Category Archives: Training

Are you more professional than my grandfather?

Posted on September 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

My grandfather was a modern farmer in 1930.  Stubborn too.  The local farm bureau agent came by and said, “The government will pay you to rotate your crops.”  Grandpa replied, “That is the stupidest thing I ever heard.  I already rotate my crops because I can grow more that way.  My land doesn’t get worn out.  It gets renewed.”

Grandpa was stubborn and wouldn’t take the government’s money to do something he knew he should already be doing.  The guys from the conservation bureau had problems with him.  He always implemented the latest ideas without waiting for them to come up with a program to get him to do it.  Crazy old coot?  Well, really he was a visionary farmer.

Do you have to be paid to prepare yourself to earn more money? 

Reading trade magazines and books is the best way to keep current in your field.  College courses in the evening are a great way to build the basics you need for a foundation for growth.  Enthusiasm will get you into seminars and conventions.  Pay for it yourself if you have to.  It is worth it.

Try to be a better professional than my crazy, successful grandfather.

Something to do today

Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?”  Try it today.

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Next:     Foreigners stealing jobs

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Picking up a hundred dollar can halt your career

Posted on September 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Do you pick up money you see on the ground?  Do you stop your career in order to do a menial project or take a job someone else should do?

Bending over to pick up a hundred dollar bill is a bad investment of your time if you are Bill Gates.  He has averaged earning more than that every two seconds since Microsoft started.  I did the math.

Bill Gates has focused his career on multiplying his effectiveness.  He has focused on using internal and external resources to dominate the computer industry.  Microsoft did not create the PC operating system they sold to IBM.  They sold IBM something they didn’t own, but had negotiated a right to buy.  Bill Gates saw an opportunity and ran to make it happen. He passed up other opportunities to make that happen.  That is the way Microsoft has grown — a little internal innovation and a lot of focus on using other’s ideas. The most important ideas he could find.

Can you figure out where the biggest changes are happening?

If you focus on the innovations happening around you it can change your career.  When an idea, technology or procedure is new, it takes a week to become an expert.  A year later it takes a year to become an expert.

I became a database expert in a week when Oracle 1.0 came out.  I talked my boss into springing for $100 to get a copy.  I parlayed that into becoming a DB2 guru by buying a book.  One book.  I became a data modeling expert because no one else had a clue what that was.  One innovation led to another, and my bosses had no desire to stop me.  All the industry magazines and experts were using the buzzwords I could implement.  I was on the leading edge.  I was riding the wave of innovation. Every career progression was caused by taking 2 weeks to prepare for an upcoming, essential, mystifying technology.

Do like Bill Gates and I did. Do a little internal innovation and focus on using other’s ideas and new technology.  It is always easier to become an expert when technology and techniques are new.  What is new in your field?

Something to do today

Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?”  Figure out what the buzzwords are that people are barely starting to define in your field.

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Tomorrow:     Grandpa rotated crops for free

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Posted in Focus, talent, Time management, Training

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Fingerprint locks and getting hired

Posted on September 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship…the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.  (Peter Drucker)

I saw another ad for a notebook computer with a fingerprint reader.  I want one.  It is so cool.  You just draw your finger over the reader and it unlocks the screen because it knows who you are.  Talk about geek chic technology.  I gotta have one. I will have a computer that only responds to me.

You need to be unique, like that computer.  Every year thousands of people get great new jobs with massive pay raises because they have learned something new and exciting.  I know average programmers who are earning $120,000 per year.  They learned the latest technology, SAP, Oracle Financials, or neural decision software.  They have been riding the gravy train for 3 or 4 years.  Accountants that can implement new systems are still worth their weight in gold. Today I am searching for just such a person for my client.

What is it that you can do to set yourself distinctly apart?  Is there an innovation rearing its head in your field?  Even help desk techs can earn $90,000 per year if they find the right niche.  You have to innovate.  Become different.  Be a rare breed.

That fingerprint lock sold thousands of laptops to geeks like me.  New technology, techniques, and skills can sell CEO’s and managers on your value.

What can you learn today?

Something to do today

The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field.”  Try it today.

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Tomorrow: Picking up a hundred dollar bill

Grandpa rotated crops for free

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Posted in Accomplishments, Focus, talent, Training

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You against the hiring manager

Posted on August 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Buzzards circle overhead. Struggling across the desert mile after mile, a hiring manager finally can walk no further.  He starts to crawl.  A candidate drives up in a jeep with 100 gallons of water.  He offers the hiring manager a ride to a hotel and all the water he can drink if he’ll split the cost of gas.  The hiring manager says, “I’ll only pay you for the water.  You are going that direction anyway.”  The candidate shakes his head and drives off.

Everyone wants a bargain. It is just a fact of life that candidates want more money and hiring managers want to pay less.  Your lifestyle is affected if you earn less.  So is the lifestyle of the hiring manager.  Managers are evaluated based on overhead.  Even if they are rewarded on output, they want to cut overhead. It is their nature.

There is no magic chart that tells what you should be paid as an employee.  I know one programmer who got a 40% raise when he finally realized he was worth more.  He went to his manager and said, “Everyone else on my team is earning $50,000 per year.  I’m better than most.  Why am I earning so little?”  What bothers me the most is that the manager and the employee felt good about the raise.  How about a bonus to make up for the previous years?

Even if you are the only person in the country who can save his company, the owner is going to look for a bargain.  They just do.  In the same vein, you will want a raise immediately after finishing training the company pays for. For some reason, a man dying of thirst still wants a bargain on a bottle of water. That’s why you have to be worth 10 times as much to be paid 2 or 3 times as much.  (That was yesterday’s lesson.)

Something To Do Today

Think about your job search. Just think.  And then take notes about your conclusions.

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For 2 weeks: Zen and the art of getting a job

Tomorrow:     Perception really is everything

Later:              Character counts

Diamonds in the rough

Cleat marks up your back

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Promotions, talent, Training

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Upgrade your career – make a silk purse out of a buggy whip

Posted on August 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

Do you want to make buggy whips? A lot of them are sold here in Amish country.  Just don’t expect to get rich making them.

An hour ago I talked to a very good programmer whose skills are hopelessly out of date.  She was hoping to get a job as an intern so she could upgrade her skills.  She has only one problem in her job search:

  • Only antique collectors say, “I like things that are outdated, frustrating, inefficient, and dangerous.”

Luckily she knew she might only be hired as an intern.  Some people think that they should be hired as rocket scientists even though they have outdated skills. Seriously.  I have people severely infected with archaic abilities approach me every week. They freely admit their problem and then tell me they deserve a great job, a raise and happiness without their own effort.

Bosses want to hire the best people they can.  They aren’t social workers.  Some companies train the people they hire, but they are going to try and hire the best worker who needs the least training.  It is pure common sense:  they hire the best person.

If you are a master of buggy whip technology, don’t expect a job at NASA.  There will always be a few buggy whip makers scraping by, but you won’t get rich working for them.  Invest in yourself. Get the updated skills you need to be employable.  Get out of the buggy whip age and into the computer age.  Leave the stone arrowhead tools behind and become an engineer.  Learn to be an expert.

That means you need to invest in yourself.  It may be as simple as asking your boss for training. More likely you will have to study on your own. Read a new technical, sales or business book each month.  Subscribe to journals and websites about what you do. There are community and online colleges that you can use to get a degree or advanced training.

You can’t make a silk purse out of a buggy whip. But with time and patience you can turn a mulberry leaf into a silk purse.  It takes specialized knowledge and a silk worm.  Learn the specialized knowledge you need for your job.  Go make a silk purse.

Something To Do Today

Think about your job search. Just think.  And then take notes about your conclusions.

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For 2 weeks: Zen and the art of getting a job

Tomorrow:     Why you aren’t paid what you are worth

Later:              A man dying of thirst

Perception

Character

Diamond in the rough

Cleat marks up your back

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Posted in Finding jobs, talent, Training

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Should you spend money on training?

Posted on August 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

Greatness is more than potential.  It is the execution of that potential.  Beyond the raw talent.  You need the appropriate training.  You need discipline.  You need the inspiration. You need the drive.  (Eric Burns)

Employers should pay for training for their employees.  The employers get the benefit of employees being trained so it is only fair employers pay.

That’s true except for one thing, you can leave tomorrow.  They cannot clean the training out of your brain and put it into someone else’s brain.  The fact that employers EVER pay for training is a tribute to their vision for the future.

I hear the excuse, “My employer should pay me to learn”, every week.  Many people won’t buy a book about their job. They won’t spend 2 hours a night studying for 3 months to pass a certification exam.  Some won’t even stay late at the company training center because they aren’t being paid to learn. There are many short sighted people.

When you get trained you have bettered yourself for the rest of your life. When you get a new job you get paid to keep your skills and your old employer loses out.  If you are in a hurricane and lose your house, computer and car, you get to keep your skills.  How much did you spend on your car and how much did you spend on your skills?  What will your car be worth in 10 years? It really does make sense to invest in your skills and knowledge. There is very little else that someone can’t take away from you.

Financial counselors say, “Pay yourself first.”  Make that first payment into your skills.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of certifications, books, courses and seminars that would help you stay ahead of the gang in your field.  Why not start on one of them today?

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Tomorrow:     Make a game out of it

Later:              Before you know it

Who is driving?

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Posted in Attitude, talent, Training

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3 ways to re-enter the workforce, 1 is reliable

Posted on August 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

America’s greatest strength, and its greatest weakness, is our belief in second chances, our belief that we can always start over, that things can be made better. (Anthony Walton)

The most common scenario:

“I took 4 years off and started a business. It has been fun, but I want to get back into a real job. I programmed on the old mainframe computers.  I don’t want to spend my money getting training. What do I do?”

Two people called me with this basic question last week.  There are three things you can do:

  1. Keep looking for work until someone retires where they desperately need your skills and then hope you get lucky and get the job when 100 qualified people apply.
  2. Start a new career as a beginner at unskilled labor wages and learn on the job.
  3. Pay for your own training.

People are successful at all three every day. I help people do all three as a recruiter.

Financially, #3 is the best investment of your time and money.  You will earn much more over the next 10 years doing #3.

People do #2 all the time, but it takes a few years more to get to the earning level a person with training is at right away.  It really is a good option if you don’t mind taking the extra time to get there.

I know people who are still programming in computer languages that were abandoned 20 years ago.  Others are running mainframe computers that are 30 years old.  They have good reputations and keep in touch with 20 or 30 companies that occasionally need their skills.  #1 is definitely a viable option if you work at marketing yourself.

3 ways to re-enter the workforce.  You can do whichever makes the most sense to you.

Something To Do Today

Write a plan.  What would you do if you were struck down with an illness and completely recovered in 3 years?

It’s the end of the month.  Have you written and handed in your monthly list of accomplishments and projects?  Do you have a copy in your job journal?

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Tomorrow:           I don’t want to spend my money on training

Later:                    Make a game out of it

Before you know it

Who is driving?

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Posted in Finding jobs, Training

10 ways to prove you are a fast learner

Posted on August 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

“I know I haven’t done that job before, but I’m a really fast learner”, so the applicant says.  Then I read the resume and can see nothing to back up their claim.  They have a “C” average in school, worked at a manual labor job and their hobby is woodworking.

I tell them, “Prove to me that you are a fast learner.”

Few have thought of how to prove it.  I ask more questions and try to find out if the person is a fast learner. I ask questions like:

   What do you learn quickly?

   Do others come to you for help with a particular kind of problem?

   What do you excel at?

   What projects did you lead?

   Are you particularly good or renowned at your hobby?

   Which were your best school classes or subjects?

   Who were you favorite teachers or supervisors and why?

   What have you written about?

   When have you won a contest?

   What do you do that causes you to lose all track of time?

Those questions can lead to a list of proofs of fast learning, or not.  If you are a fast learner, prove it on your resume with your accomplishments.

To be honest, being a FAST learner is less important than being a steady learner.  If you pick up new skills and apply them regularly, you can get farther than someone who is occasionally brilliant but lazy.  Employers respect someone who is a consistent learner and worker.

Show consistent learning and how you picked up new skills every year and that is enough. Prove it with new accomplishments on your resume, and I’ll think you are a fast learner.

Something To Do Today

For some reason many people don’t think what they learned is important.  Keep track of new skills you learn so you can brag about them. Prove how fast you can learn.

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Monday:           Re-entering the workforce

Later:                 I don’t want to spend my money on training

Make a game out of it

Before you know it

Who is driving?

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Interviews, Promotions, talent, Time management, Training

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The most important thing to say to get a promotion

Posted on August 2, 2012 | Leave a comment

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell ‘em, “Certainly I can!” Then get busy and find out how to do it. (Theodore Roosevelt)

 Certainly I can! What an inspiring phrase.

My story:

Microfocus COBOL was a total unknown.  It had been used to program a small but critical insurance application two years before.  The manager of 70 people asked among his employees for a volunteer to fix it. No one stepped up. Finally he asked if anyone else could do it.  I replied, “I can learn how.”  I wasn’t an employee.  I was an expensive contract programmer being paid to do something else.  He gave me the assignment and I learned a new skill.  It was interesting that as I worked on it some of the employees who didn’t volunteer came by and told me how lucky I was to know those skills.

If you look at real leaders, technical, managerial, and sales leaders, you will find that they volunteer for difficult projects.  They hear about a problem or project and ask themselves, “Can I learn how to do that?” They lobby for the chance to take on significant problems that will have a big payback for the company.  They often find and solve serious problems no one else could even bring themselves to admit.  Then those leaders take appropriate credit for their personal learning and growth, and they are given more chances to solve difficult problems.

“Certainly I can” is a critical phrase in a leader’s vocabulary.  It isn’t a matter of being able to do the impossible this second.  It is knowing that given time and appropriate resources the problem can be solved and I can do it.

Something To Do Today

Look for problems.  Look for screw ups.  Listen for moaning, whining and complaining.  Make lists of all the difficulties you can find.  Decide which of them will have the biggest payback for the company.  Tell the right person, “I can fix that”, and watch what happens.

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Tomorrow:     But I’m a really fast learner

Later:              Re-entering the workforce

I don’t want to spend my money on training

Make a game out of it

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Perseverance, talent, Training

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How to become CIO and some obstacles you’ll overcome

Posted on July 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

Do you want to become CIO?  There are things you can do whether you are tech savvy from operations or a tech guru from the IT team.  In either case, you have to overcome some pretty big obstacles.

This story has the obstacles and the solutions.  And it isn’t a long read.

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Posted in Attitude, Finding jobs, Focus, Networking, Perseverance, Promotions, talent, Training