System Programmer 

How did you get your current job?
Through a friend.

What was the application process?
An interview, and my resume.

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
The interview was directly with the company’s owner.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
No.

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
Not exactly. The employer opened a new position within the company for me.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
NO. I had to learn from books and smashing my nose into brick wall from time to time.

On the tecnical side I’m expert in, I had no problems at all.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Yes for the IBM side. No from the lower platform side.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
N/A

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Depends. If the person is highly technical and seasoned there is not much to say.

To a newbie:

1. Be timely on arriving and on leaving the workplace.

2. Be organized.

3. Leave your personal problems at the workplace doorstep. Pick it up when going home.

4. Be proactive instead of reactive.

5. Plan ahead.

6. Avoid stress by self-stressing yourself. There is too much stress all around us. No need to add your personal stress to that. It will only make matters worse.

7. Never use EXCUSES. Tell the truth.

8. With superiors, be non-technical when explaining something. Not all managers are technically wise people.

9. Be sociable and accessible.

10. Avoid any possibility of confrontation with anyone inside the company

11. Gossip is a no-no.

12. When fighting a problem, stop. Let it go, do something else and then come back to the problem. Sleep over it if that helps. Works for me.

13. Keep your desk neat. The only things in front of you should be related to the work at hand.

14. Avoid multitasking. There is no way to have the brain doing more than one thing at a time.

Compare that to driving a car at 60 miles/h and reading a newspaper at the SAME time. Get the picture of what’s going to happen? It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.

15. One work (at a time) well done talks by itself. Two or more badly done talks about you. Not good.

16. Change multitasking to prioritizing. See what nice things happens.

17. Plan ahead for work and specially for meetings. Try to find out what the meeting is all about and question yourself on what might be asked to you. This way you will have the answers without wasting time.

18. Learn to say “NO” to the boss for new assignments whenever you are overloaded. The impossible you do it now, the miracles will take a bit longer.

19. Never ever lie or try to outsmart your boss. Chances are that he/she already knows the answer before asking it to you.

20. If you have some explanation do do, do it non-technically(to a non-technical person) and keep it short. You have two ears and one mouth. Why? To hear twice as much as you talk.

21. Never go to a meeting unprepared. Two “I don’t know” is sure bad news for you.

22. Be sure to have proof of what you say. If you can’t back it up with data the you are dead meat.

23. Never antagonize the boss, no matter how right you are and how wrong he/she is. He/she can fire you but it doesn’t work the other way around.

24. Work smart not necessarily hard.

25. If you are working too hard it means that you are missing something. Work should be fun and not a day in the Holy Inquisition chambers.

26. Learn new technologies, keep in sync with your technical knowledge.

27. Never sit idle. Do something when you have some free time in your hands. Excellent opportunity to learn new stuff.

27. Be cooperative. Do not enclose yourself in a cocoon.

28. Have n mind hat more often than not, promotions come from the social interaction rather than technical knowledge. This doesn’t mean that technical knowledge does not have it own weight.

29. Never “ASSUME” anything. When in doubt, ASK. Better waste 5minutes n an explanation than 30 minutes explaining yourself why you did things wrong in first place.

30. Read people. Be aware of their body language, seek out the “forces” and “weaknesses” of each person in your group.

31. Do not capitalize on other people “weakness”. Possibly he/she need more help than willing to ask.

32. Always keep a ‘Win-Win” situation in sight.

33. Always keep in mid that there is a HUGE difference between an EXCUSE and an EXPLANATION.

I guess this should do for now.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Computer knowledge- IBM mainframe and/or lower platforms.

Personal skills are what leads you upwards most of the time so make friends and not enemies. In some companies you are looked at as a rival instead of a help. Again social interaction is the key to overcome and change hearts and minds.

Be neat in your presentation (if applicable). Talk smoothly, give credits to those who deserve it. There is no “I” in TEAM.

Work looking up, to higher positions within the company. it’s hard but a must.

Try to be “indispensable”.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Yes. For IBM area, a vast amount of knowledge is needed. For Other types of data processing, books,classes might help.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
The same ones I would give as above (PART 3 BOX 1).