Don’s Blog

What to do if Your Company Won’t Provide Training

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A well-trained workforce is one of the best ways to ensure a company’s success. It seems like common knowledge, yet often companies provide either inadequate training or none at all. What should you do if you work for an organization like that? Some people might choose to coast, doing as little as possible. They might […]

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How to End a Support Call or Visit Gracefully

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Sometimes, people find it difficult to end conversations gracefully. Even normal, routine conversations can sometimes feel awkward to end. Then, there’s the time when you’re trying to help someone, perhaps an end user, who rambles on and on and won’t stop talking long enough for you even ask a question. Maybe a co-worker has stopped

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Condescension Karma

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Have you ever referred to the ID-10-T error? How about the PICNIC error? Or, the PEBCAK error? If you’re not familiar with them, ID-10-T spelled out looks like the word idiot. PICNIC is an acronym for “Problem in chair, not in computer.” and PEBCAK is an acronym for “Problem exists between chair and keyboard.” Many

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Techniques for Successfully Hiring and Managing Technical Staff

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My friend Paul Senness is an internationally recognized speaker and trainer on management and leadership. He’s also one of the most thoughtful people I’ve ever known. I asked Paul to let me interview him on how to successfully hire and manage technical staff. How to Hire In the IT world, there seems to be a

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IT Careers: How to Start and Build Your IT Career

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People who want to enter the IT field or those who are just entering it often ask me about the best way to get started in IT or how to build their IT career. In this post, I’ll outline some ideas for a basic plan. Start with IT Career Certification Start by pursuing a basic certification such

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Technical Competence: How Much is Enough?

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The first principle of IT customer service is deep technical competence. Often, I get asked how much technical competence is enough? The answer is in two parts. Deep Technical Skills are Required The first part is that you must have deep enough technical skills to fulfill your job description. Obviously, that’s going to vary from

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