It’s okay if you don’t know everything
I was always the best technician. I never had any problems communicating with other people in the shop and I always knew what needed to be done. I thought that this alone would make me successful. But, I was wrong. It turns out that communication is key, not just technical skill. Technical skill can only get you so far — if you can’t communicate with your team, you’ll never be successful. For a long time, I didn’t believe this and it held me back from success. Thankfully, I learned my lesson and now am a much better communicator. If you’re struggling with communication like I did, don’t worry — it’s something that can be improved upon! Just keep at it and you’ll get there. And, who knows? You might even become the best technician like me!
No matter how many years I spend in my career, I was still hearing the same feedback: “you know, you are very technically competent, but it is very difficult to communicate with you.” It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it — in fact, I’ve heard it in every company where I worked.
I realized that it’s not just my problem- it’s a global one- when I watched the British comedy series IT crowd. In the very first episode, a computer user entered the office of IT guy and beat him with her shoe off.
I’m not saying that my communication skills were terrible back then. In fact, I would say they average. But if you want to get ahead in the computer industry, average just isn’t going to cut it.
Since computer software is intangible, explaining problems that arise from it can be difficult. You couldn’t go to a mechanic and ask him to pour gasoline on your car and then light it on fire — and if he refused, you probably wouldn’t take your complaints to his boss. If you did, people would think you were crazy and no one would listen to you.
However, software is different — requests are often made that would be detrimental to the customer if carried out. They will not stop asking me to do it until I give in.
If you want to work in a support role, your communication skills need to be not just good — they need to be great. Unfortunately, this can present difficulties for introverts.
What if I can’t make it?
When I was about to leave my old company for a new one, a colleague showed up and started asking me for technical help that I just didn’t know how to handle.
The communication was unclear, I didn’t have all the information on the situation, and my colleague just said “it’s my problem” without any further explanation. He also started declaring at company meetings that everything was my responsibility and that I’m only trying to take revenge on the company because I’m leaving. This regexpression of events made me feel uncomfortable and pressured.
In politics, my colleague could put his feet on the table and get rid of his own problems while I was left behind feeling tortured and stuck in the company. He knew that after I left, he could blame me for the whole problem and its failures.
I stewed over it for a while- I was ready to pack up and leave for good. But then I realized that would be childish, so instead I decided to get over my ego and admit that I didn’t know what to do. It’s not easy admitting you’re unsure of something, especially at work. We all want to seem competent in front of our colleagues. But by owning up to the fact that you don’t have all the answers shows strength rather than weakness.
The next meeting rolled around, and I consciencely vocalized my struggles. What was the worst that could happen? They fire me — but I had already given notice. After affirming my lack of knowledge, my colleague replied “you have to know.” but no one else understand the problem enough to agree on that. And with that, the whole episode ended. The political games and threats were suddenly gone; I wasn’t Mr. Omniscient or perfect, but rather just a guy who didn’t know — and it was okay. In fact, everything worked out for the better: not only did I leave on good terms but even became friends with by former boss in time.
Discovery of the year
One magical thing I discovered is that I don’t have to know everything.I don’t have be Mr. Perfect, the central brain of humanity. When someone wants something from us and we can’t do it, we tend go into defensive mode: “wrong assignment”, “wrong person”, “wrong conditions”, etc., and throw water all around us.
When someone subliminally tells us we’re not good enough for them, the best thing to do is agree. Yes, I’m not good enough for you. Yes, I don’t know what it is you want from me and can’t handle it. It’s a sort of self-confidence to not get our worth from others’ opinions but instead give value to our own judgments.
In my opinion, I have already worked with enough IT engineers to know that I am not weak. On the contrary, I believe that my experience puts me above average. If someone does not believe this, then they can easily go find someone else who will better suit their needs best.
Being well-liked by my team members was more important to solving technical problems than being the smartest person on the team. If anything, we tend to subconsciously like people who are below us and don’t like people who are better than us. People usually dislike pushy individuals, so even if you’re not great at problem-solving, being affable will take you further than trying to be the best.
With that, I realized that my technical results are not tied to my financial evaluation at all. In the end, everything is handled by the company’s management and HR- who monitors the labor market and thinks in terms of “the average price for such a qualified person is this much, and we want to be in line or above with those companies.” When it comes down bonuses, most of the time no one actually knows how good your work is. And other people’s evaluations matter more than you’d think- which depends more on if others like you versus how big of a tech expert you may be.
I still enjoy playing with technology and exploring its potential, but I now realize that I’m not the only one on the team who is interested in doing so.
Great technical people with minimal contribution to the company
I have come to realize that excellent technical skills are not always tied to a great business or product, though us technicians would often like it if they were.
The story line is always the same: a technician who arrives at his job completely excited and ready to work, only to find that he knows ten programming languages and can solve top technologies. He falls asleep on the keyboard and wakes up with keys printed on his face.
This technician is great because he likes to face new challenges which makes him take on new projects. He starts working on them day and night, but usually works alone since others would only hinder him. Out of the 10 people in his company, one person is like that.
Although he put immense effort into the project for a year, continuously developing it with cutting-edge technologies and doing the work of five people, he is now finishing up. He doesn’t enjoy this because it does not present new challenges for him. So, he starts searching for other opportunities that excite him more and leaves the company.
The company is now in a very precarious situation; their genius technician has left and they are left with a project that no one knows how to maintain. This is because the former technician never bother to write documentation or take the time to train his less talented colleagues.
The company now needs to hire and train several new people to work on the project. Although development was fast at first, the project has since stalled. New technicians often take months to fully understand everything, and knowledge gradually spreads throughout the team.
In the best-case scenario, when the project is completed, the team moves on to other things. However, I have found that more often than not, the company finds that it requires many more people and resources than anticipated and kills the entire project. So essentially, the company just wrote off the annual salary of one top person as well as other associated costs without making any progress.
Consequently, I am well-acquainted with the belief that being a top technical individual isn’t as important to a company as many businesses don’t want to admit.
Don’t do it all myself
After moving into my new, old house, I started to think differently.Classifieds server brought me a great offer for an elderly huge house near nature almost for free- it had several floors and the mortgage cost less than renting a studio apartment in the city. And so I took it!
I relate to people who are living in a huge, beautiful house by themselves. I understand how much work is needed to keep the home running and renovated, as well as taking care of myself.
While living alone in that big house, I slowly realized how small I was. No matter what I did, there were only 24 hours in a day and two hands to do it with.
This experience changed my view of the world — I realized that I can’t do everything myself. before, I thought disadvantages were only a few and far between.
Unfortunately, to this day I still encounter team members who are just as naive as I once was. They believe that they can manage their own email solution, build their own accounting software, do their taxes on their own, fix their car themselves — and all without having to pay anyone for assistance.
I feel more at ease both professionally and personally when I collaborate with others to find solutions instead of resorting back to old habits of trying to fix things on my own. This strategy has become especially useful in the workplace where handling issues solo can be overwhelming. Not only does this approach help take some pressure off me, but it also opens up opportunities for bonding and brainstorming sessions with colleagues that we may not have had before.
The main reason I am no longer anxious is because people don’t come up to me and tell me that what I’m working on is pointless, like they used to. Before, it would happen often enough that hearing it once made me second-guess if my work was valuable. But now, even when I’m working with colleagues who are aware of the non-triviality of my project, more than one person knows that what we’re doing isn’t trivial.
Like the Realtor I entrusted to sell my house, he didn’t take photos of the property, stage it, or do any sort of bookkeeping. His main added value was that he pulled the whole process forward and delivered the final product.
I understand that my ability to take charge of the company’s problems and see them through to completion is what sets me apart. When I start working on a problem, it is more valuable to the company if I am the one who calls meetings, drives progress, and keeps everyone in communication.
Before I was an employee, if someone had given me a technical problem, I would’ve disappeared for a week. And when that person asked me what was going on, instead of calmly explaining the situation, I would start yelling and tell them it was their fault. Believe it or not, I used to be just like that.
I told my real estate agent that I wanted him to be communicative and honest with me from the beginning. Too many times have I gone to pick up my car from the mechanic, only to find out he didn’t do half of what I asked, without even letting me know. This happens far too often for my liking, and it makes me question why people offer help when they’re just going to make things worse. If I’m going to have control over a situation, i might as well just do it myself rather than waste time relying on others.
I don’t provide myself to companies as a never-ending supply of knowledge because I understand that they’re only looking for someone who will obey without question. Slaves are paid less than those who can take initiative and solve problems, something that doesn’t require an extensive amount of intelligence or schools degrees. Instead, what you need is people skills, teamwork mentality, drive and the ability to find solutions instead of obstacles.
The reason most people get fired isn’t because of a lack intelligence or skill, it’s because they let their issues fest for too long without ever seeking help.
Oh yes, the communication.
