… Recap
The best engineers do not have the best careers. They do not get the best opportunities, promotions or assignments.
In the previous blogs, we’ve discussed the phenomenon and have attempted to understand the cause.
Now – we talk about the impacts of not having a zero-level skill and the benefits of not having one.
English Vinglish
Many Indian college graduates struggle to get jobs due to lack of english. They are good techies and clear all technical assessments. Yet they are rejected, because they are unable to converse in the language.
We’ve already talked about Ramesh. He is a great techie. He has many contributions over the years, and has been a stabilizing factor in the team.
But Ramesh is outright scared of English. Once new leadership came, our friend did not introduce himself. (would’ve had to talk in english)
Someone else takes credit for the work he does. No one in the new leadership knows his value addition. He is an unknown worker working out of a silent corner. Bonuses and promotions do not come his way. I feel this is how things will stay for Ramesh.
I know others like Ramesh i.e. poor with English, that were asked to leave the organization. Leadership felt they added little value.
Poor command on language impacts in many ways – from being unable to get a job to losing one.
Dumb and Dumber
Arpan and his Tech lead Praveen work at a product based organization. They are good at their work. They work flexible hours, sometimes pulling in all-nighters ( industry slang for working all night ), and have a great knowledge of the system.
But, they have 0 dependability.
With all their good qualities, this is a fatal flaw. Any work they complete is assured to be half baked, broken, untested and more.
Since Arpan and Praveen’s, work is always broken. Management has to bring in troops to cover their failures.
They are so consistent in their poor performance that:
One flaw – poor accountability, makes all their good qualities vanish in thin air.
Arpan and Praveen are relevant in the organization, but never at any relevant role.
Anger Management
Dean was a retired soldier and worked as an analyst.
He helped the tech team understand business. The team used the knowledge to develop softwares with the right understanding. While Dean was out of the military, the military wasn’t out of him. His frequent outbursts would be on the lines of …
“You have your head up your a**”
“You dips**ts”
“Morons !” … and some others
Obviously he was never the ‘go-to’ person. There were frequent escalations against him. But the organization let him stay, until he retired in his 60’s. Seems okay, but is it ?
He worked at the same job without promotion for almost 30 years !!
Dean’s rudeness cost him virtually his whole career ( not that he cared )
We’ve talked about Rahul, the Android Lead.
Everytime someone asked him a question, the first thing they received was an essay of insult. He was the foundation of the organization. But, he was only at the foundation of the organization too. 30 feet below the ground; an unknown entity.
Rahul is too valuable to be punished. At the same time, not valuable enough to be promoted.
What Rahul doesn’t realize is that he might retire as Dean in another 30 years.
Thankyou for Smoking
“You don’t understand !” said Piyush complainingly.
10 days later – he was fired.
A confident extrovert, Piyush had joined the team only a week back. Talking to a veteran of the organization, he was trying to explain an issue. Struggling to articulate well-enough, he let go of his politeness.
A negative feedback was passed to the leadership. He was asked to leave.
Piyush might’ve turned out to be a valuable member of the team, but he didn’t stay long enough to prove himself. Poor communication (rudeness) was his achilles heel.
I hear these during meetings.
From a subordinate to a supervisor, these sound rude. Even when unintentionally so. How about phrasing the same idea as …
The second way, moves the onus of any mistake to oneself. Taking blame away from the listener, makes a BIG difference.
The listener suddenly feels more respected, empowered and opens up. This finesse goes a long way in impressing people and building rapport. Slight change makes a huge impact on the listener.
Words are powerful ! they can bring one out of trouble or land one into one 😊
When I first travelled to the USA, one of the things I noticed was – the way Americans talked.
In both cases intent is to advise, The second way is less bossy !
Power of words.
Babar was a manager in my previous organization. Everyone in the team loved him.
“Our friend isn’t too used to working hard”, he would complain.
Notice the “Our friend” part ? Even when critiquing, he was polite. Also, he ensured that the action, not the person was critiqued.
When someone else was at fault, he would say – “we haven’t been able to deliver”.
Notice the “we”. He made himself part of the group, giving the person at fault companionship.
Essentially Babar was conscious of his words from the listener’s perspective. Words were his superpower.
Beauty and the beast
Looks have social value.
When Samurai (Japanese warriors) went to battle, they wore armour and masks. One function of the armour was protection. Another was – to evoke fear in the enemy.
Samurai focussed on a purely cosmetic feature, during the most serious time; a war no less. They understood the value of their looks, and used it to their advantage.
Coming from a small-town culture, I learnt the value of dressing sharp late. When I left my city for college, I observed a disconnect. Simply put – everyone looked nice and I did not.
Only to fit in – I started dressing up. Once I did, people acknowledged me more and my own confidence boosted.
(I went to a bank in my native town, looking good. The manager himself came over to greet me and get my work done. Had never happened before.)
I was treated like a VIP, because I looked like one.
During my work, I observed that some engineers did not get acknowledged. This, despite the fact they were smarter and more hardworking. Some common threads were:
While they were the foundation of amazing systems, they were never invited to client meetings. More presentable colleagues were made the face of success.
The better-looking colleagues got quicker promotions, bigger responsibilities, better networks and fattier paychecks. Today some of them folks hold titles like – Vice President and Director in their organizations.
Looks add value !
Also, Engineers have an unmentioned perception …
Technical work is the only valuable item. Looks don’t matter.
Leaders too have an unmentioned perception …
Someone who cannot handle minor things like grooming themselves is not mature enough to handle bigger things.
10 times out of 10 – Leader’s perception wins !
Presentability is a bottleneck in many engineer’s careers.
Selling
Please don’t ignore my post.
I am an experienced **** ********** with 5+ years of work experience in India.
Situation is worsening day by day and am almost finished with my savings and also I had a problem of overthinking since I got responsibilities of 4 members of my family.
Desperately looking for a job and ready to join immediately.
Would you hire this guy ? What if I told you this is a real message from someone’s LinkedIn profile ?
Success and chicks go to people who deserve them, not ones who beg for them. Imagine a guy proposing to a girl saying “Plz don’t ignore me, but I am desperately looking for a girlfriend !”
With such an opening, the guy would have a lifetime supply of virginity.😁😁
Selling skills are important.
We have been selling all our lives. Do these ring some bells ?
Why the purchase would be a good idea.
Sales skills are an important part of our lives. People inept at these skills will suffer.
Companies have a range of salary for each job band. Poor negotiation skills can ensure engineers remain on the lower end of their salary spectrum.
Life doesn’t work in binary. Issues need not be either escalated or resolved.
Between an escalation and a resolution, there can be – processes, interventions, re-prioritization and more. These are achieved by negotiation and selling skills.
Sometimes we are required to pacify anxieties. We sell an idea that our absence won’t cause trouble
Selling, negotiating etc are important skills. People inept at these skills face troubles.
PS: I reached out to the LinkedIn guy, and informed him that he needs to work on his skills.
The Social Network
Heard of the “Paypal Mafia” ?
It refers to the founding members of the team at Paypal. Each one of those folks went on to create great technology companies of their own. Companies like – Tesla, SpaceX, Youtube, LinkedIn, Palantir, Yelp, Reddit, Flickr, Zenga are just a few names from the many, members of the Paypal mafia went on to create.
If you had been remotely associated with the group, then what would your career look like ?
Not everyone in the industry works on hard problems, or in the right ways. For this reason, having a network is important; sometimes more important than hard work. Naval Ravikant says something on the lines of – Who you work with and what you work on is more important than how hard you work.
I just repeat his point.
Social media viz. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter help us do something very important (not entertainment). These platforms help us build networks. Successful folks, in our network, might be able to help us give a nudge in the right direction. Long term, the slight nudge might compound into a big one.
Best opportunities come to successful folks first. Having a good network increases one’s chances of getting the best opportunities.
9 times out of 10 – a below-average engineer working with the Paypal mafia, will have a better career than a brilliant one working alone.
Who you know is sometimes more important than what you know !
Do I have to ??
“Do I have to get these skills ?” … I hear often.
My answer is – No. We don’t have to do anything.
Think of skills as the tiers of a car. When all tires are inflated, the car drives well. If the tires are flat, the car will still drive, but with difficulty. Same goes for skills …
I survived without dressing-up. But, I thrived when I looked sharp. Life became colorful.
We upgrade ourselves when we develop our skills. From a Maruti, we become a Honda, from a Honda a Mercedes, from a Mercedes a Ferrari !
On the other side
How does the world look for people, having a groomed personality ? Lets see …
Country head
Harsh heads the Asia pacific region for a large IT MNC. He has worked with leading organizations like Google, in the past.
Interesting point – he moved into the IT industry at the ripe age of 35. He did not know technology. So, he learnt enough to get him going. What he lacked in Tech knowledge, he made up in hard work, confidence and social skills.
Harsh understood the value of a rounded personality. Therefore, he upgraded his Zero level skills viz. Technology to a minimal standard. Then, he leveraged his strengths.
Sure, he took time to reach the place. But he is where many regular IT professionals wish to be !
Lesser Developer
We’ve talked about Tripti. She is less competent than Ravi, but is still with the organization. She was:
She was below par on Technology. But her social skills covered up the difference. Last I heard, she was going strong at her organization.
Absentee Lead
Ranjit is a Lead at an organization. He loves to be Lazyyyyyyy !
He is late to almost all meetings, doesn’t reply to mails, doesn’t respond on tickets and writes buggy code (slang for poor code). But he is really good with power skills. So,
Ranjit was recently promoted. He is able to slip out of his blunders, hide his mistakes and showcase his strengths. All because of his power skills.
We see that, a rounded personality helps:
Conclusion
A successful career needs multiple skills.
We’ve seen the drawbacks of zero-level skills on a techie’s career. We’ve also seen the benefits of rounded skills. While some suffer, others use holistic skills as their leverage.
Humans have many intelligences. Some people are good at organizing, others at creativity and others still at charming. While some are natural abilities, others can be pursued actively.
How to pursue the skills actively – we discuss in the next blog.
Write back, in case you have an opinion. Like what you read – do like, comment and share.