4 ms·

I totally agree with you. But there is also the danger that you end up in a dead end. Let’s say you are a beginner programmer and good with excel. If you are n

by lixtra 4y ago

I totally agree with you. But there is also the danger that you end up in a dead end. Let’s say you are a beginner programmer and good with excel. If you are now doing a lot of excel jobs (and your manager agrees that you should do it) then you progress at excel and less at programming. So your buddies might get promoted to senior programmers while you stay the underpaid excel guy. You should make sure that you get extra education to catch-up if people ask you to spend time on dead ends.

sumtechguy 4y ago
Being pegged as the 'xyz guy' for any tech in your group is usually a bad idea. Instead of taking on tasks that should be trivial for someone to do, they shuffle it off to you because you 'know xyz'. I have 3 techs I never speak of to others because of that very reason. They are not necessarily dead end techs. But something others do not want to ever learn while they do 'real work'. I have taken to 'spread the wealth' type tasks for others in the group. I will not necessarily be in the group even next week...
- mensetmanusman 4y ago
  This is the opposite of what I have seen, but I work in materials tech and not software. If you leverage your position as a point person well, you can find a lot of collaboration opportunities and expand your knowledge-base quite efficiently.
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    A lot of times IT gets positioned as a service entity, inferior to the adults in the room, so the “xyz guy” is more like the janitor specialist for mopping vs. a valued stakeholder. It’s one of those warning signs about an organization. When you’re collaborating with fellow engineers, it’s a completely different dynamic.
  - sumtechguy 4y ago
    This is true too. You can bring some interesting skills to play and be valuable. But you have to watch out for this 'i do not want to learn that tech' going on. They will do everything to not work on that thing, and not learn that tech, and bring your name up every opportunity for when that work needs to be done. It does make you valuable in an odd way. But you can quickly find all you do is the things they do not want to do, and they pad out their resume for whatever new cool tech is coming up.
Spooky23 4y ago
You gotta work the system a bit. Demand favors in return. You only turn into the lowly Excel donkey if you let people milk the cow for free. I have some high level expertise in an obscure system that has a problem once in awhile. The owners know that I will help them, but that someday I will also need a favor in return. It keeps everybody honest. If they don’t have anything you want, say no.
- octokatt 4y ago
  Practically, "If they don't have anything you want, say no" doesn't go well when you're asked to do Excel things by upper management. Upper management leans on your boss, you boss leans on you, and either you sacrifice week after week on the PivotTable altars to the great Excel god, or quit. You _can_ try to get favors back, but becoming a go-to for Excel means you'll spend more time on that skill and less on others, like software development. If you want favors, be a go-to; if you want to get better skills, don't advertise other skills.

by lixtra 4y ago

sumtechguy 4y ago

Being pegged as the 'xyz guy' for any tech in your group is usually a bad idea. Instead of taking on tasks that should be trivial for someone to do, they shuffle it off to you because you 'know xyz'. I have 3 techs I never speak of to others because of that very reason. They are not necessarily dead end techs. But something others do not want to ever learn while they do 'real work'. I have taken to 'spread the wealth' type tasks for others in the group. I will not necessarily be in the group even next week...

mensetmanusman 4y ago
This is the opposite of what I have seen, but I work in materials tech and not software. If you leverage your position as a point person well, you can find a lot of collaboration opportunities and expand your knowledge-base quite efficiently.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  A lot of times IT gets positioned as a service entity, inferior to the adults in the room, so the “xyz guy” is more like the janitor specialist for mopping vs. a valued stakeholder. It’s one of those warning signs about an organization. When you’re collaborating with fellow engineers, it’s a completely different dynamic.
- sumtechguy 4y ago
  This is true too. You can bring some interesting skills to play and be valuable. But you have to watch out for this 'i do not want to learn that tech' going on. They will do everything to not work on that thing, and not learn that tech, and bring your name up every opportunity for when that work needs to be done. It does make you valuable in an odd way. But you can quickly find all you do is the things they do not want to do, and they pad out their resume for whatever new cool tech is coming up.

Spooky23 4y ago

You gotta work the system a bit. Demand favors in return. You only turn into the lowly Excel donkey if you let people milk the cow for free. I have some high level expertise in an obscure system that has a problem once in awhile. The owners know that I will help them, but that someday I will also need a favor in return. It keeps everybody honest. If they don’t have anything you want, say no.

octokatt 4y ago
Practically, "If they don't have anything you want, say no" doesn't go well when you're asked to do Excel things by upper management. Upper management leans on your boss, you boss leans on you, and either you sacrifice week after week on the PivotTable altars to the great Excel god, or quit. You _can_ try to get favors back, but becoming a go-to for Excel means you'll spend more time on that skill and less on others, like software development. If you want favors, be a go-to; if you want to get better skills, don't advertise other skills.