IT Jack of All Trades is not a good career move.

I'm a Jack of All Trades. My job titles over the years include Programmer, Software Engineer, Help Desk, Web Analyst, Contract Programmer. I have built PC's, installed, maintained, upgraded and administered systems ranging from Macintosh, Windows, and Unix/Linux workstations and Windows and Unix/Linux servers. I have built cables from RS-232 to CAT5, installed cable runs and server rooms. I have done remote user support via phone, dialup Remote Desktop/VNC and telnet/ssh. I have bult and maintained websites on IIS and Apache. I have written application software in Business Basic, perl, Visual FoxPro, PHP, ColdFusion and Access. I have designed databases in FoxPro, Oracle, Sybase, Informix, MySQL and MS-SQL.  I have worked for companies ranging in size from 2 to several thousand. I have worked in IT shops ranging from 1 to several hundred, and development teams from 1 to 25. I have built complex messaging systems, accounting software, shop floor order handling, warehousing, distribution and EDI. I've built web frontends to legacy databases, automatic translations of data formats, executive dashboards, map integration, secure ordering, intra and extra-nets. I have worked in transportation, distribution, warehousing, manufacturing, health care, business services and telecommunications.

So why am I under-employed and unable to get a job that pays what my 23 years of experience and skills would indicate?

Here is what I don't have. I don't have a college degree. I attended college for 4 years. I studied Computer Science, and Theatre Arts. I went to Community College for 2 years, and 2 different Liberal Arts schools. I learned a lot of things that have proven useful to me, but nothing in the areas of business management or marketing. I don't have a  degree, and now, after over 20 years, nothing I did in the past is applicable, even if I could go back to school.

I don't have an professional certifications. All of my skills have been learned on the job. I've never had the means to take the courses and get the certifications. To be frank, I have sometimes been very disdainful of those who flaunt their certs, because I have seen many 'certified professionals' who can't work their way out of a paper bag. I've spent a lot of time cleaning up after MCSEs. I've had to re-build software systems built by CS graduates who couldn't be bothered to really examine the business needs for the project.

I just don't get marketing, branding or networking. (Social networking, not TCP/IP. That I understand very well.) It's more accurate to say that I understand these things quite well, but have no aptitude to execute them. Marketing is especially problematic for me. It might be some kind of dysfunctional sense of modesty, but tooting my own horn feels wrong. I have a misguided belief that if you do your best, people will recognize that, and reward you. Social networking is another large problem. I am not a naturally outgoing person. I am shy and uncertain of my place in groups that I am a part of. Getting the guts to even speak to someone I don't know is very difficult. Again, I would rather stay in the background, not take risks, and accept what I manage to get. Passivity is too difficult to overcome, and the willingness to fight for myself is non-existent.

I guess I've just answered my own question. I don't want success badly enough to do what it takes in this world to get ahead. I'm Bob Cratchett, in a world where quiet competence is of no value. It's too late to re-invent myself, and the likelihood of a fit is becoming lower by the day.

Comments

[Brad Johnson]

Holy crap, those last two paragraphs could have been written by me, word-for-word. My path has been similar, but a bit different. (I do have a college degree, and I started out as a software engineer, but I never became a super-techno-geek, so I migrated into Project Management because I'm just naturally organized and disciplined in a world of people who are, well, not.) Nonetheless, I feel the exact same way. I actually had a performance review once where my boss told me I should "spend more time making sure people know what I'm accomplishing". I guess I can recognize that that's something some people expect everyone to do, so maybe I should do it, but I can tell you that's a change I'm very unlikely to make.