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Do You Have A Career Development Plan?

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Who Is Responsible For My Career?

Who Is Responsible For My Career?

Lurline from Jamaica, feels stuck in her current career and wants to be a database / business intelligence analyst. Here is Lurline’s question

Initially my goal was to become a business / Business Intelligence analyst but I have not gotten the chance to get the hands on that is so necessary.

At age 45 I think it has gotten worse I am thinking of changing career.

How can I get exposure to the top BI software and tools?

I am also interested in dong the SQL and database design course.

I have wasted 25 years in an organization and going no where.

Answering Lurline’s Question

First, just to be absolutely clear, learning SQL and / or database design is not the same thing as learning business intelligence. Though these fields are related, they are not the same thing, OK?

Secondly, some of the major business intelligence (BI) tools are designed to work with a specific databases.

So, you really have to decide which BI Stack you are comfortable with learning, e.g., SQL Server’s BI tools vs. Oracle’s BI tools.

Finally, download and install the free / evaluation copies of the Business Intelligence (BI) Stack / Tools you have chosen from the vendor’s website, buy a good book (there are lots of them) and then just learn it …

P.S. Don’t Wait On Someone Else To Do … What You Can Do For Yourself.

By this I mean, you have waited so many years for your employer to give you this opportunity … why not just learn it by yourself?

  1. Take Responsibility For Your Learning:

    It used to be that when you were hired by an employer, you worked at that employer for a really long time.

    That employer was responsible for your training, college education and in exchange they got your loyalty and dedication.

    That era, is long gone and is not going coming back again. You are now totally responsible for your skills, your learning and your own personal development.

    While a few, really exceptional companies will train you and invest in your personal development, the majority will not.

  2. Improve Your Self Study Skills:

    Technology changes so rapidly, and there are so many facets to learning, that to cover all your bases, you have to do some personal study.

    Their will be times when the skills / tools that you expect to learn will not be affordable or available or perhaps convenient and whenever that happens, the only way forward is to learn / study by yourself.

    The internet and Search Engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo make it easy to find information on almost any topic.

    Granted, there are disadvantages to learning with Search Engines: the lack of curriculum, study guides or roadmaps and the difficulty of learning from static web pages, Search Engines can provide you with incredibly useful information.

  3. Make Your Own Opportunities In Life:

    Instead of sitting around, waiting for your employer to do something, set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Timely) goals for yourself.

    Plan what you are going to learn, when you are going to learn it, how you are going to learn it and even who you are going to lean it with (self-study, college, online training, textbooks, etc.).

    The idea is to shake of any apathy and get into the habit of taking action … the kind of action that will benefit your career or result in a bigger paycheck down the road :-)

That is it. Now, you know what you need to do to change your career and your life, go do it!

[Ask IT Career Coach] is a Career Advice Newsletter for Information Technology (IT) professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, data analysts, database developers, technical writers, project managers and software testers.

If you, have a challenging question about your career, submit it here and we will answer yours just as we answered this question submitted by a reader …


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