Trade Your Freedoms Wisely to Create The Perfect IT Career For Yourself With Rob Lambert

12/19/18 • 22 min

GUEST BIO:

Rob Lambert began his career as a tester, creating The Social Tester blog before moving into Engineering Management. He likes to share his experiences and the lessons he has learned in the hope that others won’t repeat common errors. Rob is also an occasional speaker, an author and a podcaster.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

Phil’s guest on his show, today, is Rob Lambert. He began his IT career working in the field of testing. He spent years building an agile team and coming up with a process that reduced release cycles from years to weeks. A way of working that is now used across the world. These days, he runs his own consultancy company. His focus is on helping managers and leaders to find the right people, retain them and develop their skills further.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

(1.00) – So Rob, can you expand on that brief introduction and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Rob explained that he started his IT career by testing software. But, he always wanted to get involved in the creative industries by writing books and making films. It was that desire which led to him starting his blog and took him on his publishing and public speaking journey. He is kept very busy by his three kids and the demands of his work, but still finds the time to write his blog and publish a book every couple of years. When it comes to writing, Rob takes a disciplined approach. Every day, he just takes himself away, shuts off everything else and writes solidly for an hour. Usually, he produces 500 to 1000 words. Over the course of six months to a year, that adds up to at least one book.

(3.01) – Phil asks Rob for a unique IT career tip. Rob says that one of the things he teaches is learning to “trade your freedoms wisely”. Before you join an organization you need to stop and think about what freedoms you are trading to work for them. Organizations place all kinds of restrictions on you. They have rules you have to follow. Things like what you wear, where you work, which platforms you can work on, rigid processes you have to follow. All kinds of things, we never think about. If you end up working in an environment you hate on projects that bore you using clunky tools and processes, inevitably, you will feel frustrated. Think about your principles and values too. Rob and others involved in IT HR are seeing a lot of people burn out. Often, it is not because they are working long hours. It is usually because they are working for a firm that does not share their values and principles.

(5.06) – So, evaluating your right decision before you make a commitment? Rob says “Yeah, I think so.” Sometimes he goes into some less than stellar organizations and finds some really talented people, who could do a lot better. Yet they stay. Usually, it is because their most important freedoms are being met. Perhaps it is the salary, the fact the location is right for them, the team is good or that the projects they work on are interesting. Phil sums it up by saying it sounds like you need to find a fair balance between your values and the company you work for. Rob agrees, but says that sometimes that is not possible. In that situation working for yourself can be the right solution.

(6.45) – Rob is asked to share his worst career moment by Phil. A few years back, Rob got obsessed with wanting to earn more money. It led to him switching jobs. The interview was carried out in a swish, glamorous environment, but because the job was with The Ministry of Defense he did not get to see the actual office he would be working in. When he did, his heart sank. It was in a terrible state of repair, ceiling tiles falling off, holes in the wall. Nothing was happening, everyone was playing solitaire. It was awful - within 8 days he upped and left. Luckily, the next gig he found was perfect for him.

(9.08) – Phil asks Rob what he learned from that experience. Rob said, it taught him to never be driven by money alone. It is never enough compensation for doing an awful job. He also advises you not to take a job without seeing the workspace you will be working out of first. His third tip is to think carefully about the freedoms you will have to give up.

(10.27) – Phil asks Rob what his best career moment was. Rob is most proud of his time at NewVoiceMedia. While there he and that team took release rollout lead times down from 14 months to basically weekly releases. During his time there, they went from being a startup to employing 120 people and hired some of the best people in the industry. Employee retention and engagement was high and finding new colleagues was not hard. With hard but effective work, everything fell into place and the company was recently acquired.

(12.18) – Phil asks Rob whether there are things he has taken forward from that experience. Rob says it taught him how to become a manager. Across those 7 or 8 years he interviewed about 400 people and discovered his tale...

GUEST BIO:

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Previous Episode

Move Your IT Career Forward And Play Your Part in Changing The World with Phil Burgess

GUEST BIO:

Phil Burgess is an independent consultant who helps companies to implement software applications and systems that support their business objectives. Phil has worked for independent software houses as well as large corporate companies across industry sectors including finance, utilities, legal and fine art.

In 2017, Phil launched the I.T. Career Energizer podcast with the goal of helping others to start, develop and grow successful careers in tech.

PRESENTER BIO:

John Sonmez is a software developer who founded SimpleProgrammer.com to help software developers and other technical professionals advance their careers and to live happier lives. John is author of the best-selling books “Soft Skills: The Developer’s Life Manual” and “The Complete Software Developer’s Career Guide” as well as host of the Simple Programmer podcast.’

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

Today’s episode of the I.T. Career Energizer Podcast is the 100th in the series, so it is a bit different, something special. Today, it is Phil Burgess himself who is being interviewed by John Sonmez. Phil first got involved in the IT industry in the mid-90s. He has developed and implemented new systems across numerous industries. Today, his focus is on helping others to develop their IT careers. He does so for everyone from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

(00.31) – Phil starts, by introducing John Sonmez, who was his very first podcast guest. Today, it is John who is going to be asking the questions and Phil who will be answering them.

(1.32) – John starts by congratulating Phil on his 100th episode. A remarkable achievement, especially when you consider that most podcasters only record around 7 episodes before giving up. John thanks Phil for inspiring so many in the coding and development industry.

(3.24) – In true I.T. Career Energizer podcast tradition, John asks Phil to share a unique career tip. Phil says that it is vital to look at your plans and goals, so that you can understand where your career is going. He encourages people to put together a five-year plan. Of course, no IT career is linear and the industry moves fast. So, the plan is just a guide to give you some direction and a way of recognizing where you are. Setting a guiding goal will help you to navigate through the ever-changing world of IT. Particularly, when you regularly review and tweak your plan. Phil explains that pairing a long-term plan with short-term goals is especially helpful. Short-term goals like learning a language, taking on a public speaking engagement, attending more conferences or writing articles are all helpful. Setting goals like these will help you to identify the best ways to grow your skills, network and ultimately move your career forward.

(5.24) – At this point, Phil is asked to share his worst career moment. For Phil 4 or 5 years into his career he attended a meeting with senior management and a director. The project was not going well, so the director was trying to motivate everyone and identify the issues. At one point, the director asked a technical question that had clearly been fed to him. When Phil answered it became apparent that the director had no real understanding of the issue, so could not really follow the response. Instead of seeking more understanding, the director tried to belittle Phil in front of about 15 senior managers. It felt terrible. But, it taught Phil the importance of understanding your audience. John says he has had a few similar experiences. It reminds him of one of Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power, one of which is “never outshine the master”.

(8.25) – How about your career highlight? For Phil being able to help others with their careers is the thing he enjoys the most. Running the podcast has enabled him to do this for more people, so for him this has been a career highlight. He has also enjoyed meeting and speaking to so many great professionals. As well as getting feedback from his audience and answering their questions.

(11.18) – John asks Phil to share one thing that excites him about the future of a career in IT. Phil says the fact that the possibilities are limitless is the most exciting thing. He went on to say that “the genie is out of the bottle”. In the future, there will be opportunities that we cannot even conceive of right now. John concurs, for example, the idea of a driverless car would have been inconceivable up until a few years ago. Phil commented on the fact that technology touches every aspect of our lives and moves really fast. He goes on to speak about the amazing rate at which the motor car replaced the horse-drawn carriage. In just over a decade, a New York City road went from having one car and dozens of horses on it, in a photo, to being full of Model T. Fords. A strong example of just how fast technology changes our lives.

(13.19) – What first attracted you to a career in...

Next Episode

Find Your Tribe And Learn to Love What You Do with Jess Dodson

GUEST BIO:

Jess Dodson is a Windows Administrator living in Queensland, Australia. Jess describes herself as a Microsoft fan girl and for the past couple of years she has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. Jess is also keen to pass on information to others that is technically relevant, as well as other useful information for those in system administration.

EPISODE DESCRIPTION:

Jess Dodson is Phil’s guest on today’s show. She has been supporting, managing and administering Active Directory & Windows Servers platforms. Her work has enabled her to become a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional. She specializes in Windows Server Operating Systems, Active Directory, Group Policy, File and Print, OS Lifecycle management, information & account security services.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

(0.58) – So Jess, can you expand on that summary and tell us a little bit more about yourself? Jess explains that, after 15 years in the industry, she is now focusing more on Active Directory identity and security. In Australia, she is also heavily involved with the IT Professional Association. Their aim is to advance the practice of Information Technology as a profession. Currently, they are working to increase visibility and demonstrating the fact that the profession is not as boring as people make it out to be. She uses social media to convince people to give working in the administration side of IT, a go. Rather than automatically pursue a career on the developer side of things.

(2,15) – Phil wants to know if Jess has noticed a big difference in the operational side of the companies she has worked for. So far, Jess has only worked for two organizations. A university and government department and she have found that they work in a very similar way on the organization side, but she is aware that in the corporate world culture differences are definitely there.

(3.20) – Phil asks Jess for a unique IT career tip. Jess’ number one tip is that getting into IT and enjoying the career you want isn’t a straight line. There is no you get this degree to get this specific job path, in the IT industry. The best approach is to do what works for you. For some people, that is getting a degree, for others it means going straight from school into a mundane IT job and starting at the bottom of the ladder. You just need to do what works for you.

(4.35) – Jess is asked to share her worst career moment and what she learned from that experience. She goes onto share two experiences, because she could not decide which of them was worst. The first one was when she did some live testing on her employee’s production website and wiped it out. They were able to restore it, from backup, but it was a hard way to learn never to do any testing on a production website. The 2nd one happened when she needed to delete a production server from her employee’s Windows Update server. A server that had been decommissioned so did not need updates. But, instead of deleting just that server, she deleted the entire production server group. More than 500 servers could not receive Windows update. This happened the day before the production patches were due to be deployed. Jess realized her mistake within seconds. The delete computer and delete group buttons were side by side and she knew instantly that she had hit the wrong one. For Jess, the lesson from that unfortunate mistake was to admit your mistakes immediately. She turned to a close colleague who had some experience in scripting and together they were able to fix the problem within an hour. If she had not admitted it, she would have had to fix it manually, which would have taken all night. Working as a team the problem was solved really quickly.

(7.25) – Phil asks Jess what her best career moment was. She says it was speaking at Microsoft Ignite in Australia in 2013. She had never spoken publically before, so was very pleased when her speech was voted the third best of the conference. If you want to hear it you can do so here. Her speech was all about Active Directory & Domain Security, Administration & Maintenance and is called Righting the Right Rights.

(8.26) – Phil asks how Jess practiced for her talk at Microsoft Ignite. She said she went online and did some research about technical speaking and followed the advice to practice 10 times the amount of time you are due to speak for. Jess has gone on to speak at Microsoft Ignite three more times and she may be speaking at the big Ignite conference that is on tour and coming to Sydney in February 2019.

(9.51) – Phil asks what excites Jess about the future of the IT industry. The fact that everything changes so fast, is something that Jess finds exciting. You have to be really good at learning and keeping up. The shift into a whole range of areas that were not even thought of 10 years ago is reall...