Two years ago Jeff was a discontented software developer. His
work left him frustrated and mentally drained each day. His
performance reviews were generally positive, but always noted a
lack of genuine interest or motivation. He agreed completely
with these reviews. Following a specific aptitude test and some
coaching, Jeff understood the reason and set his sights on
becoming a systems administrator…and he’s never looked back.
Jeff’s feeling that there was something missing in his career is
all too common. Despite the money, the telecommuting—and even
the sandals—a growing number of IT professionals are complaining
that their work lives seem to have no meaning. And on the
surface, this doesn’t seem to make sense. These folks seem to
have the necessary interest in technology, even the basic
aptitudes for it. But they are frustrated by their work, find it
tedious and rarely spend their free time reading trade magazines
about their profession.
What’s the explanation?
In nature, plants and animals flourish when the environment
matches their needs. That’s why you don’t find frogs in the
desert. But this is a lesson too many people ignore.
According to one recent study, 80% of corporate employees were
in jobs that did not make use of their talents. So is it any
wonder that up to 60% of the polled workforce plans to switch
jobs in the next 12 months?
Most people—including IT professionals—spend more time
researching a home computer purchase than they do deciding on
their life’s work. They simply assume because they’re fascinated
with computers that IT is the career for them. Besides, it pays
well. But this kind of thinking is all-too-often a direct route
to a “toxic job”.
What to do?
We all know how to figure out which computer is best for us. We
make a chart. We gather information. We assign values. We find
the right match between our needs, our desires and pocketbooks.
The same kind of evaluation can help us find the right career
match. We just need to evaluate a different set of parameters:
our interests, values, personality style, temperament and life
goals.
If you’re going to find a career you truly love, a profession in
which you will thrive, you have to align your innate
aptitudes/talents with the requirements of the profession. For
decades medical students have used certain types of aptitude
testing to determine what field of medicine will they be
successful in and, consequently, enjoy. It has equally
beneficial applications in the IT arena.
Let’s look at Jeff again. When he took the Highlands Ability
Battery, it revealed that he (a) was above average spatially,
(b) had a high rate of Idea Flow, (c) was a Specialist, (d) had
a high aptitude for Classification and (e) had only an average
aptitude for Concept Organization. He didn’t know it, but that
combination spelled “frustration” for any programmer.
•A high score on the spatial relations visualization scale meant
that Jeff needed to either work with objects or feel a sense of
affecting objects and the “real world”. Writing software code
was too ethereal and abstract for Jeff’s brain.
•As a specialist, Jeff preferred being able to identify a body
of knowledge and then attempt to master it and be recognized as
a master of it. Programming was too “obscure,” too generalized.
•Having a high rate of idea flow is great for a comedian or
teacher or a writer, but if you’re in a career that involves
long projects and endless details, it’s an ability you won’t be
using.
•And even though Jeff’s high ability in diagnostic reasoning is
great for debugging programs, the logical requirements of the
coding trade demand a higher level of analytical reasoning than
he had.
The end result was FRICTION. A mismatch between the person and
his job that Jeff might have avoided if he’d chosen to be a
systems administrator instead of a software developer. A systems
administrator needs to be good at hands-on work, needs to
develop expertise in a specific subject area, finds himself
mostly taking on short-term tasks with concrete results and
using his diagnostic reasoning skills as a systems
troubleshooter.
Once Jeff saw how the discord between software development and
his inborn strengths and needs was the root of restlessness, the
decision to switch to another field was easy.
“I felt like a 10-ton weight had been lifted off of me,” Jeff
says. “Knowing that the cause of my aggravation had been the
poor job fit, I was able to rid myself of the guilt I felt. I
was so optimistic about the future.”
So find the work that uses your unique traits and talents.
You’ll feel as comfortable and at home as a frog in its pond or
monkey in the jungle.
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