Being content with your skillset/career progression 8

[bonafide247]

Just curious on everyone's thoughts...

I often play the comparison game with fellow IT pros, and get very frustrated in the process!

I don't claim to be the smartest, most resourceful, the guru by any stretch of the imagination. I believe my strengths are grounded more in my character, hard work, and pleasent demeanor than in my actual skill set. I catch on pretty quick, and multi task till the cows come home. I think I am very driven, yet I have a desire to have a balanced life (physically, mentally, spiritually...my family, etc)

However, I do struggle with envy on how good/smart/resourceful some of these guys/gals really are. I try to humble myself and learn from them as much as possible.

Can anybody relate to this? Again...I don't want to sound like a petty, envious person. I look forward to your responses.

 

[acewarlock]

Isn't that just being Human?


This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[bonafide247]

Who wants to be that?

 

[CajunCenturion]

An excerpt from Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[stubnski]

The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

Maybe the smart guy/gal is envious of one of your good traits or even your family life.


Stubnski

 

[Ed2020]

I can completely understand this. I spend a great deal of my time learning this subject and I have no idea how some people have managed to learn *so* much more than me.

It is frustrating that I will never know as much as I want to...

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[bonafide247]

Thanks for the feedback from everyone.

Ed2020 - Thanks for your empathy! It's good to hear those words from another professional. I'm coming to the point where I realize that it's ok not to know everything

Some people are gifted in these areas...some are very driven and determined to be good at what they do. I say...be thankful we have these people in these various positions!

 

[JCreamerII]

Stubnski,

Even when it is greener, sometimes it is actually spray painted green.

Jim C.

 

[Dollie]

I've found that yes, the grass IS greener on the other side, but that is only because of the mass amounts of (ahem) "fertilizer" that goes with it.

 

[genomon]

No one can know <everything about everything>; a great skill is knowing what questions to ask and where to look for the answers. Works in life, too...

When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

 

[Ed2020]

It is frustrating that I will never know as much as I want to...

Although I would also say that the enjoyment is not in the knowing, it is in the finding out.

I consider myself gifted in IT - not that I have any unusual ability in this area, but that I really enjoy learning something new about it. Whilst the not knowing can be frustrating sometimes the day I know everything I want to know would be a very sad one in many ways. For now I intend to make the most out of learning something new every day.

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[gbaughma]

I think that part of it comes with internal balance.

(disclosing personal information about myself... this isn't a debate, just sharing the inner person that is Greg)

When I was growing up, I used to "Pendulum" a lot. I was very intellegent, I was actually skipped over 4th grade (MISTAKE! Don't ever let them talk you into this as a parent for your kid....) but, anyway, I was highly intellegent, but had a low self-esteem. I would go back and forth between being an egotistical schmuck, then after getting "slapped down" by my peers, would swing the other way to a complete lack of self-confidence; to the point of being depressed.

I didn't *WANT* to excel in school, because then I was a nerd, brainiac, etc. Then, when I was in my "low" point, teachers and parents would start to build me up, until I went all ego again. It was a nasty cycle, and one that I'm sure I'm not alone in.

People now know that I can do pretty much anything with computers that they need done; but I temper that. I have had so many people say something to me like "I just feel so stupid" (when I'm working on their computer problem). I point out to them that everyone has their own specialty; mine happens to be computers, but I'm lucky to know where gas goes in a car. It always makes them smile a little, and makes me seem more human, and a little less aloof.

That balance isn't easy to reach; you have to be comfortable with your skillset and confident in your knowledge, but also realize that there are other people out there, whether they be doctors, mechanics, crafters, artist, who have an equal amount of intellegence and skill, just in a different area.

One of the mistakes that I see programmers make, especially, is that they are approached to do a project, then they develop what they *think* the users want. Then they roll it out, train, get feedback and complaints, adjust, or worse yet, *mandate* to the users that this is the "best way to do your job."

I am at the point in my job where the end users have come to me, with a rough drawing of a web page, and have said "Hey, if we had a page that looked like this, we could enter this and this and this, and a drop-down of clients here, etc. etc. and that would make our jobs easier!"

The great part about that situation is that the end users are already vested in it; they are looking forward to the product, there's minimal training required, and everyone is happy. A true "win-win" situation.

This scenario, of course, requires me to be approachable. If my door is shut, if I don't pay attention to someone coming into my office, then I am closing down that person. I'm being aloof again.

I heard of a manager who had a popcorn machine in his office. Everyone was encouraged to come in and get a bag of popcorn whenever they wanted it. I didn't quite go *that* far, but I order cases of gumballs, and keep them on my little conference table in my office. *Everyone* comes in and gets a gumball at some point in the day. Sure, a case of gumballs costs me about $40 (850 to a case), but everyone knows that my door is open, and they can come in any time. This has been great, because the conversation goes to anything from "Just popped in for a gumball! Which one is cherry?" to "Hey, working on anything new? Wow, I don't see how you can sit in here and write programs all day..." It's a great way to get folks to drop by. Then I can follow up on things as well, such as "Did you get your e-mail working OK?"

The majority of the people don't really know what I do; they don't realize that I monitor the backups, that I make sure the servers keep running (since we have redundant drives, power supplies, etc. any "outage" we have is usually totally transparent to the end users), fix PC's, keep inventory, and program. The switch from Access to SQL server went nearly invisibly to most users, other than them commenting "Boy, things seem faster for some reason..."

Find balance. Remember to ask questions; it empowers people when you say "How can I make your job easier? How can I reduce your paperwork?" It not only gives them the opportunity to explain their job to you (which puts a deposit in their emotional bank account), it gives you a better idea of how to streamline their process in a way that doesn't seem "mandated by the computer guy".



Just my 2¢
-Cole's Law: Shredded cabbage

--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[JCreamerII]

The thing about are business, is that it doesn't matter if you know the answers ( it's nice if you do ), but it's OK if you just know the questions, as long as you know where to get the answer from. Who knows all of the answers any more anyway. You know the stuff you bump into day to day, but there is always something new to play with, there is stuff you never get to play with.

Jim C.

 

[Ed2020]

Jim,

That's an excellent point. Being a good programmer (or analyst) is not about knowing how to do something, but knowing that it *can* be done. After that it is just a matter of finding out the "how".

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[Welshbird]

I second that. My aim is never to say "That can't be done" but instead to say "That sounds like a great idea. Leave it with me to do some research so I can try to come up with a plan."

Hence my signature I suppose.

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[SantaMufasa]

For Christmas, I have asked my wife to buy me a copy of "The Wisdom of the CajunCenturion". (I hope she doesn't go nuts trying to locate it.) But, again, the highest quality advice comes from that source.

His quote from Desiderata was precisely what I was going to post had he not. Hava

, CC!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> I hope she doesn't go nuts trying to locate it.

The hardest thing to find is that which does not exist.

--------------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read
FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[JCreamerII]

Or try to dig it out of your cranium.

Jim C.

 

[Dollie]

My two favorite quotes seem to apply to this thread, both from Theodore Roosevelt...

"Believe you can and you're halfway there."

and

"When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.

 

[JCreamerII]

I tell my kids that all the time, all you have to do is picture, want it, work for it. I started that along time ago, I told them when they see a person getting a athletic award, first place, most whatever, that person is probably the one who work the hardest to get that prize. Sometimes not, just talanted, but most of the time it's the one who put in the most work.

Jim C.