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Want to Ascend the Career Ladder Faster?
Priya Pradeep
Tuesday, March 1, 2005
The things that you drop on your way up the career ladder helps you move faster. Drop the baggage and climb with only distilled knowledge. Having fearless application of ideas garnered through experience for solutions is needed for progress.

That’s the core truth about ascending the career ladder faster. Traveling light is bright. Read on to understand the intimate details of how this was formulated.

Stages Of The Ladder
The ladders we take in our lives are never-ending, stretching from death to eternity. According to Seetharaman Harikrishnan, Director, Microsoft India Development Center, “the ladders, at least in the physical world of IT, have five different stages.” And yes traveling light applies here, too. The first stage is ‘Task’ oriented, where the beginner would enthusiastically proclaim “I did this on time.” The recruiter evaluates this greenhorn on how he perceives himself.

The second stage person in the ‘Project’ zone propounds

“We did it within time and with quality!” The ‘Product’ phase is third involving people considering multiple versions of the product.

Succeeding with the various product components with multiple releases assumes high priority. There is much growth here, compared to the other stages which can only be fueled by experience The name of the fourth stage is ‘Organizational’ with an emphasis on the ecosystem of products and the work involved with managing it. It involves several levels and progressions. The last frontier in IT ladder before becoming a VP or Senior VP is the ‘Industry’ focusing on investments and deciding whether resources address the correct problems.

These issues concentrate on how to tackle the competition and identifying the critical customers. “Are we following the right processes?” is a central question of seasoned veterans straddling this stratosphere. This is when the true spirit of whether you have ascended the ladder seeps into your consciousness and the struggle for sweet success is made worthwhile.

Steps To Grow
The ability to focus is a key attribute of success. A four-pronged approach to achieve this growth accompanies the aspirations of any tech professional. For starters figuring out what you want is half the work done in ascending the ladder. One must question whether one desires to be a people manager, a customer care executive or a pure tech professional. Second, the light shed must align with the company’s requirements in order to be mutually beneficial. Customer and competition must be thoroughly understood if one can transform into an efficient solution provider.

Inquire what your manager’s commitments are and align your style of working to meet those requirements. Five-year plans are not just for nations but must be a part of the individual as well. Be smart and find out what the next level requires. This is the third approach because on each trajectory one must be aware of upcoming blind curves to steer carefully and not carried off the track unaware. Bravely approach your manager and request what he wants from you. Figure out what it takes to replace him so you can advance to the next level. The line here between pro-activeness and brashness must be handled carefully so as to not rouse negative emotions. Clichéd as it may sound, hard work is the simplest answer for timely ladder advancement and hard work will not kill you. Channeling energies on the most pressing problems is to play the game smart. Fourth on the list is to stay abreast of latest developments.

This can be achieved through voracious reading and experimenting with the latest technology products one can afford, as it directly translates into keeping abreast of new inroads made possible through human intelligence. Be a hands-on person. Hard work does not mean that one has to cease a personal life. A healthy lifestyle is to work hard and play hard, as this is essential to develop all the faculties of the mind to achieve your dream.

Shyam Ananthanarayan, Centre Manager, HP Imaging and Printing Group Development Centre, opines that one must have a global outlook in furthering one’s career especially if it is an MNC one works for. Always question how your work will globally affect the fortunes of the company. Such an approach makes one a truly liberated tech professional. Remove the shackles confining you to only “me and my work.” The first step is to be excited to go to work, play a role in the company and participate with others to enhance team contribution. This takes individual contribution a notch higher. Have a broad vision but don’t long for pompous sounding titles, which may just prove to be red herrings.

Challenges Of The Tech Ladder
Sundara Nagarajan, Lab Director, HP Systems Technology and Software Division, emphatically states that if India is now recognized as an IT Superpower it must live up to that reputation. That is not possible without a strong technical ladder. It’s time pure tech professionals outgrow the cocoon mindset of being stepsisters of their management counterparts. This is true even in non-IT companies as well. A technical career path requires more dedication than a management career path. This demands the correct attitude from young college grads, which is presently lacking. In fact, a technical career path requires your asset to be influence, which is a superior people skill than management of people as required in a managerial position.

Hence, choose your career based on your strengths rather than weaknesses. Soft skills required for technical or managerial career paths are quite similar and honing of such skills is critical to move up in either of them. Acquire professional help if needed. Hard skills are called for more in the technical career climb as one grows higher in it and this deters people who have a sweet-sour relationship with technicalities of technology. Ram Pazhayannur, Director, Business Development, Persistent Systems advises aspiring technology professionals to do a Management of Technology course in order to excel.

According to Niraj Patel, Director, ASIC Division of eInfochips warns, “Don’t pigeon hole yourself into a narrow band of technology in which you work. Rather, explore technology and get inspiration for your product from a variety of sources.” Simply stated : to be an interesting tech person, be interested.

Smart Moves To Reach The Top
Pazhayannur points out “Career moves, like in a game of chess, depend on who moves you where and when, rather than you making the move.” This underlines the reality that your success depends on others as well and an investment in inter-personal relationships is not time wasted. Networking is crucial. Obtaining a mentor is very important to prevent classic mistakes.

Stay away from discouragers and spend more time with people who positively influence you. This is the elixir for ascending the career ladder. There are people who attempt to deter you, saying a pure tech person cannot influence and can’t mature as quickly as a management person. Avoid these pessimistic people and forge ahead with what you are naturally inclined. Uncertainty about the future is natural, but one should not be overly shaken by such thoughts. The solution is to take one day at a time and cherish the present. Nagarajan assures that the ebb of 2001 in the IT industry is a sign of maturity in the forty-year-young IT industry and should not be a cause for fear among IT aspirants.

To philosophically put it, if one hits that rock bottom where one cannot go further down the only way out is the way up. Cheers!

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