IT Career Development

This is about being purposeful about your career’s projected path.

Transcript

1. IT Career Planning VERSION 1.0 BY JOHN MARCELLUS
2. A little about myself  About Me  My name is John Marcellus. I was raised in the pre and post digital age, I am a person who loves his records while chatting on Slack on the weekend with my friends about new Open Source Infrastructure ideas. I am a happily married father of some awesome boys and love all things computers. I actively mentor people inside and outside the Information Technology bubble and genuinely enjoy investing in others as I can.  Connect with me on LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmarcellus1999/  Connect with me on Twitter  https://twitter.com/JNMarcellus  Connect with me on Github  https://github.com/jnmarcellus
3. Training/Discussions  If you are interested in having me talk or host a webinar for a group/team/organization, I am glad to assist. I would be glad to volunteer my time as it allows to assist, feel free to reach out to me via Twitter or LinkedIn.  I have been actively mentoring locally and remotely for several years now and really enjoy helping others. If this helped you, tag me on Twitter as I would love to connect and hear about your story.
4. Mentoring Concept  This document is written to be more of an instruction manual for your career, here are just a quick couple notes on the concept  You will layout your Goals Roadmap for the next 10+ years  In the beginning you will be updating this document quite frequently  After year one you will be coming back each quarter to ensure that you are tracking with your own expectations  This is a living document, which means it is meant to hold your information as you move forward  Push yourself but also forgive yourself if you don’t hit your goals, get back up and re-baseline your expectations on the goal and keep going!
5. Introduction  A little about myself, I am an IT Leader who enjoys helping those around me grow in their careers. I have had the best mentors over the years who have really shaped how I think and I think this method really came about through the mentoring I received. Full disclaimer and disclosure: This is definitely a work in progress and this document will read more like an instruction manual rather than a conceptual idea. More than likely if you are reading this document you are lost on how to move in to Information Technology, move up the ranks, or figure out where the heck you are in the first place. First off, be proud of yourself for trying to take control of your career. Secondly, feel free to contact me with questions, I love helping. Thirdly, I am not a writer and this document will show. Think of it more of a manual of a person who discovered an island and drew a map with landmarks.
6. How do you promote  First off, you are going to be your best promoter by trying to be the best you can be in your field. Once you begin to focus and train yourself, you will be actively sought after rather than the seeker.  What I like to tell people in IT in the current environment of IT, in order to promote you must escape the gravity well of your own career. You must learn to jump diagonally. Curtesy of Wikipedia I have placed a picture of what a gravity well looks like in this explanation. What is a gravity well you ask? A gravity well is the pull of gravity that a large body in space exerts. The larger the body (the more mass) the more of a gravity well it has. Your career as you continue to work in develops its own well of gravity to it, the only true way to escape the influence that gravity has is by being purposeful and planning. Sometimes luck works in our favor as well but is not something we can clearly depend upon.
7. How do you promote Cont.  Being purposeful about your career’s projected path is important  Setting up career goals for yourself for the following will help you take a mental inventory of what you might need.  Take a skills inventory and compare it against job requirements for the job you want  Check out job search sites that are easily searchable in bulk and copy the job requirements down for the roles that sound great to you.  Identify the skills gap that you have and identify the quick wins you can get to fill those gaps  Setup long term goals to fill the other gaps  Look for opportunities for small projects in that field that you can participate at work, on the side in a volunteering role, or freelance.  This will accelerate you hitting your goals
8. How do you promote Cont.  Find a mentor that is in the field you want to move into  Purposely approach that person in a socially acceptable way if they would be willing to take you under their wing and teach you everything they know about that area  Setup a lab at home and be purposeful in learning  Set aside time every night or morning to learn more about the area you are specializing in, then ask questions in the usual forums for those topics.  Read  Read…..Read…..Read – You can not get smarter without reading  Video is great but it limits the amount of content you can absorb  Also it is something you can be easily distracted from
9. Planning for a Career – What is a Career vs a Job vs an Occupation  A Job  A job is simply work for pay. You can many jobs in your lifetime that may or may not relate to your occupation or your career.  An Occupation  An occupation is a wide category of jobs with similar characteristics. For example, physicians, engineers, educators, and scientists are all different occupations. Within each occupation, there are different jobs. For instance, an occupation as an Educator can include positions like teacher, high school principal, elementary school counselor, or school librarian.  A Career  A career is a lifetime journey of building and making good use of your skills, knowledge and experiences. It is the total of all events and relationships in your life that may relate to all your work: family, friends, education, jobs, and leisure activities. Careers involve choice, long- range planning, and often, higher pay. Each job you take advances you in your career. If Publishing is your career, you might move from editorial assistant, to staff writer, to managing editor, to editor-in-chief. Any of these posts could be considered a job within your career.
10. Example of Choosing a Career Path  Choose your Career path according to your passion if you are just starting, you will need to build up momentum in order to really get your career going.  If you are unable to land an entry level role, you are going to have to do what I did and look at the place where dreams go to die: Call Centers. They are a crucible but they offer the fastest elevation to your career path if it will not get off the ground.  If you are later in your career and can not start over, look for opportunities in the evenings/weekends to pickup side jobs/training in those areas.  I personally know multiple people who pivoted to a brand new career in their early 50s and loved it all the way to retirement. It can be done but it required a deeper investment of time.
11. Enterprise Infrastructure Careers  Here are some examples of IT Infrastructure Career Paths  Helpdesk  Enterprise Systems  Networking  Systems & Storage  Database Base  RF/Telecom  Architecture  Leadership Roles  Development Operations aka DevOps
12. Skills Needed For Infrastructure Careers  You should expect the time gap to be 2-3 years between career progressions normally and 1.5 to 2 years on accelerated time tables due to large company/market growth.  Certifications  There is a growing demand for Cloud Related Certifications (AWS, Azure)  Networking Equipment Manufacturer’s Certifications (Cisco & Juniper)  Software Manufacturer Certifications (VMware, Microsoft)  Generic Skills Certifications (CompTIA)  Degrees  RF/Telecom  Only applicable degree for Infrastructure currently resides around Computer Engineering in relation to becoming a PE Stamped Engineer  Other Roles do not generally require a degree but rather lean heavily on certifications and experience with the exception of DevOps/Automation Engineers as some shops prefer ex-full stack engineers doing this work.  Most upcoming roles for DevOps though usually look for specific skillsets in the job requirements
13. Enterprise Infrastructure Roles Changes  IT Infrastructure is changing at a rapid rate right now with a changing demand of skillsets. 10 years ago there was strong demand for more manufacturer specific certifications and understanding of proprietary protocols. However in the last 4 years there has been a major shift in the Infrastructure/Hardware environment to Open Source and Software Defined solutions. One could say Infrastructure has moved away from being a maintainer of a standard fleet of manufacturer hardware to becoming a mobile scaling out dynamic role focusing on automation and scripting rather than configuration and remediation.
14. Example Career Progression Entry Level - Helpdesk Helpdesk Helpdesk System Administrator System Administrator Deskside Services Deskside Services Helpdesk Lead Helpdesk Lead Helpdesk Supervisor/ Manager Helpdesk Supervisor/ Manager Network Analyst Network Analyst
15. Example Career Progression System Administrator System Administrator System Administrator Virtualization Administrator Virtualization Administrator Architect Or Principal Architect Or Principal Sysops Manager Sysops Manager Cloud Administrator Cloud Administrator Storage Administrator Storage Administrator DevOps Developer DevOps Developer
16. Levels of Roles Analyst Analyst Administrator Administrator Sr. Sr. Lead Lead Supervisor Supervisor Manager Manager Director Director CIO CIO CTO CTO CDO CDO CISO CISO
17. Where do I start?  You have to start somewhere, so why not follow the below processes and become purposeful in your career and life. Set goals and try to achieve them and plan your career out like you’re a 3rd party taking inventory of your life. You can plan out your own career if you take the time to be honest with yourself.
18. Process – Where do I start 1. Month 1 1. Take a Self Inventory 1. Identify your passion, attitude, and aptitude 2. Identify areas for improvements in these 3 areas 2. Take a Relationship Inventory 1. Identify who you are connected to and how 2. Identify relationship opportunities to build up trust in others 3. Setup Short Term Goals Inventory (3 Months) 1. Identify current personal and family goals 2. Identify and record goals for months 1-6 3. Take whatever you goals are, sleep on them for 2 days 1. Then take those goals and cut them in half and hit them early!
19. Self Inventory  Passions  Identify your current Priorities in your occupation, financial, and Physical/Mental  Identify the amount of time spent towards those priorities  Aptitude  Identify Strengths and Weaknesses by taking a skills inventory – Will provide separately  Recognize gaps that are roadblocks for your life's goals  Attitude  Identify accomplishments over the last 12 months  Identify new challenges you have taken on in the last 6 months
20. Relationship Inventory  Take a relationship inventory of your work, family, and friends. This strongly influences your Career.  Identify which relationships you are connected to  Identify of those relationships who connects to other groups of people  Mark them as a HUB  Identify those relationships who do not connect you with others  Mark them as a Spoke  Rate the strength of those relationships from 1-10, 10 being the highest and 5 being neutral, and 1 being very negative.  Lastly Identify 1-3 people outside your immediate family that are Hub Personalities that you could invest in that relationship  At least 1 person should be a work college if it can, this will help grow you at developing a network of relationships.
21. Process – The Planning Phase 1. Month 6-12 1. Long Term Goals Development 1. Apply your passion, attitude, and aptitude to long term goals 2. Develop SMART Goals for improvements in the 3 areas for 3 years 2. Short Term Achievable Goals 1. Identify quick wins that can be achieved over the 6 months 2. Develop 3 relationship opportunities to build up trust in others 3. Update Year Assessment 1. Update current personal and family goals 2. Update and record goals for months 1-6
22. Goals Summary  Your goals should encompass the plan around your Career, not your Job or Occupation.  When building your goals they should address these concepts.  Specific  Measurable  Achievable  Realistic  Time-bound  Feel free to research how to build SMART Goals online and how that applies to you.
23. 3 Month Goals  Identify 3 Short Term Goals you can begin to work on to develop your career. Please make sure they are SMART Goals. These Goals should roll up into your 6 month goals, if they do not make sure they are relevant to your career path.  1.  2.  3.
24. Types of Goals  Mental and Physical  Mental & Physical Goals are focused on achieving general well-being/healthy mindset. Having Physical discipline has the ability to remind us of how achievable our career goals really are. Mental goals help us see outside the current scope of where we are.  Occupation  Occupation goals are focused on achieving a certain path in your Occupational. To be the best you can be at whatever you are doing and setting SMART goals around that mindset. It is important to set goals for where you think you want to go in your occupation but understand that life is very fluid and grant yourself the flexibility of changing those goals.  Financial  Financial goals are short and long term goals for financial stability and longevity. The balance you want to find is living your life while also being a good steward for what you have. Setting financial goals also keeps your mind focused on the long term.
25. Updates – Please Update Once a Month  January  February  March  April  May  June  July  August  September  October  November  December
26. 6 Month Goals  Identify 2 Short Term Goals you can begin to work on to develop your career. Please make sure they are SMART Goals. These Goals should roll up into your 1 year goals, if they do not make sure they are relevant to your career path.  1.  2.
27. 1 Year Goals  Identify 3 Medium Term Goals you can begin to work on to develop your career. Please make sure they are SMART Goals. These Goals should roll up into your 3 year goals, if they do not make sure they are relevant to your career path.  1.  2.  3.
28. 3 Year Goals  Identify 3 Medium Term Goals you can begin to work on to develop your career. Please make sure they are SMART Goals. These Goals should roll up into your 5 year goals, if they do not make sure they are relevant to your career path.  1.  2.  3.
29. 5 Year Goals  Identify 3 Long Term Goals you can begin to work on to develop your career. Please make sure they are SMART Goals. These Goals should roll up into your 10 year goals, if they do not make sure they are relevant to your career path.  1.  2.  3.
30. 10-20 Year Goals  Identify 3 Long Term Goals you can begin to work on to develop your career. Please make sure they are SMART Goals. Make sure these goals are the focal point of your career.  1.  2.  3.