What did you learn late in IT?

jamesleecoleman

I was reading some of this reddit thread about what you learned late in life. I thought I would post the same question but for IT.
So what are some of the things or all of them that you've wished you learned earlier in your IT career?

Some that I can think of right now are:
- I knew what business needs are earlier
- Stop caring so much about what people think about your work and that you did your best at what you did
- Work harder
- Chill out more - go experience new things, the books will still be there when I come back
- DON'T stop exercising, you'll be sitting down most of the day! Almost 200 pounds, used to way 140 on avg.

I've been in 2 years full time and about another 2 years part time doing IT related things.

the_Grinch

I learned this earlier in life, but many in IT learn it later: speak up. What has made me effective in all of my positions is I give my opinion and back it up. Ultimately this has lead to me gaining more responsibility than most people in a position such as mine and management will side with me more often than not. Doesn't mean I always get what I was aiming more, but typically I at least get a little bit.

networker050184

Confidence is the main thing I have gained I wish I would have had earlier. I thought more experienced people were smarter and had better ideas. Little did I know.....

Chitownjedi

Not to care as much.

Trucido

Get certified.
Don't stop getting certifications.


Don't settle in.

Lexluethar

Time mamagement. There is always be work regardless of how many hours you put in (at least at my job). So outside of work hours and days off unless a deadline will be missed or a system is down, put the phone down and relax, spend time with the family. Work will always be there regardless of how many hours you put in.

Took me about a year to get a healthy work-life balance once I "made it."

NetworkNewb

Never believe the way things are currently being done is the best way.

9bits

the_Grinch wrote: »

I learned this earlier in life, but many in IT learn it later: speak up. What has made me effective in all of my positions is I give my opinion and back it up. Ultimately this has lead to me gaining more responsibility than most people in a position such as mine and management will side with me more often than not. Doesn't mean I always get what I was aiming more, but typically I at least get a little bit.

Interesting. I learned the opposite.

Don't speak up. No one cares about your opinion or if you have a better or more efficient way of doing things. Just do your job, stay quiet, collect your checks, and enjoy your weekends.

The_Expert

Information Technology is all about dealing with people. Not just technology.

Russell77

First, do no harm.

networker050184

9bits wrote: »

Interesting. I learned the opposite.

Don't speak up. No one cares about your opinion or if you have a better or more efficient way of doing things. Just do your job, stay quiet, collect your checks, and enjoy your weekends.

Time to find a better job. You'd be surprised how big of an impact you can make in some positions.

thatguy67

I'm only a year in, but I'm just starting to learn that nepotism/chronyism is a powerful, powerful thing.

Danielm7

networker050184 wrote: »

Time to find a better job. You'd be surprised how big of an impact you can make in some positions.

Completely agree. Staying quiet and only staring at your screen makes you the ideal candidate when layoffs start. Also, who wants to bite their tongue all the time?

For me, take advantage of every opportunity you can at work. Most people aren't "lucky", you make your own luck. I worked for one company for 6+ years a long time back and learned everything I could on my own but never requested training, never asked about conferences, etc. Now, every new product or tool we get in I ask about training or certification, go to every local conference I can, will take advantage of tuition reimbursement, just got back from Black Hat, etc. It blows my mind to have coworkers who have been there 5+ years, have nothing beyond high school or some tech school 15 year ago and have zero interest in learning anything new.

DerkDaDerk

Yeah, I think one thing that may go unnoticed in the spectrum of things is your health. Stay active by eating healthy and regularly exercising before you become glued to your chair

E Double U

Learned about d*mp sites long after I already earned my certs the hard way

Seriously, these things:
- Opportunities don't always go to the best person, but to the one that is available.
- Not to put too much pressure on myself to save the world. Everything will work out so no need to stress.
- Use free time at work to study/lab. I could've accomplished more had I started doing this sooner.
- How to apply spear phishing techniques to job hunting. Got better results with this than the usual online application process.
- Learned about techexams only a few years ago. This community is such a great resource and would've helped a lot in the beginning of my IT career.

DatabaseHead

- Speeding tickets are better than parking tickets
- Per Jedi "Don't care so much". Seriously it's ridiculous to care so much when uppers are making 25 million bonuses and even if you are billy bada$$ you aren't making more than 400,000 a year.
- My personal one, focus on something and stay with it. A noisy mind is worthless. All the guys/gals who fast tracked figured out what they wanted to be when they grew up and went for it. The people who fumbled around and just went with the waves are still trying to find their path.
- When you are on your death bed you aren't going to say "Gee I wish I would of worked more".
- Family first
- Quality over Quantity, this includes certifications. One well placed tactical cert is far greater than a bunch of certs going all over the place.

kohr-ah

Same as a lot of people here said.
1 - Have some guts. Speak up. I learned this not until recently. I am a Sr Engineer and Management was hounding on one of my Junior engineers because his failure and I stuck up for her. I politely told him how she was in the right and he was in the wrong.

2 - I am going to change what others say. Certs do NOT equal GOD. But keep your certs up to date I cant push enough. Certs are like a degree to HR. They show you are willing to spend your time in furthering yourself. I have met CCIEs that couldn't route their way out of a box and CCNAs, CISSPs, and more that you go O_O uh.. WHA (smart) because they studied hard and others are dumpers. If you have a cert that you spend your hard earned time on (lets pick CCNP for this) keep it up to date if you use it or are seeking a career in it. Dont let it lapse

3 - Shift over? S.T.O.P. Answer your phone if On Call otherwise if the phone isn't ringing then don't check your phone all the time. Your boss isn't so why should you? Sh** is broke TRUST me someone will call you.

4 - Be happy. Please. This is better than everything else. Money is NOT everything. Get paid well for what you do but dont chase money. I just turned down a 30k increase to prove this. Greaaat.... you now make $X more per year but you are miserable. No time with fam, kids, friends, whatever. It isn't worth it. If you died tomorrow would you be happy with the way you left your last job?

UnixGuy

1. I was so stupid I used to get angry because of work related stuff - It is NOT worth it.

2. You can move to Security much earlier than people believe.

3. SANS certs, OSCP, CISSP, are very important security certs.

4. That pre-sales and sales is where the money at.

5. That I don't like working IT

Snow.bros

Well I have learned a lot but too many to mention here.

The most important lesson I have learned is, you learn/achieve a lot when you are out of your comfort zone.