“Why should I do things which I am not paid for?”

World is no more Monday-thru-Friday, 10am-5pm. It’s the era which your subordinate who is at least 10 years less experienced will draw five times higher paycheck than you. Its the era people relocate frequently when compared to our last generation who used to work for the same company for 30-40 years continuously. So its high time to think:

“Why, why God, why me?”

Respond to technology weather fluctuations
Each day technology is advancing, new gadgets are released, new methodologies are formed, beta becomes ready-for-production, speed of your computer doubles, …

So it is very important that you should be updated along with the technology. If you detach one full day from technology, you are finished. Your learning never ends, so if you do not learn, tomorrow you will be replaced with a person who really found time to learn. Always watch for new technologies and changes – especially in your area of industry/domain. A good way to learn new things is knowledge sharing. Be a member of public forums or local user groups or at least start a technology blog.

Reading knowledge will not help you for a long run. Experiment with technology as much as possible. Do not keep good articles for later reading. Read it right away.

Have a strong base in your area
If you are a programmer, and you might have came to programming directly by doing RAD – Rapid Application Development. But you should find time to study basics like flow charts, algorithms, data structures, and a language like assembly or C to know well how exactly the machine executes your programs. Today’s operating systems encapsulates internal complexity from your eye to help you live in a high level but it is important  for a developer to know the internals. High level knowledge is for non-technical end users, not for you!

Organizations need dynamic people
Have you ever complained your company does not have a good process? It’s your mistake. If there is no good process, why didn’t you try to make one? Ok, you believe it is not your job. Then you are not dynamic.

In interviews, companies usually hire people with multi-talents than the ones with mono-talents. Company will look for low cost and high productivity. Thus getting knowledge in multiple technologies and multiple functional areas has became a core criteria today. Eg: If you are a web developer then SEO knowledge is an added advantage. I will hire one person with SQL Server Administration and
Database Programming knowledge than hiring two people.

If there is project delivery planned which is getting delayed due to knowledge problems of your peers, you should make yourself available there. If you think about monetary benefits of overtime and if your company does not have such a policy, you wont win the race.

Do you think you are not getting opportunities in the area which you love? go and grab it and don’t wait for anyone to come and feed you. It is only you who can shape your career and life. There is no meaning in blaming your organization for this. Try for it, if you still do not get it, quit and join another company. Do not let others shape your life.

Organizations need pro-active people
Do not wait for your manager to spoon feed or micromanage you. Be proactive and try to define your own work. Be self organizing and an expert in time management. All type of jobs have limitations but designing your solutions by knowing these limitations is the key
part of the game.

What will you do if the company vending machine is faulty? you will order coffee proactively from an external shop right? Why cant you show that proactive behavior in your work?

When you develop a software, transform yourself to be a customer/end-user and make your self think like one so that quality of your software improves and you will start thinking about solutions for customer’s real problems than ready made requirements.

There is a reason why a person is a manager. Think about his qualities.

Organizations need you to show what you can!
Do you believe you can do much more things than another person who you think your company recognizes more? Resolution is simple. Just show what you can do more!

Unless you show or quantify your talents, nobody is going to recognize you – even your spouse.

You should be unique for others to feel you are different. Do innovations. Think about what difference you can bring for your project or organization or community. For example, if your company does not have a reusable code library, take initiative and introduce one. Your interest might be in ASP.NET programming but you feel the opportunities you get are just for PHP. That’s because you did not ask for it, or you did not prove you can do well in ASP.NET. Contribute to company a knowledge base system in ASP.NET. For the next project you will be automatically in.

Organizations need disciplined people
It is all about how others feel about you. Do not let anybody complain you are always late in meetings or you smoke inside toilet. Watch surroundings, wear decent dress, talk sweet.

Usually in small companies, managers ask subordinates –

If I put Mr. X in your project do you think your project will finish before Day 5?

The response may be –

No, not X. I would go for Mr. Y.

Here, there might be a specific reason why the person do not want to go with Mr. X. But for what ever reason, make sure you are not Mr. X. Because the manager is getting there a hint that you got something wrong and such multiple indirect feedback will make your future faded in the company.

Keep your time organized. Do not complain you did not get time. It is a bad quality.

Do not complain to your peers
It is a universal fact that organizations do not like people who complain always. Rather than complaining, be proactive and try to fill the gap if you can. Otherwise silence is better. Blaming about something to your peers means you are spreading negativity. This habit will let you fall one day.

If someone blames about something to you, try to make it a positive talk and make your peer get out of that negativity. If he is facing some problem, try to resolve it.

If you feel you blame your current employer then you should realize you are used to blame your past employer as well. And obviously you will blame your next employer also. It’s high time to change the ‘attitude’.

Don’t ever think you will gain something from blaming.

Why should I pay you more for your same job?
Do you think you did not get expected increment in paycheck?

Think, why should a company pay more for this year for the the same job you did last year?

Obviously, you should do more job, show more talents, more dedication, more maturity, more commitment etc. to get more money.

Get supported by peers
In most of the organizations, one’s survival depends on feedback from peers. Organization should be aware of your importance in the organization, otherwise you will be the first one to be fired on the occasion of next economic slow down. So definitely you will have to do something more than what you do currently. Help other projects, other departments, community etc. People management is a vital talent in any industry and it can be achieved though good communication skills only.

Support, and get supported.

Aim for big
Plan your future. Think in advance about next as well as future designation levels. Think about your future.

For example, if you want to become a CTO of the organization, analyze what is the path to achieve that goal. Set targets and achievements to reach that goal. Work towards it.