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CM Journal Articles HR Corner - Layoffs, credit crunch, bad economy and CM 2.0!
CM Journal Articles HR Corner - Layoffs, credit crunch, bad economy and CM 2.0!
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 The sky is falling, banks are failing, the dollar is taking a roller coaster ride and the price of gasoline is rising faster than the national debt. Should CM professionals be worried? Perhaps it's time for us all to start planning on opening up our hotdog stands so that we can make ends-meet during these challenging times. Don't look now, but companies are hiring CM experts and actually complaining that they cannot find enough CM experts to meet their needs. The reason why is summed up in one word - "Compliance". Make sure that your skills are tuned up to meet the need of businesses who realize that they simply cannot run the business without good CM experts onboard.
The bank going out of business This week I received a call from a recruiter working for a large bank that has been in the news. I was not expecting this bank to be hiring while it was being taking over by another larger institution. Apparently, an audit had uncovered that developers were building and deploying their own code into production, which is a clear violation of commonly accepted IT Controls. Now they have to hire a bunch of CM experts so that they can continue to run their business. It didn't matter that the company was firing lots of people - they need some CM experts and they needed them now. How are your skills? It's true that some CM folks are not well positioned for a downturn. They have been accustomed to following their old procedures by force of habit and done little to tune up their skills. That's a mistake. We all need to sharpen the saw and improve our skills each and every day. This should include technical skills, process engineering (e.g. knowledge of standards and frameworks) and the essential "soft" skills. I remember observing one of my more knowledgeable colleagues running through an explanation of how to do a build and deploy. There is no possible way that anyone could understand what this colleague was saying, and he was totally unaware that his communication skills were truly lacking. We all need to assess our technical, process and interpersonal skills on an ongoing basis. . Presentation of resume and online networking Another dear friend of mine asked me to look at his resume recently. Everything that he had listed was true. But I also could not figure out what he did either. Resumes and online networking profiles need to paint a picture of the talents and skills that we bring to the table. But we must present them in a way that makes sense to the hiring manager. Truthfully, your real background is not important. What is important is that the manager reads your resume and immediately fires off a note or picks up the phone to chat with you about when you would be available to start your new (higher paying) job. That means that we need to post the information that is relevant to the job that we are seeking. You only get a few seconds to make a good online "first impression". That means that you need to sharpen your resume to highlight your skills that are relevant to the position that you are seeking to land. Multiple identities Having multiple versions of your resume is essential. All your information must be 100% truthful, but that still leaves a lot of room for emphasizing the key points. I have several versions of my resume and systematically test which ones get me the most responses and yes, I am often surprised. The sky is not falling, although we are certainly in turbulent economic times Being a CM expert is an excellent place to be right now. We add value and help the organization achieve its goals. Sharpening your skills in terms of technology, process and "soft" skills will certainly put you in demand. Feel free to drop me a note with questions about your job search and resume strategies. Remember you should be thinking about bringing your own skills up to CM 2.0! You can also contact me if you would like to network on job search strategies and improving your own skills. Bob Aiello is the Editor-in-Chief for CM Crossroads and an independent consultant specializing in Software Process Improvement including Software Configuration and Release Management. Mr. Aiello has over 25 years experience as a technical manager in several top NYC Financial Services firms where he had had company-wide responsibility for CM, often providing hands-on technical support for enterprise Source Code Management tools, SOX/Cobit compliance, build engineering, continuous integration and automated application deployment. Bob is a long standing member of the Steering Committee of the NYC Software Process Improvement Network (CitySPIN), where he serves as the chair of the CM SIG. Mr. Aiello holds a Masters in Industrial Psychology from NYU and a B.S. in Computer Science and Math from Hofstra University. You may contact Mr. Aiello at raiello@acm.org or link with him at http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobaiello .
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... I read with interest your comment regarding the audit of the financial company that uncovered developer changes applied directly to production code. A few years ago, my former boss took on a job as the ?Build Manager? at a very large bank headquartered in the Pacific Northwest. He left after 3 months having experienced this type of culture and realizing that he would not be empowered to make necessary changes. This bank hasn?t fared well lately?. |
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