Technology Boom is Making Jobs

It seems that the technology s booming faster than the babies did once upon a time, and leaving some work places short enough on qualified technology experts that they are in some cases resorting to drastic measures to entice the right people in.

The snag in the system is that the lifespan of an employable technology worker is exceptionally short. The following excerpt is from an article in Business Week:

Companies tend to hire people with IT engineering degrees, use those skills for five years, and then they want a new crop, says Cappelli, who researches human resource practices and talent management.

There was once a time when a man working in the tech industry could make a good living and have a steady career - my father was working as a computer programmer in the 1970's and making $100 an hour at it. Today, however, the landscape is changing fast and those working in technology have to move faster to keep up with the pace it is setting.

To stay in the field a person needs to be working in their work time and studying the next big thing in tech programming in their free time. It makes it a job that requires as much dedication as any home based business, so I would think that it would be one that could be very well suited to looking toward as a home business base.

With the evolving technology and the revolving door on big business tech jobs, it would seem to me that the market is primed for those who have the skills to set up consulting businesses where they can work for however long the larger company needs their specialized skills, then move on to the next business in a freelancer style when their skills are no longer what the first company requires.

The freelancing IT marketplace can work to keep the person with the skills working and give the companies the workers they need, when they need them, without the need for hiring and firing regular employees - which can earn a big business a bad reputation.

If you are skilled in IT engineering, or looking for a new direction to go in your education, you might think of how your skills could work in this growing and ever evolving needs market segment.

Work Challenge

In my last post I discussed how people that run a small business from home might work in a fifteen minute break for every four hours of work time. It is not something I have managed myself to implement, but I am going to make a strong effort to make it work for me. So, a challenge...

Schedule your work day to include specific breaks and stick to that break plan.

I am going to set up my work day so that after every three and a half hours of working at the computer doing my writing, I take a fifteen minute break. I will also have a thirty minute lunch break in which all I am allowed to do is prepare and slowly eat a scheduled mid work day light meal.

I am going to keep this up for one week starting tomorrow, then at the end of the week, on the following Wednesday, I will report how successful (or unsuccessful) I was in maintaining my 3.5 hours of work and fifteen minute break. And if it gave me better focus in the time that I was at the computer working.

If anyone else wants to participate in the experiment, I would love to hear their results.

Working at Home and Fifteen Minute Breaks

According to the Department of Labor, there are several states that require paid rest periods as part of a work day, with the average being a ten to fifteen minute break for employees to use the bathroom facilities for every four hours of time worked. That equates to two fifteen minute breaks in an average 8 hour work day.

People that work at home should keep in mind the necessity of taking a break after four hours of work. In fact, in Washington it is required that no one be made work longer than 3 hours before they are granted a paid ten minute break in which they can stretch their bodies and use the restroom facilities. Employees with work times of less than 3 and a half hours in several states, including Nevada and California, are not required to be given paid breaks.

When you are determining your work time for a project or for a day's work, you should schedule for taking a break after four hours of work. This is in addition to a thirty minute unpaid break for lunch.

Now... reality check time. Who can afford to take a full hour out of their work day? And what person running a small business can afford to pay themselves half an hour's wages when they have done nothing in that time to earn the money?

It is all well and good to draw out a timesheet that says that you will work for 8 hours, taking two fifteen minute breaks and half an hour off for lunch. Just try, however, to put that into practice for more than a couple of weeks.

Working from home means mastering the art of multitasking in everything that we do. As I am writing this I have a sink full of dishes behind me in the kitchen waiting for the water to cool a bit so I can finish the last of the more baked on foodstuffs, I have a nephew I take care of for several hours a day under watchful eye in the living room next to me, and I have a little dog wagging its tail and woofing at me asking for attention (I already got him water and food and let him outside).

I think the better idea - and oh shoot! I need to feed the fish! They can wait until I get this thought out though. But that is what it is like to work from home. You have all kinds of distractions pulling your attention this way and that, and I have not even mentioned phone calls and visitors and all of the other things that can distract a person over the course of an average at home work day.

So, yes, working at home and trying to take fifteen minute breaks is pretty much a failed plan as soon as it is set to paper. There is, however, hope!

While we can not, no matter how much we want to, just close the world out and do our work like people in office buildings can, we are able to take some control over the world around us and make our distractions less. Plan those fifteen minute breaks into your day, and use them to battle back the things that would force you to be pulled away from working.

Do you have children? If they are old enough to understand the "please don't bother me right now" requests make a bargain with them. Set a kitchen timer for three and a half hours when you start working, and let everyone know that until the timer goes off, you would prefer not to be disturbed. You have to stop work when the timer goes off, however, visit the restroom and then give your kids your full undivided attention for the remainder of your fifteen minute break so they can ask you about sleepovers and if they can get a particular video game and any other "water cooler" talk that happens in your home office during work breaks.

No kids? Do what I do, get up and take care of animals or wash the dishes or load the laundry into the washer while you stretch your legs and get away from the work for fifteen minutes.

I have, I admit, not yet successfully implemented the butt in chair hands on keyboard for three hours rule. I simply do not, at this time, have the necessary focus, but I am getting a lot better at it and can manage a couple of hours before I suddenly think of something else I just HAVE to take care of.

I am going to issue a challenge to everyone, but it will be in my next post, so make sure you check out the Work Challenge post that I am going to post next.

7 Questions to ask before you buy something for your home business

It is not easy to work at home, there are a lot of distractions and you need to make smart choices on what you really need for your home office vs the toys you would like to have because they are new and cool.

Take the iPad as an example. Yes, I would LOVE to have one, but... do I need to have one? When it comes to products such as the iPad or cell phones with two screens there needs to be a balance point between want and need.

Yes, I want an iPad, but I can do my work without one as I save up to be able to get myself one for next Christmas. Maybe. We'll see how the finances are going.

Before you buy that kewl new gadget or a more powerful computer stop and ask yourself a few questions:

1) Do I really need this to do my job?
2) What will this do that nothing else can do?
3) Is the price going to drop soon, and can I get by without it until then?
4) Will I strain my income if I buy this?
5) Could I buy a less expensive brand that does the same thing?
6) Why do I want this? List 5 good reasons to get it and 5 reasons not to.
7) Have I researched what others in my work area have to say about owning this item?

I think if you get through those seven questions you should be ready to ask a few more of your own, and have a better idea on if you want a new gizmo, or if you really do need to make that purchase.