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5y6digit

Career navigation by the numbers

Dustin Thostenson

dustin@delta3consulting.com

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$

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3.3%

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n00b != $50,000+

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10,000

“An Expert is someone who knows all point of failure in a given realm.”-G.W. Bush
2,080
34
1,768
GTD, Pomodoro

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Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition

http://everydaylean.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/novice-expert1.jpg

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Micro market

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“Find a need, Fill a need” �- Rodney �‘Robots’

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foreach(p in co.Problems){

p.sln != 011011010;}

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Build your soft skills

Be Empathetic.

Understand what people want. What they really really rant

Talk to them in their language. Don’t expect them to translate you. You are not right. You might understand the tech, but they have the problems you need to solve.

Find new ways to provide value.

What questions are they not asking?
Analytics on website?

What is working, what isn’t?
What step are people abandoning your site?
Do you need a big red button?
Should we email every time an error occurs so it can be fixed by the time they call?
How much polish is needed on that report if nobody is really using it?
What is the lost opportunity cost of doing one thing vs another?

Learn to work well with your co-workers. Don’t be annoying and make them look bad. Work with them and know when to STFU.

It can suck to take time to be a ‘buddy’ with your co-workers

Build a team, they need to enjoy working with you

Don’t make them look dumb

Find ways to make their jobs easier too.
This often means being the one to research and implement new tech
Let them learn easily. Feed them with a spoon.

Ex MEF talk:

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--golden hammer picture--

Hammer excel

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<

Yoda < Yoda^n

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Limitations

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compen$$$$$$$$$$$$$ation

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Pay Factors

1) Value you are perceived to bring to the company

Perception is based of many factors

2) Rate you think you are worth

3) Timing

3) Your pay will be based off 3 factors

1) what value they think you can bring into the company (as a percentage of their allocated budget)

this is tricky. Your halo around your Skillset will grow.

The value you can "sell" is based off what you say about yourself and what others say about yourself.

you cannot control what others say. You can only do your honest best and hope they see this.

There are enough other "Self Marketing" concepts to fill an entire other session, but things to remember

-how you represent yourself on Twitter

-what crap Google says of you

-successes/failures from previous jobs

our communities are very small!

the help you've given others

your role in the community

meeting people at UG and Conferences is a great way to grow.

Titles/Certifications

MVP etc

What you think you can do and what they think you can do NEEDS to line up.

PSI example of my fear of over-selling myself after 3 years

learned about the Elephant (there it is!)

�

2) what rate you think your worth

you first need to understand what the market will bear.

this can be difficult accurate info to get

Consider yourself lucky if you know any contractors or FTE

what do they bring to the table?

What is the avg compensation?

!! Story about how I was scared to be a consultant until I realized how many poor devs were out there.

3) timing

unless you corner the market, you are it's btch

some times you corner the market, other times you are on the corner of the market.

you may make $200/hr on one contract, but $30 at the next

My 3^rd job (to ita) was a lateral move, even though my skillset greatly improved.

�

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Marketability / Perception

.341

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Ienumerable<Formula>

Step 1: Get a job and build skills

Find opportunities to bring value and build your name/confidence

Step 2: expand your comfort zone. Increase responsibility

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit!

Common track

Job 1 $50k 2-3 yrs

Learn as much as you can
Network ouside the company.
Find out how to get at least 1 title change.
Quantifiably justify what you have accomplished.

Reduced expenses by %, inproved performance, etc. Work towards goals.
You are going to tell a story in your next interview, know what that outline is and fill it in.
Example, my trip to Europe.

Grow your skillset with outside work. Build an iPhone app or js website. Maybe contribute to OpenSource

Work for smaller companies and charge them $35/hr. Determine how you want to spend your time. Growing or drinking

Job 2: 2 years: Start at $65-75k maybe smaller company with increased responsibility.

Try to be a hired gun. The wizKid.

Consulting: at $50/hr (100k)

Everyone has their own plan for moving forward. Find what interests you the best. Speak at lunch and learrns, local user group? Regional conferences? Plural Sight author? Write an support an open source project? Tweet heavily? Just know the right people?

Come back to the UofI to meet the next crop of studs and hire them to repeat the process.�

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Questions?

@dustinson
digits@delta3consulting.com