Comments on: How To Become a Highly Paid IT Professional (And Be Rich)

By: zymex

zymex — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 09:59:45 +0000

I really appreciate your article on how 2bcome an IT Guru. I’ve been reading about and practising IT since i was young, but i’ve nt had any formal training yet. I’ll appreciate if U can give me professional advice abt taking IT as a career.

2ndly, can IT professionals consult? And what’s the best way 2 go about it.

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:58:18 +0000

@Asif – in fact there was a module I completed during my MBA on entrepreneurialism. It can be taught, and indeed it is. Passion and energy are included within the module. I know you can take specific MBA modules (without committing to the full course) so maybe you could look into finding one at a business school in your local area?

By: Asif Shah

Asif Shah — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:28:53 +0000

Dave I think we all need to be passionate about anything we do if it is a rocky road. Or else we wouldn’t have kids would we. Lol. If you are an entrpreneur and ploughing lots of your own time and energy into something then you must have passion or you will give up and it will all be a waste.
Maybe there should be an entrepeneurs graduate school where this stuff is taught?

By: Dave Crain

Dave Crain — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:37:30 +0000

When I talk about passion I think it’s more geared toward drive and perseverance. Being an entrepreneur is hard enough, and with all the disappointment, roadblocks, and outright failures you will encounter, if you are not passionate about what you are undertaking you will be sorely pressed to see it through.

Agreed though that these are “squishy” traits.

By: simonstapleton

simonstapleton — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:39:37 +0000

@Dave – that’s an interesting view. Passion? Perhaps hard to define. Although no more or less than ‘charisma’. In both cases, you know it when you see it.

You know, I figure that we have a slightly differing view on ‘passion’. By your comment, I think you see passion as an enabler to entrepreneurship – it is the cause of the effect, and you might just be right about that. I see passion as the effect where entrepreneurship is the cause.

Perhaps we’re both right? Entrepreneurialism and Passion are cyclical and co-dependent – right? Whether they are cause or effect, who cares?

By: Dave Crain

Dave Crain — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:17:53 +0000

Simon,

Great article and lots to think about. For me, the most important point directly related to the subject, is toward the end where you talk about creating “value”.

As you correctly state, value is different from profit or cash, but they certainly sleep in the same bed. The more value you can create, regardless of which path you walk, the more rewards will be made available to come your way.

It’s interesting to see you put so much emphasis on charisma when speaking of the entrepreneurship route. I’ve always felt that passion is the number one quality for successful entrepreneurship. Of course, there is no “one” answer, but it got me thinking that maybe there are different critical qualities depending on the situation; charisma may be critical for intrapreneurship inside a company, whereas passion may be critical for traditional risk-taking entrepreneurship. Something to noodle on…

Regardless, good post with lots to think about.