Have you Wondered how few Experts we have in this world? It does not matter if you are in IT or Marketing etc. Let me tell you why we dont have Experts.
I would like to Share my Knowledge and my Experience. Am a Programmer by Profession and we all know how few programmers we have these days. If you find someone doing Computers they will be System Analyst who dont want to Code, who will soon be Project Managers, you will find Technicians doing Support, You will find network Administrators and DBA's.
Well i must respect DBA's. They are doing a good Job and others like Technicians. But why do you think they will pay lot of money to a Programmer? , it is because they are few and few people can Program.
People fail to be experts in their Field because of four Things i know of.
1. The First thing they "Jump from one Position to another". Let me explain a bit. Many people when they join Companies they always want to impress for the sake of Promotion. They think if they get a promotion they will get more money and grow Career wise. That is true about money but not true about Growth Career wise. When you are Promoted, you are no longer do what you were doing in your previous position. That means you have to start fresh with something new and that means you will not be an expert in what you were doing in your previous position and even in the current position you might not be an expert, because you might get promoted again :).
Promotions will hinder your chances to be an Expert in your field. Some other people open companies to run away from this problem, So that they can keep on doing what they love forever and that is why we find expert not working for a particular company,but being outsourced by the Companies.
2. The Second reason why we don’t become experts in our fields is because “We don’t read”, A technologist should never stop reading, in fact it does not matter what is your career, everyone must always read. People should always remember that they got Jobs because they knew something and that something is from Books :) , now for you to be knowledgeable you need to read and never stop leaning and guard your knowledge well and not forgetting to have a good attitude towards your career.
I think people will never be experts if they don’t read, I don’t see the possibilities in that.
3. The Third reason that can make a Person not to be an expert in his/her field is they “Don’t Practice”. Practice make perfect , why is that, well to other people it looks stupid even to practice a Speech before a meeting or practice your answer before your boss ask you. Programmer know that they have to practice when they learn something new.You have to create those Small “hello world” examples, because without that, you will never understand the basics of what you are doing. You can read but if you don’t practice, you knowledge is useless because you cannot put them into practice.
4. The last reason I know that can make a person not to be an expert in his/her field “Adopt easily to new things”.
When you master something, and later something new comes, you must be able to learn and understand how it fit into your expertise and what is the different between what you knew before and what is the improvement and why should you use it. People must have resilience to change. I know Programmers who will Still initiate Developments in VB6, even if there is a better language that can make a Programmer to be more productive. The reason they stay there is that they don’t want to “Read, Don’t Practice, Cant Adopt to new things”.
I know it’s a difficult thing to do to master a Subject or Field. The reasons are different, some of the reasons are Social Pressure, e.g. my friend is a Project Manager and am a Programmer :) , well on my opinion, to be a Programmer is better than to be a Project Manager, people want Fancy Offices, come at work on his/her time and Drive a Big Car, Live in a Townhouse. But hey if you are an Expert in your Field, you can even earn more than your Project Manager. The Companies that always loose good Programmers should always remember that money does not mean "Authority" , a Position does. Programmers should be payed what they worth.This Article will be read by Programmers and Non Programmers.
Conclusion
When I Join my Employer I did not hope or wish for a Promotion, I did not want to be a Project Manager, CEO, President, IT Manager. I wanted to learn more. i wanted to be an expert in my field. I always read and Practice what I read and most of the time help people for free and write articles about what I know and accept if I don’t know something and have the attitude ”I don’t know everything”, I have to keep on learning , am a fool for a minute and after I ask am no longer a fool. Lastly edge you friends that is better you seek for knowledge than money. Its true is either you choose money or you choose knowledge, if you choose knowledge you will be the happiest person trust me.
But we must remember that technology comes and go ,as people do. We are growing older and the minds that was stronger in complex challenges , will not always perform the same. We will never be technical people forever. Now this is a decision you must take. Its either you become a programmer forever or a manager. being a Manager does not mean you cant be an expert. But due to the evolve of technology , your expertise will depreciate as times goes on. What do i mean by that. In the Future there will be new ways of doing things and the technology you master now , might be useless to the technology that will be used in the future, and in that case your expertise will be useless.
At some point if you realize that you are no longer young again, you must lead the young hungry blood and manage them. because not all of us can be programmers or technical people forever. we must see for a smooth exit to technical stuff slowly as we see we cant cope anymore.
Thank you