Career Opportunities

The High-Tech Career Handbook

A weekly ComputorEdge Column by Douglas E. Welch

Technical Intuition

July 20, 2001


** Listen to this column on your computer, iPod or other audio player **

Listen | Listen (Backup)


A member of the Tech Podcast Network


While training plays a part in all high tech careers, your high-tech intuition plays an important role, as well. Your ability to work a technical problem from start to finish, evaluate new technologies and apply them in new and different ways is something that can only be gained through "hands-on" experience.


Ignore at your peril


You have all probably felt it at one time or another. Some system isn't working but you seem to know exactly where to start your search for a solution. Or you get a presentation on a new technology and there is a nagging feeling that something is missing. Maybe you have a feeling that there must be a better way to do something. This nagging feeling is your intuition trying to tell you something.


Whether you call it a gut feeling, a hunch or something else, intuition is your sub-conscious mind trying to get your attention. The worst thing you can do is to ignore it. Both your career and your life will quickly prove to you why it is almost a crime to ignore your intuition. I have many bad experiences that were a direct result of ignoring what my intuition was trying to tell me. I can guarantee that you will kick yourself afterwards.


Perhaps your boss wants to install the latest & greatest software, but you have a hunch that it is missing something important. You could just go along with your boss's wishes, but you would be better advised to find out what is making you feel odd. Nothing is worse than installing 100 or more copies of a software application only to have the users find a fatal flaw within the first week.


Hard to say


While your intuition can help you, it can be difficult to communicate your concerns to others. The best solution is to try and locate the source of your concern before taking it to your boss. Bounce the problem off your friends and co-workers and do some research on the web. This will allow you to turn your hunch into something more substantial that you can present to management. Of course, this research might also help to allay any concerns you had. Perhaps you simply didn't have enough information and this is why your intuition gave you a warning. You don't want to be seen as someone who is always "crying wolf", but similarly, you don't want to allow problems to occur when a little thought and research could have prevented them. You will quickly find that the most annoying problems are those you foresaw, but didn't take the time to stop.


Building on experience


Most high-tech workers have a fairly good intuition for high-tech systems, but there are ways to improve it. Every problem that you face, every solution that develops is a building block for your intuition. You should have some way of storing your past solutions and recalling them when needed. A lot of this information is simply retained in your head, but a simple database can be very useful, especially as you gain more years of experience. The more esoteric a solution, the more important it is to write it down. There have been several occasions when I had to really wrack my brain to remember a solution that I worked on over a year ago so I could help a co-worker in a current situation. If I had written it down somewhere it would have been much easier. You can't keep everything in your head.


Keeping your solutions in some written form also allows you to quickly and easily pass your knowledge on to others. Your knowledge, whether in your head or in your files, will be a major factor in being effective in any job. You can use it to build your status in your current company or lay the groundwork for your next job.


Regardless of how you use your intuition, never ignore it. Whenever you feel that something is not right, there is a reason. Whether it is a true problem or simply a case of not having enough information, you should allow your intuition to be your guide. Cultivate it at all times. It will serve you well in any high-tech career.


PodCast

RSS Feed with enclosures

Support the Career-Op Podcast


Get your copy today!

Now Available from CafePress.com

<%=INSERTTEXT%>