Comic: Career Silo - InformationWeek

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Commentary
3/2/2015
09:08 AM
Brian Moore
Brian Moore
Commentary
6 comments
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Comic: Career Silo

A welcome laugh at the trials of our careers. Are you climbing the ladder or stuck in your job?

Ladders? Silos? Maybe our careers are just giant holes we're hoping to climb out of.

Brian Moore is a cartoonist and illustrator. His first brush with the world of IT was a very part-time gig applying software patches on a TRS-80 Model III. The patches were about four lines long and arrived in the mail, typed on letterhead. He has since moved on to computers ... View Full Bio
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StaceyE
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StaceyE,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/31/2015 | 2:25:12 PM
Re: Ladder or Silo?
@ David,

I like your explanation of ladder vs. silo. I think I am still in the ladder stage, with a long time before I hit the ceiling and start the silo. I hope anyway!
Technocrati
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Technocrati,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/3/2015 | 11:46:24 AM
When Reality Meets The Ladder
I love this cartoon.    Too true !

I mean everyone ( Teachers, Priest, MoM and Dad ) all meant well along the way, who could have seen this coming ?

Probably those already holding the purse strings to begin with.   I am sure this is the philosphy of companies such as  Chase  Manhattan Bank for instance.   Why Chase ?  

Well they always work well as a prime example of everything that is wrong with Corporate America and that stupid ladder that only works for some.   Sound familiar Chase ?   Of course it does.

It has been the defacto operational manual for all of these companies "too big to fail" for decades.

 

 
MemphisITDude
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MemphisITDude,
 User Rank: Strategist
3/3/2015 | 10:32:04 AM
Launch out of your silo
To paraphrase the great philosopher Robert Plant, there are many career paths you can go on, but in the log run it's never to late to change the road you're on... IT is a great field, because we can build a rep on the basis of technical skills then keep moving to companies that value them, or graduate to a more managerial role, or be a consultant and use a combination of both technical and business skills. In other industries, it may not be so easy to launch out of a "silo" if you have invested a lot of time in one organization.... And I remember first hearing the "information silos" term in the mid 2000's as a justification for a sweeping re-org. The reaction from boots on the ground was "Hey can they write this memo in English?"
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
3/2/2015 | 3:02:38 PM
Re: Ladder or Silo?
@jastroff- Personally, I think it is a ladder right until you bump into the ceiling. Then it is a silo. If you can find a company that allows you to rise as far as you want to (not everyone wants to be CEO eventually) then you're fine. Sometimes you outgrow your company. Or you find the limits of your own abilities and want to find a company that doesn't know what they are yet. :)
Whoopty
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Whoopty,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/2/2015 | 11:10:58 AM
Spot on!
Quite an apt little cartoon, considering lots of us are not only in silos, but dealing with silos of data that are almost impossible to utilise. 

Despite how useful management might claim it could be or how ever long they spent collecting it. 
jastroff
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jastroff,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/2/2015 | 10:19:13 AM
Ladder or Silo?
Sometimes it's hard to tell if it is a ladder or a silo. For teachers and similar professions, advancement is easier to see because the guidelines for advancement are stated and applied to many. But in business, we are more individual, the "rules" are less, and we move frequently looking for the better job, the better opportunity. 

Is it best to obtain a varied skill set, i.e., be able to do many things? Or stick on one area, and dig deep?
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