Being right doesn’t matter if you can’t convince others.

Star Trek lied to us about the competency levels of our co-workers.

No matter what, under no circumstances should you ever believe the company or place you work for will back you up.

If a company was placed in a situation where they can get rid of you for any reason, they will and they will do it as fast as possible.

Even if you believe you are irreplaceable, a company will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get you out of the equation.

Even if you have been with the company for 20+ years, if the company sees a way to save a hundred bucks by getting rid of you, they will.

Even if you and your boss and their bosses are buddy buddy and they are the godparent to your child and if you donated them a kidney, they will replace you.

Even if you show that you work the most, bring in the most sales, work the longest, get paid the least, and do work so everyone can slack off, they will replace you.

Also HR is never there for you. It is there to protect the company first and foremost. If you go to them for any reason, you are on a list to be the first to go.

Validate your backups regularly.

Also, make backups.

Everybody has a test environment.

Some are lucky enough to also have a production environment.

Cover Your Ass

You can't go in and give 100% every day. You will burn out. Give 70% regularly. Only give 100% when shit really hits the fan. People will think you are a miracle worker.

Going "above and beyond" is pointless and will at best just get you more work for the same pay

Keep notes on your work.

1. Its proof of the work you have done
2. A lot of people forget things, including yourself.
3. It helps you reflect back. Helps with projects that are spaced apart as well.

It usually doesn’t need to be perfect, good enough is often good enough and can be a lot faster where trying for perfection might not get finished in time.

HR protects and represents the company, not you as an employee.

Hard skills are important for doing the underlying job, but soft skills matter more if you want to progress in the career as well as financially.

You could be the smartest person alive, but if you don't communicate effectively and play nice with others you're almost useless.

At my first internship, they made me go through an entire bookshelf of safety training manuals that felt like they were written by the local staff. They were all full of things like "don't put a pipe on the end of a wrench to give you the leverage you need to do your job" and "don't forget to clock out at lunch or we'll have to assume you were gone for exactly one hour". Took me a moment to realize they were in fact telling me exactly what to do, but in a way that would also cover their asses. Always thought that was clever.

Yes, the meeting might result in the same plan you made forever ago. But now everyone knows what, how, and why. The meeting wasn't called because your idea was shit, it was to bring everyone up to speed.

Just because someone was made a supervisor it doesn't mean they know what they are doing.

People are really fucking stupid. I work in IT. I'm a helpdesk tech at an MSP, and I see profound idiocy all day every day. People have no critical thinking skill and seem proud of the fact they don't know shit about anything. People young and old say they're tech illiterate like it's a good thing.

Do NOT let people walk over you. Especially collegues. Especially collegues who have a history

Join a union the first chance you get, they exist to fight against HR, and to fuck over the company if they try to fuck you over

Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups. Always verify to make sure you(and others) got all the necessary information.

You might worry that you’ll come across as inexperienced or unprepared, but people usually appreciate the effort. And it will save you so much headache down the line.

You can get away with a LOT if you keep people up to date with what you're doing

for me:

Your

Your

Your

You're represented by your words. It can cost you opportunities.

That's a great question and there are so many good answers in this thread.

Don't expect your superiors to ever back you up. I got burned so many times. I knew I was right, but they didn't have a backbone and only thought about the budget, their reputation, and the work they'd have to put in for damage control. I wanted to shut restaurants for their filthiness, but "Oh noes, what will the community think". Well, if someone dies, then it's on your head. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.

Even if a conversation or direction was made verbally, always follow up with an email to say "Just to confirm our conversation today, you have directed me to...." Even if it's about holidays. My old boss was such a prick. Him and all upper management are the reason I am suspicious of everyone and everything.

99% of people don't wash their hands properly.

I'm not obliged to do anything I'm not directly paid for. People put all sorts of massive tasks on me and I now ignore the task. If it is important enough to come back to me from 2 or 3 sources then I might look at it. All core tasks I get paid for come before these "extras".

People (customers and coworkers alike) are generally not very bright, putting it politely. No matter how foolproof you design a system, the human race is out there absolutely cranking out bigger fools than you even imagined.

These are my grandfather's words not mine: no matter how much of an idiot your boss is, he is still your boss

Always cover your ass. Take notes of everything, send emails out with important details of who was supposed to do what. It'll help you avoid trouble when something goes wrong and fingers start being pointed.

If you're aloof in the office and your campus has several buildings to work at, you can work remote without anyone ever noticing.

You gotta speak to people where they're at, in words they're willing to hear, and make them feel like you give a shit about what's happening to them.

When you see an opportunity to help without hindering your ability to do your duties, offer. If someone asks for help, try to find a way or apologize that you can't.

Your professional instincts don't impact policy unless you can prove that they're correct.

A good leader takes the blame for their followers and passes the credit forward.

Maintain a nice professional barrier. Your coworkers don't need to know everything about your life. And when people start engaging in shop talk the only white collar person there should be acutely aware of the fact that we're held to higher professional standards of general conduct.