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If your career seems in a slump, it’s probably time to change your spark plugs.
Below is a 2-Part article designed to help IT and database professionals stay on top of their game in an ever-changing trade. Part 1 describes the steps in general career perspectives. Part 2 takes those same concepts and implements them in a specific IT scenario. For more examples that fit your specific work environment, please feel free to contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
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A car’s spark plug is quite simple in theory: It forces electricity to arc across a gap, just like a bolt of lightning. The electricity must be at a very high voltage in order to travel across the gap and create a good spark.
Spark plugs use a ceramic insert to isolate the high voltage at the electrode, ensuring that the spark happens at the tip of the electrode and not anywhere else on the plug.#
The spark plug is essential to your car’s ignition. But spark plugs wear out over time. As they get older, they may not spark properly. The energy might be allowed to wonder and escape before it arrives at the appropriate place and level. This affects your engine’s performance and results in a loss of power.
This engine concept is adaptable to our CAReers.
When your career is stalling and your performance is losing power, it’s time to change your spark plugs. The ceramic inserts in your career spark plugs have worn out and are no longer allowing that energy to arc across the gap between “who you currently are” and “who you want to be”.
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1) Excerpt from “How Automobile Ignition Systems Work” by Karim Nice
http://www.howstuffworks.com/ignition-system2.htm
Changing your CAReer Spark Plugs:
- Revisit your overall Career Goals and Vision plan:
Are your plans still accurate? Do you still want the same things?
Life experiences will provide additional data and preferences. Therefore, it’s very natural that your goals and vision might mutate with the new data. Your Career Goals is a living document. Periodically verify that your previous goals still spark that original passion and interest. If they do not, modify your goals accordingly.
- Evaluate your current activities ( i.e. Your spark plugs’ ceramic inserts): Are your passions and electronic sparks arcing at the tip of the electrode or are they dissipating someplace else?
If you detect a loss of energy and vigor regarding your own career performance, it means that some of your current activities are actually draining you instead of inspiring and energizing you.
Create a list of your major or significant activities and rate them 1-5 (1-Not Supporting My Goals and 5-Fully Supporting My Goals). Work with your mentor or coach on how to reduce or eliminate items that fall below 3.
- If your activity does not support you career goals, run the 4D diagnostics (Delete, Delay, Diminish, and Delegate).
- Often times we feel that a certain task is our role and responsibility, even though it doesn’t fit our current career path. If you feel that the task is mandatory (demanded by upper management and job related), twist your thinking and participation level such that it does match your career goals.
There are many ways to accomplish this. Here is one IT Professional example:
Example:
Jason has been in the same IT position for several years. He is assigned to an old but lucrative database product. His company values him because he is one of the few people in the company that is knowledgeable about this legacy technology. Although he is much in demand, he is fearful about his future. This product will eventually be phased out. New enhancements or features are no longer slated for this product line. It is in support mode and single maintenance patches are constantly being scheduled for individual client. This makes the source-code configuration branching structure very fragile, frustrating and time-consuming. Other employees have tired of the maintenance aspects and have moved on. Although this does define a unique niche for Jason, it is a short-life niche and the role doesn’t give him much time to learn the new technology or platforms. Although he doesn’t see his larger client-companies leaving this technology in the near future, Jason has lost his spark for this legacy technology. Although he enjoys devising solutions to by-pass the out-dated code, majority of the tasks are mundane and monotonous. While he is considered an expert in this field, he fears a compulsory retirement when the product is abandoned.
Jason needs to change his spark plugs.
2) If you need a diagnostic tool to assist with this evaluation, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
3) Feel free to contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info for more example, tools and worksheets.
4) Feel free to contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info for more information on the 4D process for managing your affluent task lists.
In part 2 of this article, we will discover exactly what Jason did to change his career spark plugs.
For examples that better fit your working environment, please consult your mentor or career coach.
For more information on how to change your CAReer Spark Plugs: CAReer Maintenance 101, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
If you are interested in more detail professional coaching or a professional coach to help you stay on target with those goals, please consider one-on-one coaching sessions to propel you forward faster.