Part 4: A Progressive Career in IT
The most fitting way to bring this series to a close is ironically the discussion of patience. I would like to thank all those who have been patient for the past four months as you read and followed this series of articles. The entire series has been possible by Careers In Government (CIG) who so graciously published each of these articles. It is also because of this organization that you will be able to review the entire series under the Author Archive section of their website.
In the fourth and final part to this series, I will answer the fourth most common question asked of me, “how do I get to where you are in your career” by covering what a progressive IT career looks like. As I have stated many times, I have had the good fortune to work alongside many successful IT professionals, several who are much further along in their careers than I am today. I also write with the experience of progressing in my own career, sometimes very rapidly, for close to 16 years now. I must admit that I almost never share my age with anyone in my professional dealings nor should anyone have to, but there is a point here. I am asked the question aforementioned more often by those who muster the courage to ask the question for whatever reason. The question I have found comes out of somewhat of a shock once my response is given as I am told I am fairly young to have already reached the position of Chief Information Officer. Please understand I do not share this boastfully but rather take it as a compliment and wish to share how I believe this is possible despite what may be “the norm.”
Quite frankly, the answer to why I believe this is possible was the very purpose of this series – so please go back and read the previous articles if you have not done so already. To get to the point though, let me provide what I term as the three P’s of progressing in your IT career of choice: Passion, Persistence, and Patience.
Passion
In the end, it is all about how passionate you are in what you are trying to achieve. Without passion, the path is nothing more than a half-hearted attempt to reach an undesired destination. Without passion, you should prepare yourself in advance to land in the “stuck” position. This is the position where you are employed in a “job” like millions of others who are passionate about one thing; celebrating hump day. Passion is what will see you through in the face of every door that shuts in your face until you eventually find the one standing wide open. Passion is what those that came before you can so plainly see and why they will ultimately choose to invest in your life as a mentor.
Persistence
Passion, as you might have guessed, is how you will remain persistent in reaching your goal(s). Persistence is every bit of what it will take to progress at the pace you desire while growing as a professional. The persistent sales professional knocks on every door in the neighborhood until they reach that one sale needed for the day. Persistence is refusing to buy into what others say cannot be accomplished.
Patience
Setting aggressive goals with determination is a must but unrealistic expectations can eventually lead to unhealthy frustration. Nobody starts at the top in their career any more than one can achieve the climb without beginning at the base of the mountain. Without guidance and mentoring, one can quickly get caught up into the hype (as I did) and believe that immediately following college or obtaining that one certification will immediately equate to the professional and financial position that took others years to achieve. Make no mistake, the pace and definition of success is largely dependent upon the individual and therefore can vary greatly. As my grandmother once told me when I began a family of my own, “you can’t expect to have all the things it took me and your grandfather a lifetime to get.” My grandmother was attempting to explain to me the meaning of contentment and patience speaking out of experience that I would not come to appreciate until years later. The point being that whatever role you seek whether CIO, CEO, Director, Senior Level Engineer, or any other position will only come with time, experience, and actually crawling before you walk. I will close with this story:
About four years into my career, a fellow employee who at the time worked on one of the assembly lines for our company approached me one day while in passing. In a half-way joking tone they stated, “There goes big money, it must be nice making all that money working on computers while we sweat it out on the floor.” At the time I was a salaried employee in the role of Network Support. Not wanting to waste the opportunity and fully understanding the individual’s circumstance, I kindly responded that, “Nothing in my life fell in my lap. I sacrificed to attend college full-time while working full-time and starting a family; all of which was nowhere close to being easy. But I made a decision and followed a plan to reach my own personal goals all of which I believe anyone is capable of. In fact, this company actually pays tuition cost for employees and anyone could and should take advantage of this. If you do so, within a few years you would also be able to reach the opportunity you so desire.”
I left the company about six months later and cannot attest to whether the individual took my advice. But nothing in this life will ever come easy or even be worth doing if great sacrifice is not required to achieve it.
I sincerely hope this series has proven helpful to you the reader. Never give up on your goals, aspirations, or dreams no matter what anyone tells you. As Zig Ziglar said, “If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”
