Bad advice for developing a career in IT

Just follow these simple tips and your career is guaranteed to stall. And if you put in enough effort, you can hate your job, earn three times less than the market and suffer.

It would seem that today, in conditions of active growth of the industry, IT specialists cannot have problems with development. Professional personnel are in great demand on the market; employers are ready to compete for great candidates, offering the best salaries and opportunities. But if you really want, of course, you can give up your career.

Tip One: Don't tell anyone you want to grow (or that you need anything to work at all)

The employer is not inattentive, but often in the flow of information there is a chance that you will not be noticed (or noticed, but too late). Managers most often promote and reward those employees who declare their ambitions. And if a person doesn’t talk about anything, doesn’t offer or ask for anything, it means he’s probably happy with everything in his current position.

Therefore, in any individual meetings with your manager, do not tell them that you recently took a new course in Python or are interested in working with clients. Don't say you're interested in a related project with a neighboring business unit or suggest any new ideas.

The result is obvious – they will leave you alone, and if necessary, they will try to replace you with a more proactive employee.

Tip two: don’t study anything yourself

You've already finished your studies at university, that's enough. Yes, in the world of information technology, new ideas and tools appear at an astonishing speed, new programming languages ​​emerge and old ones are overgrown with libraries, information security is changing before our eyes, automation has reached even the most clumsy areas. But it’s easy to ignore all this, hiding behind the diploma you received fifteen years ago. Honours.

Reading articles from leading experts in your field or watching video lectures is boring; you never have time for all these courses offered by your employer. And spending your own money on tuition fees is out of the question!

At this rate, you are guaranteed to ruin your chances of building a career because you will lag behind the market and will not be able to apply new technologies.

Tip Three: Be Passive

If your role doesn't involve a lot of cross-functional collaboration, that's good. Don't look for it. If they invite you to an event, refuse; if they offer you to participate in an exhibition or give a comment for an article, say that you are busy. You are an expert in your field, is this not clear to others?

Those who act are noticed and remembered, but you don’t need that, right?

Tip four: reduce everything to regulations

This advice complements the previous one. If you are approached with an offer or request, immediately ask how much you will be paid for it. Your time is valuable and should be paid for, even when it comes to participating in a team sports competition or speaking in front of students.

Don't even think about leaving lunch five minutes early or staying half an hour after work. Your task is to work from nine to six, lunch from one to two, everything else is of no interest.

Tip number five: choose a company that does not involve development

In this regard, large companies are especially dangerous. Most often, they grab hold of employees tightly and begin to develop them: the manager regularly invites them to talk about the results, colleagues from training and development come with suggestions, mailings about the personnel reserve fall into the mail. Provocative startups also pose a certain risk – what if the idea takes off?

So it’s safest to choose a business that has been showing unsatisfactory financial performance for two years now or is in a state of stagnation. True, there is a chance that you won’t be hired there – stagnation does not imply an expansion of the staff. But, in the end, some of the previous employees may quit, so take your chance!

Tip six: make sure work is not one of your top ten priorities in life

People tend to invest energy and resources into things they consider important. Make sure that the work is completely uninteresting to you, causes boredom and irritation. It’s not bad if, apart from your salary, nothing keeps you in this place.

Then everything that happens in the company will pass you by. And you are guaranteed not to be able to attract unnecessary, unwanted attention to yourself. The main thing is not to quit and not to look for what you like.

Tip seven: ignore professional connections

Word of mouth is, according to experts, the best way to find a job today. And communication with colleagues can have a positive impact on promotion in the current company. But are we talking about the opposite effect here?

So don’t go to events, avoid corporate parties. If you suddenly show up at a strategic session or training, sit in the corner, remain silent, do not say hello or goodbye.

Very important! Do not write on social networks about your professional competencies and achievements. Your friends may be a potential client or director of a department who needs just such a person as you. What if he writes to you?

Tip eight: try not to develop soft skills

As the IT industry grows, it becomes clear that successful professionals must have strong soft skills in addition to hard skills. At a minimum, skills in communication, teamwork, time management, decision making, stress management, and creative ideas are required. And also – take responsibility and manage teams if the employee is interested in a leadership position.

If you are naturally taciturn, like to work alone, have poor time management, and are often nervous, good. If not, you will have to work on yourself and become that employee who cannot be relied upon in the team.

But if you are still interested in career development, then take these tips and do the opposite. The IT field is constantly dynamic and challenging. In such conditions, you can grow rapidly both in your position and in your level of expertise, and I wish that this is exactly what happens to you!

We wish you career success!

HR team of Softline Group