Kathryn Fletcher
ABSTRACT
Most career development articles present advice on how to advance into management roles. I am among those information technology professionals who do not aspire to become supervisors and directors and are content with their current jobs. Choosing to stay in a role presents its own challenges, as there is a fine line between contentment and complacency. The information technology manager needs the plateaued employee to remain a productive member of the work team, to be willing to learn new skills for new projects, and to adapt to different organizational structures over time. The employee needs to maintain a professional network and keep skills updated in case a reorganization or budget crisis leads to an unexpected job search. In this paper, I will discuss what I am doing to remain a satisfied and productive employee in the hopes that others might benefit from my experiences. I will also share tips from a few information technology managers who supervise one or more plateaued employees. The paper presentation will include time for discussion with those attendees who also find themselves in a career plateau either by choice or by circumstance and with those supervisors who manage plateaued employees.
- Lee, Patrick Chang Boon. 1999. Career strategies, job plateau, career plateau, and job satisfaction among information technology professionals. SIGCPR '99: Proceedings of the 1999 ACM SIGCPR Conference on Computer Personnel Research. (New Orleans, LA, USA). SIGCPR '99. ACM, New York, NY, 125--127. DOI=http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/299513.299632 Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Lee, Patrick Chang Boon. 2003. Going beyond career plateau: Using professional plateau to account for work outcomes. Journal of Management Development, Volume 22 Issue 6, 538--551.Google Scholar
- Nishiyama, Mo. 2014. A gratitude journal: The first 60 days. SIGUCCS Plugged In. Volume 2 Issue 3, page 5. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rozny, Noël. 2012. How a career plateau can help you get to the next level. myPathfinder Career Blog. http://myfootpath.com/mypathfinder/career-plateau-level/Google Scholar
- Sharma, Surajit Sen. Stuck on a career plateau. http://www.hrcrossing.com/article/270059/Stuck-on-a-Career-Plateau/Google Scholar
- WVU Information Technology Services. http://it.wvu.edu/Google Scholar
- WVU Professional Development Institute http://mla.hr.wvu.edu/pdiGoogle Scholar
Index Terms
- My life as an information technology sous chef: managing to grow professionally while in the same job
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