Spiceworks Community Digest: Words of wisdom

Every IT professional has a moment where they realize the most important skills aren’t technical, they’re often philosophical. Maybe it’s after fixing a server only to see the next ticket immediately roll in, or maybe it’s when you’re rushing a deployment and make a tiny, costly error. It’s in these moments that we realize we need more than just technical understanding, we need wisdom.

A recent post in the Spiceworks Community asked everyone to share the best piece of career advice they had ever received. The responses prove that the collective knowledge of this community goes far beyond troubleshooting guides.

Career Strategy: Work Smarter, Not Harder

Many of the top pieces of advice revolved around personal efficiency, knowing your limits, and prioritizing health over a perceived need to constantly be “busy.”

• Tamara (Spiceworks): shared an insight from a mentor: “‘get in a hurry, end up behind’… So many times when I’ve rushed something, like sending off an email too quickly, I ended up making small errors that would end up taking twice as long to recover from.
• adrian_ych: “The most important thing my mentor ever said to me is ‘GO HOME’.”
• iwan.v.kanten: “If working overtime is the norm, you are not dedicated, you are bad at time management.”
• Lockout:  “Take your time and never rush through your work. Double check / triple check everything always. Don’t let the client rush you.”
• DrDeany: “Take your PTO. That is what it is there for. If you are afraid of taking your PTO, then you are either working for the wrong company or not adequately cross-training in your dept.”

The Technical Commandments

Beyond the philosophical advice, the community offered foundational guidelines for any successful IT professional, especially when dealing with tickets and users.

• TB33T received two pieces of foundational advice from their first manager:
  • “Document everything you do when working on tickets.”
  • “Learn networking and how to troubleshoot networks as it is the backbone of everything we do in IT.”
• General Tsao: “Know when to ask for help… Are you in over your head? ASK FOR HELP! We keep a consulting firm on standby for when we get in over our heads, OR we need someone to point a finger at when things go south.”
• Rharvey2: “just because you might outsource some of the work, does not mean that it is not your risk.”

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Head over to the Spiceworks Community and join the conversation!