The things I have learned from the places I have worked

In 20 years I have worked for 13 organisations. Around 8 years of that has been in IT departments and the remainder on 'business transformation programmes' or in Finance departments. Most of my time with the organisations below was working on specific projects, or phases of projects. The shortest time with an organisation was a 6 week interim management role, the longest was three years. Some roles have been concurrent – at one point I was freelancing for a bank and teaching at two colleges.

I decided to note one thing I learned at each organisation. In chronological order, here we go.

• Massive central government IT department
  I am interested in computer systems, but not in massive central government IT departments.
  
  
• Small-medium sized software company
  Good projects are delivered by good teams.
  
  
• Business transformation services arm of a foreign government
  I am not as clever as I think I am.
  
  
• Major TelCo
  Respect your colleagues, even if they do work in Marketing.
  
  
• Major Utility Company
  The way that big consultancies integrate themselves into their clients is astonishing in terms of scale, sophistication and cost.
  
  
• Partially privatised national governement service
  A hard boss can be a good boss.
  
  
• Mid-sized law firm
  There are two sides to every argument, often more.
  
  
• The Insurance and Investment division of a major bank
  Senior management positions aren't that much fun really.
  
  
• A College
  There is no money in teaching, and not a lot of teaching.
  
  
• A specialist music college
  I don't like teaching teenagers either.
  
  
• Another major bank
  You have to manage consultants pro-actively.
  
  
• A global leader in financial services
  Some people could never succeed in small companies.
  
  
• Yet another major bank
  Have the confidence of your recommendations.
  
  
• The IT division of a major bank
  Process means nothing without service.

What I have learned from all of this is that there are three things I think you need to get right with work. Firstly, you need to respect the organisation that you work for. You need to feel that working for the organisation that you work for is something that you can take a little pride in, and you have to be able to justify that. Secondly, you need to feel satisfied by the work that you do. You need to feel that, on balance, you are going home with a feeling of a job well done. You need to feel that the work you do and you attitude to it means your abilities are being used well and developed appropriately. Thirdly, you need to enjoy the company of the people that you work with. In 20 years, I can honestly say that I scored 3 out 3 very briefly, many years ago, but since then 2 out of 3 has been pretty rare. However, I am fortunate in that with few exceptions I have always worked with great people.

Taking the advice of a friend I have edited this post removing the names of organisaitons I have previously worked for. Although there is no offence intended, at all, you never know how people will read things and I don't want to come a cropper.