This is the 361st article in the Spotlight on IT series. If you'd be interested in writing a post on the subject of best practices, security, networking, backup, storage, virtualization, or MSPs for the series, PM Eric to get started.

You’ll see many folks new to IT asking for career advice in the Spiceworks Community around certifications or education to advance in the field. Now, I don't claim to be a career or IT guru — I'm just a guy in the trenches — but looking back on my own time in IT so far, there are a few things I’ve learned that I wish I’d known when I first got started...

1. Realize work-life balance does not exist.

This isn't so much about getting ahead in your career as it's a reminder about what really is the most important thing in your life. I don't know how this idea got started, but there really is no such thing as a “work-life balance” for most of us.

Balance by its very definition is a state of equilibrium. The amount of time and effort you spend on your home and work life are likely never going to be in equilibrium. There will be times in your career where a server goes down and you may miss little Timmy's birthday. On the other side of the coin, there may be a time when little Sally breaks her arm and you miss a career-enhancing project. Things might not equal out; it’s rarely fair. Give your job the amount of time and effort it needs. Know when to say yes — but learn to say no.

Give your family everything you can in terms of your time and attention. I know many seasoned IT vets reading this have experienced the pull of the career. Many of us have lost families to career and live with lifelong regrets. This is not a club you want to join. Work hard for your family, but work hard at investing in your family too.

2. Know when to keep your mouth shut (and when to open it).

These two go hand in hand. In the Army we used to say, "If you can't dazzle 'em with knowledge, just baffle 'em with BS." I don't know why we thought that was a workable solution to anything, but it definitely doesn't work in IT. If you don't know, don't fake it.

There's something to be said for keeping your mouth shut if you don't know how to do something, and then researching/figuring it out and making it happen when you have a chance. That’s not what I'm talking about. If you try to bluff your way through a conversation with other professionals, they’ll smell a fake. Even if they don't have a strong background in IT, they may have spent a career working with people who have. Be humble. It’s an attractive quality. If you don’t know, admit it — then figure it out.

Of course, being competent is attractive too — especially to a promoting or hiring manager. Know your area of expertise inside and out. Then learn about areas where your expertise intersects with other areas in your organization. IT leaders are those who understand the mechanics of a system AND how to apply various functions of systems they control to carry out the organizational mission.

3. Quit trying.

To quote a little guy from some obscure movie: “Do or do not. There is no try.” Make things happen. If you can come to work, see what needs to be done and make it happen, people will take notice.

As an IT pro, you likely have two sets of tasks: day-to-day tasks (e.g., help desk tickets, break/fix items) and potentially career-enhancing projects. The day-to-day things can clog the path to completion of career enhancers. So, use the 80/20 principle to your advantage. As early in your day as you can, do 20% of the things that will make 80% of the impact on your projects and goals (not your day-to-day tasks).

4. Avoid the tower of technobabble.

Learn to communicate. (Yeah, I know… This advice is so overused and tired that I considered not even addressing it, but it really is imperative in a career.)

You’re an IT pro. You can spout off system specs like fireworks. The problem is you may be speaking tech to “normal” people who don’t understand technobabble. They’re busy speaking their own language, so learn to speak that! When dealing with your sales and marketing team, don't talk about system or project specs. They don't care about the features. They want to understand the “benefits” of the features or solution you’re pushing. They sell all day long, and they sell benefits not features. They may not know specs, but they understand benefits.

Speaking of speaking… Want to advance your career? Learn to speak finance. When pushing a project to your superiors, you need to be comfortable talking about the ROI or Internal Rate of Return. What is the net present value of the new VM or CRM system you want to deploy? Don't know? Your project could be dead before you finish asking for approval.

5. Own your mistakes: Make them where you can, but avoid them where you should.

You know what they say about excuses... It’s rare that people will make a mistake and own it. Being accountable for your actions is a huge part of being a healthy adult. Do it. “It isn't my teammate’s, my boss's or the system's fault. It's mine.” Accept it gracefully, learn from it and move on.

If you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably playing it too safe, and your risk-reward payoff may be too low. (The flip side is that you need to follow procedure if you’re building something scalable or are dealing with something impacting compliance. You don't want to break laws or fail an audit because of taking a risk.)

6. Soft skills: Be human and maintain your network.

We work in tech, but people matter. You know that cat lady in HR who always smells like tuna and can't save a file to the proper directory if her life depended on it? She matters. The CEO who may be the most arrogant (or most humble) person you’ve ever met? He matters.

As an IT pro, we may often take comfort in the idea that we’re the chosen few who know how to scale empires. We can hammer away for hours at building networks and infrastructures, but it’s easy for us to forget that business is about people. You may need to keep busy to keep up with the latest technological advances, but be open to slowing down for the never-changing human needs.

That HR woman, the janitor, the CEO and you all have at least one thing in common: you all want to be accepted. We all need to know that we matter. It may sound mushy, but if you’re genuine in filling that want and need in others, they’ll go out of their way for you. They’ll recommend you, promote you or be there for you when you need it.

People matter, and that’s why it’s also important to maintain your network — and I don’t mean the wired variety. I’ve often let relationships die when someone moves to another company; I realize now how foolish this was. People who move to different organizations who already know, like and trust you are your foot in the door to a new opportunity.

Be genuine. Be human. Be there... and by large, people will be there for you too.

As a slightly related side note: Establish good working relationships with your vendors early on. They can be an incredible source of consulting when you need subject matter experts and can be the conduit to a better solution than you originally thought of. If you ever leave one company for another, it really helps having a list of trusted people to call on when you need it.

7. Invest in the community (and yourself).



This is where we start to point back at Spiceworks. Spiceworks can help your career. You have skills, knowledge and abilities that I don't have. Share them. You have points and opinions. Share them. (Seriously, the reply button is right down there!) If you're reading this, you're a valuable part of this community. Lurkers are welcome; contributors are loved. Investing the time to answer questions and make posts is an investment in which you are enriching the lives of the worldwide community we have here. In doing so, you’re also making a name for yourself. It could be that someone here connects with you and offers a job. Maybe not... but maybe. I’ve seen it.

But It doesn’t have to be Spiceworks. Ideally, you would give to your own community (the one outside your door) in whatever fashion you see fit. Returning to the importance of being human mentioned above, the point is not to schmooze or manipulate — sincerity is key. But people do business with other people they know, like and trust. Being part of a community builds trust and allows you to be known while you are serving your community.

Last but not least, it’s also important to invest in yourself — financially. You’ve probably heard it time and time again, but retirement is closer than you think. Put away for it now, regardless of your income level, even if you have to start with a dollar a paycheck and increase slowly over time. I didn’t realize the power of compound interest and always thought I didn’t make enough to save, which later proved to be a costly mistake.﻿﻿

8. Document your accomplishments.

Maintain a list of your accomplishments and include dates and specific metrics if possible. This not only helps if you have an annual review, but it helps to tailor a résumé or CV. Memory may fail, but a well-kept accomplishments list can help propel you forward.

Were you part of an exploratory committee? Add it to your list. Assisted with a project? Add it to your list. Make a recurring appointment on your calendar to check your list once a month. You won't be sorry.

Spiceworks can help your career here too. We can document projects with pictures, graphs, summaries and explanations. (Personally speaking, this is something on my to-do list.) Take advantage of it. Consider adding a link to your profile on your résumé﻿. Add it to LinkedIn. Add it to your email signature... (OK, maybe that's too much.)

Another way Spiceworks can help your career is that you can use custom attributes in help desk tickets and run reports to gather metrics for your accomplishments list and year end reviews. For instance, I include three attributes (among others) that can be applied to a helpdesk ticket. They are “SOC 1 audit,” “Purchasing,” and “VPN/Password reset.” If I want to know how many hours I spent on any one of those categories, I can create a report to find out.

Tip: Managers and auditors love system-generated reports. So document those tickets and add your time! Once it is on a ticket, it's gospel.﻿

9. Education and specialization: Jack of all trades or master of one?

When you’re starting out in IT (and even later) it’s easy to glamorize the jack of all trades in the IT world. "Wow, that guy can do just about everything!" The problem is that so can a thousand other guys. Besides, let’s remember the second half of that: “Jack of all trades, master of none.” ﻿The jack of all trades is often a dime a dozen.

If you want to earn more money more quickly, specialize. If you look at the field of potential employees as a pyramid, the base and middle are filled with people who can do a little bit of everything. The people at the top of the pay structure are those who can do things others cannot. The more you specialize, the higher dollar figure you can command.

Don't get me wrong. I’m not saying that experience doesn't count — quite the opposite. I’m willing to bet that when I called the jack of all trades a dime a dozen, your mind immediately went to someone you know who is successful and knows a little (or a lot) about every single bit of technology, new or antiquated. This person may be a jack of all trades, but they've likely put time in the trenches and know what they're doing. They can apply soft skills and politics to their careers and are doing well. I’m not talking about that crowd. I'm referring to the new class of IT folks who are young or early in a new field — those who want to distinguish themselves from their peers early on.

Related to that, education is a hot topic in any IT forum. "Should I get a degree in computer science or in managing information systems?" To me, here's the secret: Unless you have a very specific career plan, it may not really matter. Even when you do have a specific career plan, things rarely go as planned. Still, I'd recommend getting an education if you can. Your integrity and your education are two things that people can't take away from you. Though it may make it easier for you to be considered for positions that folks without that paper can't apply for﻿, don't assume some time in the classroom is going to make you a great IT person.

Can you go far in IT without an education? Absolutely! But that's not the point. Get or finish your education.﻿

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﻿IT pros new and old, what do you think? What are some bits of IT wisdom you wish you would have known at the start of your career?﻿ I'd love to see where this discussion goes and glean from your experiences.﻿ Chime in below!