Written by Robbie Nolan, Senior ICT Recruitment Consultant
Who deserves a second chance? If you work in IT then you do!
I watched a documentary about former US president Bill Clinton recently and it posed a very interesting question. One of Clinton’s former aides while being interviewed on camera said something along the lines of “How many second chances does a person deserve?”. Clinton’s view was “As many second chances as a person is prepared to try to take. Isn’t history loaded with people who have fallen, gotten up and fallen, gotten up and fallen and then gone on to do great things?”
My belief is that as long as your heart is in the right place, as long as your intentions are good and if you try hard to redeem yourself as much as possible (if needs be) then you deserve a second chance. How does our modern society determine this though? Who do we look to for courage when we are looking to redeem ourselves? I propose we take look at our pioneers, our disrupters, our tech entrepreneurs. Why? Because failure is part of the journey for all them who have gone on to do great things.
Here in Perth, we don’t have far to go to find our champions of second chances. Drop into SpaceCubed on St Georges Tce, Sync Labs in Leederville or Atomic Sky in Northbridge and you’ll find them there amid a hive of activity and and a coffee-charged buzz of excitement. They stare down failure and disappointment like olympic athletes stare down hurdles on the track. If you’ve come that far what’s the point in not getting up when you fall or a knocked down?
For many in IT now times are a changin. We are staring down the track at hurdles of new disruptive technologies that can either make us or reshape us. For example, so called ‘traditional’ IT roles are being bypassed as the hosted revolution cuts out the need for on-site or local service provider expertise.
My challenge to those in fear of being adversely affected by this disruption is this; if you want to have a second lease of life in the IT sector then you can have it but not if the fear of failure holds you back. I personally know of many IT professional re-skilling themselves in the latest Digital, Web and Mobile technologies that are hot in demand in the war for talent. Check out Pluralsight, Lynda.com and the many other online resouces to get you skilled up and market ready.
I am one of many IT Recruiters actively looking to help you get your second chance and carve a new path in your career. We all deserve a second chance if we are prepared to take it. After all, we live in the land of the fair go!
In my next post, I’ll investigate ways to use your training and learning of new skills
to get you in front of the right people – hiring managers.
