But the suits don’t really understand what you do for a living. And they hold the keys to the executive washroom. So, while you’re down in the server closet saving the company’s bacon on a daily basis, these guys are upstairs in the corner offices with the nice view.It doesn’t have to be that way. And it won’t be, if you assemble a solid strategy for advancing your career.
We spoke with CEOs and CIOs, honchos and headhunters on what it takes to climb the corporate ladder in this increasingly techcentric world. Compiled here are our top 20 rules for creating and capitalizing on career opportunities.
1. Think business first, technology second
“There is no such thing as an ‘IT project.’ There are only business projects with an IT component,” says June Drewry, CIO of Chubb Corp., a US$48 billion insurance group based in Warren, N.J.
It’s the cardinal rule of career success: If you want to move up the corporate ladder, you must think like a businessperson first and a technologist second, says Ray Howell, senior director of applications development at Sapphire Technologies, an IT staffing company.
“The thing that helped me most early on was figuring out that I needed to see IT projects from the business side of things,” Howell says. “In meetings where we’d talk about tech projects, I was able to step into the shoes of the finance and sales guys and see the problem from their eyes, which helped me find solutions faster. My supervisors recognized this, which is how I moved up quickly.”
“Employees who understand the link between technology and its impact on the business are in incredibly high demand right now,” notes Paul Taylor, regional vice president at Hudson, a staffing and talent management company. “Those skills will definitely not go unnoticed when it comes time for promotions.”
2. Raise the bar … and leave it there
Naturally, those who go beyond the call of duty are most likely to ascend the fastest. But like it or not, you must excel regularly, not in fits and starts.
“Consistent overachievement is the fastest way to get recognized,” says Brendan Courtney, senior vice president at Spherion, a $2 billion recruiting and staffing company. “That means being able to multitask and accomplish things even when you’re busy, or demonstrating leadership skills that go beyond what you were hired to do.”
“The more responsibility you take on, the more indispensable you become,” adds Carly Drum, managing director of Drum Associates, an executive search company in New York. “The more you ‘burst your box’ — or hit the limit of what you can deliver — the more people need to be hired beneath you. And when people get hired beneath you, you get promoted.”
The key here is to make sure you can deliver the goods before saying yes to new responsibilities.
3. Hold your nose and raise your hand
One way to do more is to volunteer for projects nobody else wants and then excel at them. Sunil Misra says his first big break came as a 24-year-old software engineer, when he volunteered to lead the night shift that was testing his company’s document management/CAD software.
“This got me noticed by senior management,” says Misra, who is now vice president of consulting services at Getronics, an information and communication technology services company based in Amsterdam. “It also got me exposed to a completely different set of folks — end-user testers — which I would normally not have had a chance to work with at that point in my career. Right after this, I was asked to take on project management for the release of our next product suite.”
But there’s a big caveat, Misra adds. “If you volunteer to do something, you need to make sure it gets done. I have seen lots of folks volunteering for stuff but never actually completing it.”
4. Don’t pass the buck
Take on enough new projects and eventually one will blow up in your face. When it does, it’s better to take the hit than it is to point the finger, says Jack Ford, CEO of Charette, a distributor of wide-format imaging equipment.
“I’m looking for people who are not only willing to take on projects but also to take responsibility for them when things go badly,” Ford says. “In the IT world, if a project is not succeeding or isn’t on schedule, it’s easy to say it’s because operations or sales or outside suppliers aren’t cooperating. But it’s better to say, ‘I understand this project isn’t getting done, but here’s what we’re going to do to get back up to speed.'”
5. Be a lone voice in the wilderness
Bosses promote leaders. An important aspect of leadership is having strong opinions and knowing how to express them, regardless of whose toes might get stepped on, says Mark Stevens, CEO of global marketing company MSCO and author of “Your Management Sucks: Why You Have to Declare War on Yourself and Your Business.”
“Many people fear if they express their true opinions they’ll be held back, but in most cases the converse is true,” Stevens says. “You won’t get ahead by soft-soaping and saying, ‘What a lovely pair of shoes you’re wearing.’ You inspire people to follow you by standing up for principle and going against the grain. Be willing to take the first bullets.”
“I actually like people to disagree with me,” Ford says. “It forces me to rethink what I believe we should do.” But no matter what the message is, it’s all in the delivery, Ford adds. “By saying things like, ‘I see what you’re saying, but what about this approach?’ you’re not directly criticizing a senior person, you’re just asking them to consider other options.”
6. Back down gracefully
You muster your courage, stand up in a meeting, and tactfully tell the boss his idea sucks. But they go ahead and do it anyway. Now what?
Pouting is not an option. Unless you’re willing to quit on the spot, you’ve got to deal with the ramifications of that decision — and be prepared for the worst, if necessary.
“There are times when the company is following a path you think is deadly, and you may have to bet your job that they’re wrong and you’re right,” Chubb’s Drewry says. “But when the decision is made and it doesn’t go your way, you need to get onboard and figure out how to mitigate the risk from that decision as much as possible.”
7. Develop a killer app
Few of us will ever build an OS that doesn’t crash or a Web service app that cuts admin costs by 50 percent. But if you can become the go-to guy or gal on a subject that’s vital to your firm’s future, then that’s the “killer app” that can carry you to success, MSCO’s Stevens says.”Find one thing that’s important to your company and become the best person at it,” Stevens advises. “If you’re working in international finance, learn more about the Deutschemark than anyone else in the world. If your company sells shoes, become an expert on pricing structures or manufacturing techniques. Word will spread quickly that you’re the person to find when they have questions.”
There’s a pitfall here. If your expertise comes across as too technical, all you’ll do is cement a reputation as a hopeless geek. Still, there is room for geekiness: It should be quietly applied to something central to your company’s business strategy. For example, becoming an expert on streamlining data flows could lead to improved customer relations.
“A killer app is the differentiator,” Stevens says. “It’s how you win.”
8. Stay on the cutting edge
Your tech chops can keep you out ahead the pack but only if you keep them sharp. Jump on any offer for training opportunities that involve emerging technologies such as SOA, collaborative apps, or data warehousing. “You need to stay on the cutting edge,” says David Bair, vice president of technology staffing at KForce, a professional staffing company. “A stale skill set can be one of the most fatal flaws in a technology career path.”
If your company doesn’t offer training in bleeding-edge technologies, find a course and pay for it yourself. “If spending $2K now means a $20K bump down the road, that’s a pretty good return on investment,” Bair says.
9. Feed your mind
Education shouldn’t stop at tech skills. Business courses and professional certifications may pay off even more handsomely in the long run.
Dave Simon, IT director at the Sierra Club, says one of the things that helped propel his career was becoming a certified public accountant, which he pursued at the encouragement of his boss.
“Getting the CPA certification paid off well in that it gave me both business knowledge and more credibility with line management,” Simon says. “I was no longer just viewed as a techie.”
Sapphire’s Howell says he’s currently enrolled in a high-tech MBA program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, which he’s paying for out of his own pocket.
“I’m constantly trying to push myself, to make myself grow in more than one way,” Howell says.
10. Find your Yoda
For many people, finding the right mentor — or mentors — is the single most important factor in their career development.
“I’ve been with three firms, and in every one I partnered with individuals who were not only paramount in helping with my professional development, they also had the ability to influence decisions that affected my career,” KForce’s Bair says.
Usually it’s up to you to seek out like-minded individuals. However, at companies such as Sun Microsystems, mentoring is built into the organizational DNA. At any time some 150 to 200 employees worldwide are enrolled in the SEED (Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development) program, a one-to-one mentoring regime that matches Sun’s most promising employees with senior-level engineers and executives. New hires meet with their mentors for one to two hours every two weeks for a year; more established employees sign up for at least six months. But many end up doing much more, says Katy Dickinson, director of business process architecture at Sun. One mentor/mentee pair ended up writing a book and filing 13 patents together, she says.
More important, SEED graduates earn four times the promotions and receive double the number of top performance ratings as the average Sun employee, Dickinson says.
“We’re looking for people who can become the future leaders of the technology or business sides of our company” Dickinson adds.
11. Take deadlines personally
Deadlines and meeting budgets can often fall by the wayside when IT projects — err, business projects with an IT component — come round. Unfortunately, that’s given techies a bad rap in some circles, which is all the more reason to transcend the stereotype.
“Late and over budget is a moniker of sorts for IT people,” notes Reid Carr, president of Red Door Interactive, an Internet consulting company. “Part of that is probably because they’ve not been the ones to set the expectations, but are forced to comply.”
Professionals who fail to make deadlines and pay attention to details “are likely going to find they are low on the list of potential candidates for a promotion,” Hudson’s Taylor says.
12. Share the wealth
Anthony Hill, CTO of Golden Gate University in San Francisco, says that beyond exhibiting technical competency, the best thing an IT worker can do is to share ideas and knowledge with co-workers and colleagues.
“The No. 1 attribute of technology leaders who get promoted quickly is their willingness to share their ideas and teach others,” Hill says. “You can be a brilliant programmer, but if you just display your brilliance in your code and don’t cross-pollinate, you won’t become a thought influencer and leader.
“Selfishly hoarding your knowledge and skill is part of the old economy,” Hill adds. “In the new economy, the more you give away, the better you do. It’s not about how smart you are. It’s about how many others you can bring along with you.”
13. Be your own cheerleader
“Being the best doesn’t matter if nobody knows about it,” Chubb’s Drewry says. “You’ve got to find a way to get your accomplishments known. You can’t assume everybody knows what you’ve done.”
On the other hand, jumping up on the conference room table with pom-poms and a megaphone won’t win you any friends, either. So how you go about promoting your accomplishments is nearly as important as what you’ve done.
Turn your good deeds into agenda items when you meet with your supervisor, suggests Carly Drumm. “Just talk about them matter of factly — ‘Here’s what we’ve accomplished so far, and here’s what we still need to do,’ ” she says. And, whenever possible, tie your accomplishments to their effect on the organization’s bottom line.
“Frankly, if you don’t do it, you’re not just cheating yourself, you’re cheating your company,” Drewry adds. “What happens to them after you’re gone and they don’t know what it took to make something happen? You truly owe them the full complexity of your accomplishments.”
14. Build your own portfolio
When it comes time to review their own performance, many IT pros find themselves tongue-tied — and their career at loose ends.”One thing we often find missing in technology experts is an ability to communicate the successes they provided to the company,” KForce’s Bair says. “If you completed a project that was 30 percent under budget or developed an innovative technology that let the firm recapture millions of dollars in cost, that’s a big deal. But many IT pros don’t know how to communicate their impact on the firm.”
The solution? Keep an ongoing written portfolio of your accomplishments, which you can then present to your boss at the appropriate moment. It can be as formal as a list of achievements you’d clip to a resume or as simple as handwritten notes. “The important thing is the ability to talk about how all the good you’ve done for the company over a period of time,” Bair says.
Develop a set of metrics that proves your worth to the company, adds Paul Groce, who runs Christian & Timber’s CIO recruiting practice in New York. “Successful managers ‘measure’ everything, from uptime, to availability, to head count per million dollars of revenue,” Groce says. “Some of the more successful are very aggressive about dashboarding and sharing performance metrics — not only with internal management but also on the view of IT’s importance to the success of the business.”
15. Schmooze it or lose it
Joining user groups, professional associations, or nonprofit organizations exposes you to new people, adding to your network of contacts. It also can expose you to new ideas and give you a sounding board for your own.
“When you donate your time and technical expertise to nonprofit groups or business organizations, you can develop a center of influence outside your own company,” Spherion’s Courtney says. “You may also get the chance to develop skill sets you might not get an opportunity to develop in your traditional workplace.”
Becoming a valued member of the technical community is a long-term investment that can really pay off, KForce’s Bair says. “You can learn what other companies are doing on the cutting edge and apply that to your own company’s business processes,” he says. “Technical innovation often comes from the outside.”
16. Walk and talk
If you want to walk the walk, you’ve got to talk the talk — and in a way everyone can understand, Hudson’s Paul Taylor says. Joining outside organizations can help, as can taking public speaking courses. But this also means ungluing yourself from the computer screen, wandering the halls, and meeting people in other departments.
“All too often, IT professionals become so accustomed to speaking tech jargon that they become virtually incomprehensible to the outside world,” Taylor says. “For outsiders, it’s like they’re speaking a foreign language. Someone who can translate that into layman’s terms is much more attractive for a senior position, which will likely require more interaction with others outside the IT department.”
17. Hire your own replacements
Tech people are often loath to bring in new talent, fearing they’ll have to compete later on for the top jobs, Groce says. A better strategy? “Mentor and develop the talent who can take over your position” so you can move up to the next level.
“Tech leaders can be the worst in the world in this area,” Groce adds. “They’re afraid that developing the next generation of leadership may push someone ahead of them on the next-in-line list.”
Hiring good people also scores points with top management, KForce’s Bair adds. Eventually, you’ll develop a reputation as the person who always knows where to find the talent — making you even more indispensable.
18. Embrace the gray areas
“Leadership is something we’re looking for in every area of the company,” Chubb’s Drewry says. “But in order to show leadership you have to demonstrate that you’re comfortable with gray areas. IT people tend to seek clarity first, then do the design after they know all the details. As a leader you don’t have that luxury. You need to deal with the lack of clarity, set a direction, and get people moving, then alter your direction as things become more clear.”
19. Keep your nose clean (not brown)
Kissing up to the boss doesn’t work over the long haul, Drewry says. “Sooner or later the kiss-up becomes annoying to that person, especially once they notice they’re not getting anything from that employee but kissing up.”
On the other hand, Drewry emphasizes the importance of managing up. “That means understanding what your boss wants, his strengths and weaknesses, his hot buttons, and then educating him as to what you can do to further the company’s goals.”
Internal politics always plays a role in who gets promoted, and pretending to be above the fray isn’t an effective strategy, Spherion’s Courtney says.
“In general, IT people take pride in being countercultural, but that’s not the way to get ahead in the business community,” Courtney says. “If two people are equally qualified, I’ll take the one with the political astuteness to manage inside a corporate culture. The more polished a person, the business acumen they posses, the more likely they are to get promoted. You can call it being political, or you can look at it as being a student of corporate culture.”
When push comes to shove, however, go with your gut, says David Zink, client executive at outsourcing consultants EquaTerra, and former CIO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island.
“I have the personal policy of doing what is right, not of doing what seems politically right,” Zink says. “This policy has made me a standout and gotten me promoted; it has also gotten me in hot water. It takes courage to stand up to your peers or even your boss, but it makes it easy to look at yourself in the mirror. And when the politics change and the right thing was done from the start, you are a hero.”
20. Consider a switch — for the right reasons
If you’re stuck in a place where IT is just there to keep the lights on, or there’s no opportunity to learn something new, it may be time to seek out a new opportunity or an industry where IT is viewed more strategically, such as financial services or telecommunications.
IT pros in dead-end positions should also consider relocating or accepting contract work, says Matt Colarusso, branch manager of national recruiting at Sapphire. Colarusso says a former colleague at a Florida high-tech company found success by exploring short-term gigs after he was laid off.
“He quickly discovered that even though the market was tight in his geographical area, there were other markets in the Southeast that had contract opportunities looking for candidates with his area of expertise,” Colarusso says, adding that the former colleague is now a senior administrator at a Fortune 250 company in North Carolina.
Although it’s fairly common for IT pros to move up by moving sideways — from job to job and company to company — it’s not always the best strategy, Spherion’s Courtney says.
“If you’re moving up in the organization, and you continue to get opportunities to expand your skill set, work on different projects, and get raises, you’re better off staying with the organization that knows you,” Courtney says. “You’ll have more political capital internally than you would with a new firm.”
If the opportunity curve slows down, or if a particular technology interests you but isn’t a fit for your company, you may need to cross that bridge, Courtney adds. “Until then, stay where you are.”