How do you constantly improve your pay / career in the tech world?

[northernladyuk]

The old man has started focussing exclusively on the judicial sector and has extended his income stream into blackmail.

[Lance]

Hello all,

This is something I am increasingly coming across in the tech world. It is a very broad topic on how fast things change in the tech world.

A) There is ever increasing competition
B) The technology is changing at a faster and faster pace
C) Predictable tasks / codes are now done easily by computers
D) Specialists are valued more than people with broader skill sets

How do you stay on top when there are so many moving variables? For example you might be a contractor who specialises in a software, methodology, or something else. Within about 2/3 years it either becomes out-dated or there are more people that can do what you do so harder to justify a good price or you are behind some other new software, methodology that is now the 'In' thing.

If you want to move to a more 'soft skill' position then they want experience which is harder to get and also brings it's own challenges.

So how do you keep up?

There is probably no right answer to this but just seeking some good advice and mindsets from your experiences.

Point D is wrong for a start.

[DimPrawn]

Move to the cloud! (Azure).

qh

Because an outsourced offshore server means your job can't be.

[SueEllen]

Point D is wrong for a start.

Remember don't give the competition information they can use.

[northernladuk]

Remember don't give the competition information they can use.

It's Lance. He's feeding him incorrect incorrect information on purpose this this time to put him off the scent.

[WTFH]

Telling you would make you competition so I am afraid we will be unable to help.

Your accountant told me for a fiver.....

I just googled his accountant's website and the answer was there in the code. Would you like a copy of it?

[lukemg]

And yet there are more contractors than ever before....
Appreciate many perm jobs are now all contract.
I have experienced this, entire knowledge of servers rendered valueless virtually overnight while I sleepwalked into it.
Had to go perm, take 50% pay cut and rebuild into SM + PM work.
So - useful to keep an eye on which way the wind is blowing but very important to build up network of people who can take hiring decisions. I am seeing vast majority of jobs being passed to people they or someone on the team worked with elsewhere who can do the job ok and get on with everyone.
These people recreate the same teams over and over, you don't have to kiss-ass, but you do have to hustle a bit, get sh*t done and protect the boss from any grief.
GLA

[Jog On]

As a BA I find more experience is better. I don't find myself having to keep up with technologies that come and go, I just get calls/emails/linkedin messages about gigs based on experience.

They are for all sorts of projects, being 'seasoned' and able to adapt to/pick new things that come along is working for me. Rate doesn't change that much but I'm very happy with it and have no desire to get (back) into banking for higher rates or become a PM or programme manager.

The mix of good rate with not having as much stress as a PM is my sweet spot.

[WTFH]

A) There is ever increasing competition

No there isn't. Many people who were competition have retired/gone permanent. The people coming along now have little to no contracting experience and might have qualifications but not much real world work behind them.
Owning a Merc A160 doesn't make you the same as Lewis Hamilton.

B) The technology is changing at a faster and faster pace

Possibly, but not really. In the 1990s computer processors used to double in speed every 18 months. That has plateaued.

C) Predictable tasks / codes are now done easily by computers

That's kinda the point of computers, they always have been supposed to do the predictable stuff. Nothing new there.

D) Specialists are valued more than people with broader skill sets

Nope, experience is more valued.

So how do you keep up?

The Merc W108 first raced on 26/03/17 how does it keep up with someone driving a 67 plate Merc A160?

[sasguru]

Get more specialised.
Find a niche.
Budget 2K or more a year for training. And budget time for training, too (this is the hardest part).
Improve your maths to university level, if you can.
Every 10 years take a sabbatical and do a rigorous and deep course of training in something you like.

And most importantly, do what you enjoy and the money will follow. Not the other way round.