This is targeted more toward IT leaders and upper management, but one of the gravest sins you can commit as a leader is expecting that management and leadership skills exist naturally in everyone and will instantly flourish once you assign a new manager a cadre of direct reports. Most would laugh if I suggested taking a competent writer, plopping them in front of the latest development environment, and expecting them to write clean and efficient code since they’ve demonstrated excellent keyboarding talent, yet corporate management does the equivalent daily. Without a second thought, a talented technician or project manager will be promoted to an IT leadership position, and then their managers watch in horror as they spectacularly fail.
Like any other skill, management and leadership are learned talents, and expecting someone to thrive in a new role without training and development is ludicrous. Furthermore, this usually destroys two formerly effective positions by removing the technician from the role they excelled at, then not equipping them for success in their new role.
With careful planning and a focus on managing and running your career in an active and aggressive manner, you can excel in IT or any other field. Furthermore, approaching your career as a free agent opens up the entire world of employment, be it at a different company, in an entrepreneurial role, or in a position totally unrelated to technology. While it may be scary to embrace the fact that you wield so much power over your own career, the alternative of victimhood and long years spent being pushed by circumstance through your working life is far less palatable.
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