The other evening I attended a technology industry event at a somewhat-trendy bar downtown.  The event was intended to foster networking between newer entrepreneurial startups and more established tech companies.  I eventually found myself comparing notes with a guy I’ll call “Sam.”  Sam is responsible for sales at his company and as with most sales professionals; the conversation with Sam wasn’t too difficult.  He clearly wasn’t trying to confuse anyone.  As I watched Sam interact with others I began to suspect that he was an expert at getting his message across with an optimal signal-to-noise ratio.

Shortly after Sam and I began speaking we were joined by another individual.  I’ll call this guy “Ted”.  We made introductions around and then I asked Ted what his company did.  Ted seemed to struggle with his description of his business.  After Ted circled the bulls eye for several minutes Sam asked him to boil his business model down to the basic value proposition. Ted seemed to struggle with this too and so Sam helped him through the short conversation with some prompting.

I found the conversation about a basic value statement interesting.  Once we’d arrived at Ted’s business the conversation became less interesting.  Ted began expounding the benefits of his favorite flavor of technology.  Before I wandered off I heard things like “no viruses”, “lower cost of ownership” and “a true Unix operating system…”.  Not much real information and not much in a message structure that I found entertaining.

Here are a few quick tips for the “Teds” out there:

1. Always be ready to quickly describe your value proposition. You should practice that statement regardless of your position in the company.
2. Keep the value proposition short and relatively non-technical. It doesn’t need to be so simple that Uncle Joe could understand it, unless Uncle Joe works in your industry, but it does need to be basic enough that others in your industry understand quickly, with minimum effort.
3. If someone asks you what you do and you are able to respond with a concise answer then by all means also give them your contact information!  Hand them your business card; provide them with a URL or something else memorable.  Write that information on a matchbook, cocktail napkin or just scratch it into their forearm with your car keys.  Don’t assume that someone will remember your business contact information after a casual conversation, especially if that causal environment also includes libations.
4. Read your audience.  Be cautious about providing too much detail unless you are confident the person you are speaking to understands your topic and wants to dive into it.  There are some people I just don’t get into elevators with.  Zealots are always near the top of that list.

Continuous learning is a critical puzzle piece to staying competitive in today’s business world.  In the IT world specifically, as we all know, the only constant is the fact that processes are changing and new processes are evolving all the time!  In order to keep up with the learning curve, we must make continuous learning a high priority.

At Source Allies, continuous learning takes place in many forms including:

• Training – courses attended over the past year include: AFS & Kerberos Best Practices, No Fluff Just Stuff, Tuning and Improving your Agility and Spring One 2GX. 
• Reading – Source Allies has an internal book club that meets on a weekly basis to review a specific book.  Books that have been and are currently being read and reviewed include TDD by Example and Effective Java, 2nd Edition. 
• Weekly meetings – each Monday, after hours, the Source Allies team meets to discuss current projects and share techologies that are being used on these projects. 
• Technical presentations – team members present at least yearly on the technologies they are involved closely with.
• Internships
• Mentoring

The examples above are just a small sample of the continuous learning opportunities available to our team at Source Allies.

Continuous learning should be an important part of your career development goals.  What do you want to learn?  How do you want to apply what you learn at your client site and to your projects?  During this time of year, many of us are reviewing our personal career goals.  In doing so, make sure you identify and include your learning goals… but don’t stop there!  Make sure you focus on these goals and review your progress often throughout the year.

You’ll notice that when you are focused on learning, it will not only grow your value but it also makes you more passionate about your projects and work in general.  It’s easy to get in a rut if you’re not focusing on staying ahead of the learning curve.

Specific knowledge and skills become obsolete with time but learning how to and having a passion for learning is a permanent skill that will carry you throughout your career and beyond!