Data Tramp

Not long ago one of my developers asked me what I thought about a job opportunity he was offered – director of technology at another firm. It would have been a massive promotion for him – at least a 50% pay raise and extra responsibility. I had a lot of reasons to advise him not to take the job (you know… aside from not wanting to lose one of my best programmers). Luckily I didn’t have to resort to explaining these reasons (and by “explaining these reasons” I mean “begging”) because he knew my key arguments already. He is young and there are a lot of experiences he hasn’t had yet as a manager … or as a developer for that matter – so there are a lot of skills he still needs to learn in order to be successful in that kind of position. While the job offer sounded good he knew money wasn’t the only reason he gets out of bed every morning… he’s working on his career.

In the military I had a very clear career progression. It’s simple really. You start out as a private (usually out of high school) or as a lieutenant (if you finished college) and work your way up from there. The structure is ridged and well defined. If you want a promotion there are whole manuals on what training you need and what job experience is needed – even a website to compare yourself against others in the same grade.

Unfortunately, career progression is not as clearly defined in the corporate world – maybe even less so in recent years.
In any profession, people who have been with the same organization for a long time bring intrinsic value. Long-term employees understand the culture and see the evolution of process. They receive training and are an investment of both dollars and time. The military gets this point… from the time I was in boot camp it was presumed that I had entered into a career… not just a job. They prepared everyone as though they would be around for retirement. We were encouraged to train at a level above where we were – always striving for more.

But in an age where corporate employment is seen as temporary – training becomes a cost of doing business instead of an investment in long term employees. It’s a matter of dueling goals. Career-minded individuals need to gain the skills necessary to make the next leap in their career path regardless of for whom they are working. Companies on the other hand are largely motivated to train their employees to do the job for which they were hired… over training is expensive and might result in creating a resource which can no longer be afforded. Maybe this is an overly cynical point of view… but the take away lesson here is that no matter where someone is employed… they work for themselves.

A job is something a person does – it’s tied to where they work, not who they are. In a job the goal is to become as profitable as possible for the employer. Becoming more profitable means gaining experience or training focused on the tasks being completed. The focus is on filling a position.

A career, on the other hand, is more than what a person is doing – it’s where they’re going. In a career the goal is gain the experience necessary to progress to the next level – slowly becoming a professional who is valued as much for their opinion as their experience. This means not only having the experience necessary to work efficiently – but also an understanding of how the work completed fits into the larger picture. It often also means learning how to lead others and how to sell ideas – how to demonstrate the value behind what is being accomplished. I think the disconnect is that people tend to get too hung up on where they are employed and how much they are making and not hung up enough on where they are in their careers and where they want to be going. It is rare to find people trying to prepare themselves for the next level.

Career minded individuals consider more than work when looking into moving on – because the focus is no longer on their job. They also consider:

Education

– This can be formal classroom training or informal time spent researching on your own. Just be sure to apply what you are learning to your job and your career.

Volunteer time

– This does not have to have anything to do with your job at all. It’s the glory of the “hobbies and interests” section. Not to broadcast my hiring strategy – but anyone who has built houses for the poor through a non-profit lately, participates in organized sports, or brews beer at home and lists the activity on their resume will get a phone interview with me even if I don’t think the rest of the resume is interesting. Personality counts for a lot with employers now-a-days – especially in consulting.

Professional Associatio

– Time is an issue for many people, but the networking involved with a professional organization should not be scoffed at. You’ll learn about conferences, make contacts, meet recruiters and learn how other people are solving the problems you’re probably struggling through yourself. I am not sure which is better – belonging to several organizations or being extremely involved (like a board member) in a single organization.

Industry Understanding

– Knowing what is going on in your industry can give you a serious leg up – especially as your career starts to really advance. Know the major thought leaders. Read books and magazines on the business of doing what you do. Read trade magazines and maybe even write for them.

Finally, remember that the way to career goals may not feel like forward momentum. If a little less money or influence (say working for a non-profit or going back to school full time) will help you gain the skills or experience to further a career – then the move is worth it in the long run as long as a plan to move forward is in place. The key is to focus enough on yourself and where you’re going to be able to make those decisions as a professional – and not just because a recruiter calls and offers you a higher paycheck in the short term.

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