250: Focus on the Core Principles and Keep Reinventing Yourself with Sanjeev Sharma

<p>Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Sanjeev Sharma. He was an early practitioner and coach of the Scrum methodology and has become a world-renowned expert and thought leader in DevOps as well as a pioneer of DevOps at IBM.</p> <p>He has authored two bestselling books, “DevOps for Dummies” and “The DevOps Adoption Playbook” and he is now a thought leader in the emerging area of DataOps.</p> <p>In this episode, Phil and Sanjeev Sharma discuss the importance of not getting distracted by the tech and ending up chasing certifications. They also talk about how to achieve a proper understanding of what it is that your customer needs.</p> <p>Sanjeev also shares why initially you need to focus on learning how to learn and the core principles of IT.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>KEY TAKEAWAYS:</strong></p> <p><strong>(4.44) TOP CAREER TIP</strong></p> <p>Do not get distracted by the technology, focus on the core principles. In the podcast, Sanjeev explains what they are. As well as how not to fall into the trap of chasing certifications you don´t really need.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(9.58) WORST CAREER MOMENT</strong></p> <p>Mid-career Sanjeev walked into a project with an overconfident attitude. He thought he knew what the customer needed and had all of the answers. Luckily, the manager from the client-side took him aside and asked Sanjeev to pause and actually listen to what they thought they needed.</p> <p> </p> <p>His doing that averted a potential disaster. But, by that point, a lot of people´s time had already been wasted. It taught Sanjeev to never make assumptions and always listen to the customer.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(12.00) CAREER HIGHLIGHT</strong></p> <p>Being made a Distinguished Engineer while working for IBM is Sanjeev´s career highlight, to date. Getting to that stage requires you to be reviewed and nominated by your peers. It felt amazing to get that recognition and achieve one of his biggest career goals.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>(14.24) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T</strong>