There was an interesting article in the November 5th issue of Computerworld by Mary Brandel listing out seven steps to boosting your career in 2008. I want to take a brief look at them to see exactly what they offer.

1. Talk to Your Manager - I think that this is actually a fairly good starting point. Your manager won’t know that you’re looking to move up in jobs unless you tell them. Just sitting by idly while the person in the cube next to you is making constant references to a bump in pay grade does little to get you noticed. Granted, it might mean your manager is a little harder on you to see if you have what it takes or how serious you are in your move. It doesn’t hurt to ask what you can do either.
2. Broaden Your View - Mary points out here that most in the IT field have tunnel vision. We tend to focus mainly on our area of concentration (networking, security, etc) where as we need to be looking at more of the business as a whole. In my position I’ve experienced the ins and outs of being a CSR and an estimator so far. Its helped me understand the workings of the company as well as the workings of the job tracking and order placement system we run here. Its also a good way to find out where we’re lacking in the IT field and what can be done to better that. Besides, its easy to go out to lunch with the sales weasels or the hottie in accounting, right?
3. Find a Mentor - Either one within your company or someone in your field from outside who has a lot of knowledge and power in the industry. Its easy to do and it can often lead to open doors you might not have found other wise. Besides, its a good way to network. As Mary points out in her article “People Like to Mentor other people”.
4. Show off your writing skills - No, not by writing long winded emails about the perils of forwarding on the latest forward. Contribute articles to any of the print or online tech magazines (techcrunch anyone?) or start your own blog. She points out that one of the biggest things lacking in the IT field is good communication skills and if you have them they can go along way to getting you noticed. Its true. Have you seen some of the support tickets that get submitted in the larger help centers? A little bit of writing practice can go a long way. And besides it can be fun to document your co-workers
5. Broaden Your Circle - Unlike broadening your Vision, this one takes place outside of the workplace. Brandel suggesting joining some of the local user groups (like a linux user group) or other interest group. Join Rotary or the Kawanis club even. A small bit of networking can go a long way. You never know who’s looking to hire and helping out with an organization can go a long way.
6. Work for FREE - Not at your current job. Brandel suggests volunteering with a foundation or group who might need help. Does your church need some one with network knowledge to rewire the current office network or maintain the computers? Put in a little volunteer time and you can add it to your resume. Even better if you learn a new skill set (programming?) out of it. Something else to add to the resume and as Mary points out it demonstrates “your willingness to learn new things”.
7. Become an Entrepreneur - Not in the true sense. Brandel isn’t suggesting you hang up a shingle and start your own consulting firm (though it may not be a bad idea for some side income) but her point is that you need to own your work. Both failures and accomplishments. Someone who takes responsibilty for their work will get noticed much quicker and gain more in their job than someone who doesn’t. With that comes the ability to take critisism well and handle what the job will throw at you. Don’t be quick to pass it on if it might mean you learn something or gain something out of it. Don’t wait around for the next task to land in your lap, find it before it finds you.

   Follow some of the steps Brandel outlined and you might find that ‘08 is more rewarding than ‘07 ever was.

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