There are two kinds of IT professionals, the kind who goes to work and when the day is done they go home and the only time they learn new skills is when their employee provides the training and they wait for the company to manage their career for them. After 10 years in their career, they think that they have 10 years of experience however in realty they just have 1 year of experience repeated 10 times and they are stuck re-living the past and they may have not realized it and their career has stalled out until they start failing the technical interview questions for a new job. The other kind of IT professional is the ones who realize they need to manage their own career and take steps to build relationships, learn new skills, invest in their career, and are constantly making technology course corrections in their career that take them to the next level and then reap the rewards of all their hard work. **The Solution** * In your career there are three powers that you have: Expertise Power, Role Power, and Relationship Power. Learn which power is the most important power and rules them all. * Communication is key and understanding the DISC behavior assessment model will unlock unlimited potential in your career. * Be active in your IT community including attending or leading local meetups or IT conferences to "network" with other IT professionals and learn new skills.