Young people in tech today are eager and most of them think that they “rule”, but the truth is the oldsters still have an edge in the show.
This is because hard-earned lessons provide wisdom to distinguish between fantasy and reality, and the determination to do what’s necessary and not just what’s fun or cool.
So many programmers thinks that coding is everything, but later finds out that there is more to the world of IT than coding.
Let’s take a look at some hard-earned lessons (from the oldsters) every IT person should know:
- 1. Fundamentals of Technology
Success in IT means keeping on top of new developments as they evolve, but it’s unnecessary to learn everything – it’s impossible. Therefore concentrate on the fundamentals, these will serve you better than detailed knowledge.
- 2. Marketing Is not Evil
When you communicate the value of your work to employers, clients, or coworkers, you are doing the work of marketing. Having an understanding of marketing will be far more valuable than fluency in any programming language. It improves your writing skills and helps you sell your work so easily.
- 3. Learn the Difference Between Opportunity and Distraction
Opportunities are everywhere, likewise distractions. To an IT pro, technology can be seductive, especially new technology. But this can serve as a distraction. It’s better to re-invent a past knowledge than to explore new ones when not necessary.
- 4. No Contract, No Job
Most employers or clients have occasional payment hiccups, never start a work without a deposit. Make sure u sign a contract with your client before picking up the job.
- 5. MBAs know what’s is best— for themselves but not for you
Don’t let your success depend on empty suits, empty promises or cunning salesman. You may think that anyone with a higher degree wearing suit knows what’s best, they do — for themselves, not for you.
- 6. Recognize the patterns before they bite you
Many decisions made by executives of an organization can be accidentally, or for bizarre reasons that have nothing to do with the problem, the solution, logic, technology, economics, or you. Don’t take it personally, but if you detect a consistent pattern of poor leadership, questionable choices, or shortchanging IT input, then get out of there quickly.
When a company rarely has a fallback plan to their challenges, then it’s high time to have a plan B of your own.
- 7. Relational database normalization will teach you clarity and economy of thought
This topic teaches you foundational design philosophy for structuring information, recognizing patterns and identifying dependencies.
The point is not to know how to normalize poorly structured database tables (which is what most college teaches); the point is to learn to quickly identify entities and relationships and to think and design in minimal non-redundant structures.
- 8. Get your head out of Tech (to be truly inspired)
If you really want to be inspired, try to keep aside your machines. it helps one to get a good inspiration and insight to what needs to be done.
Also reading is essential here, not just tech news and nerd magazines. Business, finance, non-fiction, biographies – your mind always expands when you expand your sphere of knowledge.
Reading also helps you to learn to organize your work, present your ideas, express your thoughts clearly and observe and improve yourself in the workplace.
- 9. Let your Eyes wander
Don’t let yourself get pigeonholed or buried on a projects for more than few months, otherwise, when you resurface, the tech world will have changed.
The IT field is vast, look outside your current job once a while to stave off boredom and ossification.
- 10. IT is more about people than you think
Tools come and go, but people stick. In fact, contrary to what you might think, people are the most important aspect of IT work.
The thrill of writing code to solve a problem is addictive, but short-lived. The satisfaction from making life better for the people who use your software is much more powerful and lasts longer. Relate more with people around you, listen to them and always appreciate them. It pays more than just concentrating on developing software
I hope you find this information useful. Cheers
