(Successful) IT People Characteristics

Lightning strikes again, I’m amazed at the prolification of posts on this topic all within 72 hours. There must be some forces at work that compel me to continue blogging away at this…

In any event, browsing through my blogroll, I happened upon the good folks (that is right, it’s a tag team over there) from WWW.ITMindDesign.com. They posted a fantastic summary of basically what qualities/characteristics make a good IT person (i.e. that you’d hire in a second). In my previous posts on IT Competencies and Building IT Team, I hadn’t gotten there yet, but drawing the framework further before deep diving into the nuts and bolts of the highly subjective person-level. 

As far as I tried NOT to project myself, I think the ITMindDesign bloggers hit it spot on. Their points also provide useful interviewing questions to see that you’ve got the right, talented person for your high-performing team.

1. Passion: (To survive and thrive in an IT combat zone, uh sorry, environment, you need to love it or be nuts to work in a fire fight daily because you definitely do not get combat pay for it.)

2. Self-teaching and love of learning: (Technology changes as frequently and often as your underwear.  If you don’t love to learn or teach yourself, you’ll be as obsolete as the 5 1/4″ floppy.)

3. Intelligence: (Uh, duh?)

4. Hidden experience: (IT guys do a lot of their own experimenting and fooling around.  It’s in their genes.  This is often not on the resume because they learned somewhere that resumes don’t have such information – maybe blame recruiters.  But through the interview you’ll find out they’ve done a hell lots more than what’s on their resumes.  Dig after it and you might actually find a diamond in the rough. w00t!)

5. Variety of technologies: (Yes, just look at what you’ve got to play with – telephony gear, network equipment like VPN boxes, routers, switches, servers of all shapes and sizes, half a dozen major OS’s, databases, applications, IT security/firewalls, email technologes and the list goes on and on.  If you don’t have the passion to play and learn about it, you’re d-e-a-d dead.)

6. (Lack of) Formal qualifications: (This one I’ve found over here in Asia where tech guys are certified out-the-wazoo.  It’s insane the number of MS and Cisco certs these guys have on their resumes.  And every now and then you find some guy walking in with SUN and HP certifications.  I actually had to look them up myself just to check if they were real.  But this gets fun, with all these certs, my senior tech guys (with ZERO certs) have lots to shoot at.  And shoot they do… in reality it’s unfair because it’s not good sport shooting fish in a barrel.  My senior tech guys are all certified summa cum laude black-and-blue from the School of Hard Knocks.  Yeah, they touched the fire and yup, fire is indeed burning flaming hot.  So try to BS them and you might as well take that rope and…

I’ve another experience with certifications from my early dot-com days.  A “senior” system admin was working on a portal project for us.  This H1-B guy was SUN certified which was just perfect because we were having some issues around building a portal on a SUN box.  So we assigned him to rescue this project due to his SUN certification and senior credentials.  Before long, we found out something was wrong.  My project manager, a true PaiMei Guy, was alarmed at how little progress there was.  So in a side conversation, Indian to Indian, he found out that this “senior” SUN certified system admin had never actually physically worked on a live SUN box before (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Holy #&*$!@^%!!!   From that day henceforth, I’ve discounted any and all certifications on resumes that come before me (with a couple of exceptions).)

7. Self-confidence vs Hubris: (I call this stubbornness.  We’re all smart right.  We’re all superman or superwoman – especially in our minds.  There’s nothing we can’t do, really just give me the time and…  We not only graduated from the School of Hard Knocks but we conquered it! Tech-maschismo {flex}!  “Can-do attitude”!  Heady stuff… and I had one super talented tech guy with these warm fuzzy feelings.  He thought he could rewire the network cabling after doing some minor fix/upgrade to our routers.  The problem is that it ended up as a spaghetti network. Admittedly half-way through, this smart guy realized he was in sooo-deep, he couldn’t back out so he bull-dozed his way to the end.  Amazingly, he managed to get them all connected the right way and just in time for start of the business day… but…. After I was done with him, he will never ever do such a bone-headed move again without taking the right preparation steps.  To his credit, he went back and did it right in the next down time window.  He learned. School of hard-knocks graduates yet another successful IT Geek!) 

8. Star-Trek test: (It’s so true… it’s weird.  How could you not like:

Capt Kirk and Crew

My off-the-wall personal projection is that we all imagine ourselves as Capt Kirk, with his machismo, his fearlessness, his visionary leadership leading the team into the exciting unknown.  We’re curious explorers at heart, wondering how things tick in our universe.  The unknown doesn’t scare us, just makes us more determined to get to the truth!

Let’s go get them!  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of THIS TEAM?  Especially if you can build one like it, right?

 

ADDENDUM: I forgot one important other quality to add to the above list.  9. Perseverence: Rain or shine like the US Postal Service, IT folks go out there and just get the job done.  Sometimes with ammo, often without enough ammo.  Heck, most IT guys need to operate in the equivalent of a hot LZ with enemy and friendly fire coming their way.  And there’s usually no calvary or air-cover coming to their aid.  Toiling anonymously like “greasemonkeys” is often the life for so many guys in the trenches.  You need guys who can do this day-in-day-out.  As one of my best guys says, “I’m a cockroach.  You can’t kill me.  I’m a survivor.”  How can you not love a guy like that!

IT Competencies – how to develop them

In my previous post, I talked about building an IT team and around what sort of IT and general competencies one ought to have.

Thanks to surferblue who blogged about it, here’s more about IT competencies that every IT person ought to have: 30 Skills Every IT Person Needs as written by Richard Casselberry, Infoworld. For sharing, I’ve posted the points here with my own commentary:

1. Be able to fix basic PC issues. (In my list I include how to build a computer/server from scratch.)

2. Work the help desk. (Management Trainees do not get a pass on this one from me.  They start off here.  Because that’s the center of the IT service universe – do not pass “GO” do not collect “$200”, go answer a call and help someone.)

3. Do public speaking. (IT is all about service to customers which includes explaining what we do isn’t “black magic”.  So that means communicating in all forms.)

4. Train someone. (Because you don’t really know it unless you can actually train someone to do it which proves that you do really know it.  You get the added bonus of helping someone and making your life easier – talk about win-win!  Besides, being a “sharing and caring” IT person is a Good Thing[tm].)

5. Listen more than you speak. (No one learned anything by speaking except one’s own ignorance.)

6. Know basic networking. (Because)

7. Know basic system administration. (Because)

8. Know how to take a network trace. (Because)

9. Know the difference between latency and bandwidth. (We live in a Web world, so how will you explain it to users if you don’t know?)

10. Script. (Lost art.  So many today’s IT guys don’t even know what it is. If you can script, then you can create a simple and effective IT environment that will inform you of exceptions.  Make the technology do the work for you, not the other way around.  Unless you’re an outsourced guy who needs job security.)

11. Back up. (This one is learned through (extremely painful) experience.  I don’t know why one needs pain to actually do this. I am guilty of this.)

12. Test backups. If you haven’t tested restoring it, it isn’t really there. Trust me. (What the man said: “If you haven’t tested restoring it, it isn’t really there. Trust me.”)

13. Document. (You need it to cover your ass.  But there are other uses such as how can you share and teach others (Item #4) if you don’t have it documented (i.e. RTFM).  Sometimes documenting it also helps you double and triple confirm the truth – it’s like testing backups, the knowledge isn’t really there unless it’s been documented and accessible to others.)

14. Read “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” (This is a new one to me.)

15. Work all night on a team project. (The thrill of victory!  Once you’ve experienced it, you’re hooked.)

16. Run cable. (Spaghetti networking, you try it and then try to troubleshoot it.  It’s the IT version of Dante’s Inferno.  Plague on you!)

17. You should know some energy rules of thumb. (This is called knowing and understanding your “hidden costs”.  Datacenter management is part of your IT management responsibilities (unless you’ve outsourced it).)

18. Manage at least one project. This way, the next time the project manager asks you for a status, you’ll understand why. Ideally, you will have already sent the status report because you knew it would be asked for. (Exactly.  Put yourself in the PM’s shoes.  Pain is a quick behaviorial change agent – ask Pavlov’s dog.)

19. Understand operating costs versus capital projects. (This falls under business acumen.  As a manager, you need to know it.  It will help your selling ability.**)

20. Learn the business processes. (It’s the IT guys who know what goes on in the company because of this.)

21. Don’t be afraid to debate something you know is wrong. (I call this the know-when-to-pick-your-battle rule.  Lots of IT guys like to show off how smart they are.  In reality, the one you’re talking to really truly does not give a rat’s ass.  Know your audience.)

22. If you have to go to your boss with a problem, make sure you have at least one solution. (I pay you to solve MY problems, not give you free IT lessons.  It’s not school-time boys and girls.  There’s no excuse for being unprepared and ignorant – you’ve got Google.  I didn’t.  However, I do appreciate that these are/can be opportunities for coaching and I’m happy to do so, but you need to be prepared.  Don’t make me do your job, otherwise I will, and then fire you.)

23. There is no such thing as a dumb question, so ask it … once. (True, see above.)

24. Even if it takes you twice as long to figure something out on your own versus asking someone else, take the time to do it yourself. (One of the best ways to learn is to go through the pain…er experience and it’ll never leave you.  Doing is learning.  It’s like how do you know fire is hot?  Right.)

25. Learn how to speak without using acronyms. (Yes, IT guys are smart, very smart, sometimes very very very smart.  No need to tell the whole world that.  They won’t get it.)

26. IT managers: Listen to your people. They know more than you. If not, get rid of them and hire smarter people. If you think you are the smartest one, resign. (Simply, yes.)

28. IT managers: The first time someone does something wrong, it’s not a mistake — it’s a learning experience. (In fact this is about the coaching and mentoring part of your job.  Don’t forget the “soft skills”.)

29. IT managers: Always give people more work than you think they can handle. (People are like plants and flowers.  If you don’t feed them with water, sunlight, and fertilizer, they’ll wilt and die.)

30. IT managers: Square pegs go in square holes. (For the most part, true.  However, it might be fun to see if you can break the laws of physics and change the square peg into something else.  You never know what your organizational needs are so best be prepared and your team too.  Heck, it’s the Matrix and you’re the Architect!)

** Another IT (and Project Management) competency is “sales”.  You do very much need to know how to sell (or negotiate to “Yes”).