February 13, 2010 at 11:39 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Average Joe
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February 15, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Being "average" sometimes might just be a matter of circumstance or lack of enjoyment in the job. I venture to say that sometimes time plays an important factor on whether or not one can move up to beyond average. If the job is such that you are constantly fighting fires and just trying to stay afloat - it becomes very difficult to expend much more energy on some other "job" related task. The second part is whether or not the job is more than a paycheck. If the job is merely a paycheck - then average is good enough. You noted that some might due the essentials for a raise or bonus. I would dare say that, for some, the bare minimum is all that they want to do because the raise or bonus is not as important as the paycheck.
There are also other factors at play. It could be that being a DBA is work. Once one turns work into play (for example) - becoming more than average becomes very easy.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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February 16, 2010 at 2:33 am
Thanks for the article. 🙂
It is a sad fact that many people don't have clear career goals.
It is an even sadder fact that this is often the case because so many organisations have no ambitions for their staff, and manage them in terms of boxes and labels i.e. a staff member inhabits a box with a label on it describing what their functions are and no more. Woe upon any staff member who, in the parlance, think of life 'outside the box'.
It can be a difficult situation for people and organisations to break out of. Sometimes organisations can start to manage people by their skills, interests, and ambitions, with the result that both staff and the organisation flourish.
I believe it doesn't take much managerial ambition or imagination to get staff members to think about their goals, and how the process of achieving those goals can help the company. With some people, lacking (or lacking the confidence to articulate it) their own ambition and direction, a little nudge and confidence in them will help them achieve so much more.
Finally, as what goes around comes around. It always worth asking yourself how you can help others learn and getter better at what you do, perhaps freeing up your time from what you find easy, to learn from what others do (and find easy and boring) so you extend your skills.
February 16, 2010 at 3:50 am
Interesting article. I must admit I am very goal driven outside work, budgets and plans to a very fine degree. Never really thought about applying the same logic to my career. Much of my day is fire fighting. Working for a small developer doesn't offer prospects to climb the ladder and i'm happy with my 10 years here ... probably too comfortable. Career goals for me at this stage are probably more about getting professional qualifications rather than academic stuff done years ago. Persuading my employer and for funding has always been the sticking point. Would imagine professional qualifications would be helpful if i did have to find another job, should probably have a plan to do something.
February 16, 2010 at 4:13 am
One of the things that is emphasized in the culture of my employer is "Work harder on yourself than your job." They understand that the byproduct of doing that results in a better employee and higher quality results. I have seen it work and it is quite effective.
It is easy to get caught up in fire fighting on a daily basis; but no one is going to look out for you or your career but you. At the end of the day it is a choice. No one became CIO because they were an awesome fire fighter.
February 16, 2010 at 4:47 am
We have various Chief Execs in prominent companies here who, when interviewed and asked why they got to where they were, they stated it was the quality of the mentoring and professional training they received.
Of course for all of those types, there are an equal number who 'fought' their way to the top.
Seems there are many routes to success.
February 16, 2010 at 7:47 am
Nice article.....Interesting that I see this article today because just yesterday I was sitting at my desk and I decided I wanted to do the SQL Server Certification. I started doing database development/admin about three months now and there's soo much for me to learn and gain experience in, so I thought that would be a good route. Can anyone suggest any good books for SQL Server 2008 Certification?
February 16, 2010 at 10:06 am
There is a certification forum here that may be able to give good advice.
Generally the MS Press books covering an exam are a good place to start.
In addition, head over to Amazon and search for the relevant books (by exam number e.g. 70-433 etc.) and read the comments others have left.
Amazon also have the nice 'look inside' facility for some books so you get a feel for what they are covering.
Not sure the above wholly answers your question, but provides some good starting points.
February 16, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I would think that "being average" may be ok, in most cases. The PROBLEM is becoming "complacent" and unwilling (or inflexible) to handle the strange and unknown issues that pop up all the time. I may not have time to go back to school to further my "book learning" in SQL, but I certainly can take the time to do research on upgrading from 2005 to 2008, or learning how to begin using SSRS for that yahoo down in Accounting that wants to do his own reporting.
I also still go on trouble calls to offices outside of my own area, just so I can "keep my hand" in the process of resolving users issues. When I do these calls, I make sure to schmooze that user, questioning how things are, how's response time, any issues with new software, etc....even though desktop support is not my pervue. All of these things can contribute to being BETTER than average and hopefully the "service" that I and my department mates provide is always the best we can do. I sometimes end up with requests from users or department heads that "it sure would be nice if...." and I end up taking notes on something that has not bubbled up to the problem state yet, but has become important enough (or bothersome enough) that it gets mentioned. If it is something I can resolve, I advise that I can research the issue and get back to the user. If the issue is out of my area, I advise the user that I'll report the problem. That's being better than "average" in my book.
February 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm
... so few people are willing to take the time to actively improve their career and themselves.
I too think there really is a lack of career ambition out there. I want to quickly talk about the question of "why." Then I want to say that it's not necessarily a problem.
I think a clue to it is mentioned in Levitt and Dubner's new sequel to their quirky book Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics. Says the authors, the book might strike people as a strange hodge-podge of studies. But there is a cohesive theme. The theme is "People respond to incentives."
A short answer to the "why" question is that incentives aren't adequate to provoke a change in decisions.
For example, many workers are in a situation where compensation won't go up substantially without a job change - regarless of the amount of extra effort spent building skills and experience. In this situation, financial incentives may not feel immediate or direct enough for change to happen.
In the tech world, there are a variety of scenarios going on all at once. Some companies have a rough time holding onto the talent they need - and they must think actively about retention and incentives. Others can do without many retention strategies. So, some jobs are "designed" with more care than others.
As an aside, I'm amazed at the sheer number of "haphazard jobs" there are out there. Employers see that something needs to be done - and then they proceed to find someone to do it. The end.
In some cases, there's not a single thought going into it about the impact that job might have on the immortal soul of the worker doing it day in and day out. Some jobs are such that they'll shrivel down one's soul to the size of a parched pea in a week.
Remarkably, they still get filled - presumably by people with weak bargaining positions, are just starting out, who are down on their luck, who don't care, or what have you. Astounding.
One is often faced with the necessity when searching for opportunities to trudge through a lot of rubbish in order to find something reasonable and sustainable - even at highly-paid tech positions.
People don't like to complain - because presumably they're supposed to just find something else. Nobody likes a complainer, right? Well, complaint can invoke change. I think everyone is better off if more effort is put into designing good, sustainable jobs.
I personally like jobs where thought and care have gone into the design of it. I like to talk about these matters up-front, and then revisit it regularly - with tact.
That said, the lack of ambition isn't necessarily a problem. People are free to choose their own mix of investments. What might look like lack of ambition can actually be a conscious decision to focus energy elsewhere.
Then at times it is a problem for us all. For instance, there's an alarming increase in illiteracy in the US. That's not healthy for the economy. What's behind that?
Partially, I think it's the steep learning curve often involved in being apart of our economy - along with daunting, extended preparation requirements - mixed with the preference for "easy and sleazy" as opposed to long-term effort investments - mixed with self-doubt, fear, motivational problems and lack of confidence.
That's where a "community" can come in handy. A community can help people get past lack of confidence and motivation problems and some of these deeply human issues - can offer support to get past the learning curve. That's why I think it's rewarding to be involved in a community and to care about the quality of the community - like that of SQLServerCentral.com.
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February 16, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Thanks a lot Craig@Work! I'll be sure to check out the exam codes, a few Amazon books and also the forum here for that.
February 16, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Nelson, a great point. Being average, lacking talent, that's no excuse for complacency. You can continue to learn more and get better at your job, even if you aren't a superstar.
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February 16, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Bill,
Nicely put, and I think one of the issues is that we hire people, and many people are satisfied with a Jay-Oh-Bee: a job. They want to go to work in their factory of IT, not think too hard, not innovate, just get through, get paid, and then pay their bills.
There's a lack of people ascribing to a career, or maybe they get beaten down because the end up with jobs instead of careers.
I think a lot of it is attitude. You take the positive outlook, embrace challenges, and try to do a little better. Not complain a lot, not worry about making an impact, but appreciating that you do a good day's work, you get paid, and you do it a little better each day or week.
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February 17, 2010 at 3:21 am
Indeed plenty of people will put huge amount of energy into other things ... family, children, social activities, community activities, and these will have a profound affect on their career choices.
Yes, often environments fail to incentivise people correctly, and if care is taken in providing the right environment, then people and the organisation magically flourish.
Another observable state relates to one of those slightly dodgy 1950's social phsychology experiments, where there were two groups of dogs. Groupd A got put in a cage with an escape route, and given electric shocks. Group B first got put in a cage with no escape route, and given electric schocks. After while dogs in group B gave up trying to escape (while those in group A always did), and were then put in other cages with an escape route and given more shocks.
Sadly, the dogs in group B were so depressed by this time, having 'learned helplessness', that the just lay down and didn't try to escape.
The above 'textbook' experiment obviously has a fairly straight read across as to why so many people end up failing to improve their circumstances, even when to external observers there are obvious things that can be done to improve their situation.
Within many organisations/environments, it does seem that regardless of how hard people strive to improve things, it doesn't lead to radical change (there is a literature out there concerning the modern corporation as 'psychopath'), and this then leads to 'learned helplessness' within the organisation.
So the moral is, a little tlc and group hugs all round will make the world a better place 🙂 (and be nice to your pets)
February 17, 2010 at 9:44 am
There are a host of excuses for being below average at a job. I've heard quite a few of them over the years.
99.9% of those excuses are pure BS.
Don't have good promotional opportunities at the company you're at? Then get off your butt and get great at what you do, then look for another company. They'll be glad to have you then! Why would that other company want to hire someone who just sat on their butt and never learned anything?
Local user groups are composed of 1% of the IT professionals in an area, tops. Why? Because most people are too lazy to get off their butts and go learn something.
That's the same reason why most IT folks rarely buy a new book or journal, and certainly never read one if they can help it.
They want their employer to invest in them. That's a plan that's doomed to fail most of the time. Employers only invest in things that are expected to produce a profit. IT staff are, for most businesses, cost centers, not profit centers.
Everyone can find 1/2 hour a day to learn more about their craft. No BS excuses! EVERYONE can do this. Over the course of a year it's amazing what someone can learn in 1/2 hour a day if they put their mind to it.
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