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IT survivor: 7 tips for career growth in tight times

IT survivor: 7 tips for career growth in tight times

Recession fears have tech jobs in jeopardy. Here's how to outlast, outrun, and outsmart the competition

IT survivor tip No. 5: Be a peacock, not a turtle

Now is not the time to crawl under your desk and hide until the scary man with the pink slips goes away.

"The biggest trap people fall into during a downturn is to try and fly under the radar until it all blows over," says Nina Buik, president of HP's Connect user group. "Now is the time to show how you can make a difference. Be the person in your organization who sends an e-mail to the CIO saying, 'I've got a great idea I need to share.' You'll stand head and shoulders above the rest."

If you don't sell yourself, nobody will. But when you blow your own horn, sound less like a marching band and more like Miles Davis.

One of the best ways to promote yourself is to get other people to do it for you, says John Baschab, senior vice president at Technisource.

"People are always looking for anecdotal evidence of your performance," Baschab says. "If you're on the help desk and someone sends you an e-mail thanking you for your help, ask them if they can send a copy to your boss. When you get verbal kudos, get them written down and sent to the right place."

The praise of others is always worth more than self-puffery, agrees Buik. "But your boss may not know about all the little things you do. Take a win you've helped generate for the company, find someone else involved in it, and ask them to write it up for you and post it on your LinkedIn profile. Then offer to do the same for them."

Reminding your bosses all the wonderful things you've done is a start, but it isn't enough. You need to keep putting your hand up for new projects that keep revenue flowing.

"What you did last month is a lot less relevant than what you're going to do next month," notes Finch. "It's all about the bottom line. You could be Albert friggin' Einstein and still get fired if they have nothing for you to do for the next three months."

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