Finding your first job in data processing may have taken hard work, and pursuing your maximum potential in the field takes a great deal more effort.
But what about the thing that occupies most of your time between that entry-level job and a $200,000 a year slot in MIS? That time is taken up with performing, to the best of your capabilities, whatever job you are currently holding down.
Your future success depends to a great extent upon your performance at various DP jobs along the way, Everyone, employed in any field, is faced with the daily problem of pleasing a boss, interacting with fellow workers, organizing a workday, seeking recognition and rewards for a job well done, and coping with the inherent stress of a busy professional life. Let's deal with stress on the job first, beginning with the general stress experienced by all people in the business world.
We often create our own stress on the job. That doesn't represent just a thought of mine. It's the consensus of many experts who study occupational stress. It comes down to the concept of controlling our lives, rather than having external forces take control over us.
But what about those external forces that are a reality of most jobs and will be present no matter what we do-things like deadlines, unreasonable demands from superiors and clients, equipment that isn't up to the task we've been given, and all the other situations that create anxiety and tension?
The answer doesn't rest in changing the externals. Instead, it involves the way we react to those forces.
For example, a programmer is given an impossible deadline to meet and knows that finishing the job on time will mean many nights and weekends of work. That in itself is stressful, but added to it is the fact that the boss is the type of individual who only criticizes and never praises, and the programmer's spouse is going to react negatively to the prolonged disruption of family life.
Here are some things you can do in this situation to ease the stress.
First, deal with the personal component of the problem. Sit down with your spouse and explain the situation. Admit your fear that the reaction at home is contributing to what is already a stressful situation, and suggest that you work out a schedule that will allow you to do your job to the best of your ability and at the same time recognize your need to spend time with your family. This specific suggestion is not nearly so important as what's behind it-that people who are damaged most by stress are those who refuse to acknowledge the pressure they're under and won't openly seek to discuss it with those involved. It's a classic situation: a household is disrupted because one of the partners in it carries home the burden of the job and, instead of admitting it, keeps it inside and creates a situation that only gets worse as time goes on. Victims of stress (victims in the sense that their marriage falls apart or health suffers) are those who consider admitting the need for help to be a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength, of course, and those who see it from that perspective manage to cope with job-related stress more successfully.
Don't be the private pilot who needs to show off to a first-time passenger the technical capabilities of a plane and, in the process, loses a potential advocate of private aviation. Successful DPers know that the ma-chine is not as important as what it can do for end users-people. A sophisticated airplane should be used to transport people smoothly, safely, and without incident from one place to another. The same holds true for computers. They should carry a company's business objectives through a maze of problems to a satisfactory and profitable conclusion.
The computer age has created its own peculiar forms of anxiety and stress. It has even spawned its own medical term - "cyberphobia" - which is used to describe people's adverse reactions to computers. Interestingly enough, those suffering from cyberphobia are more likely than not to be out of the mainstream of data processing. These are the people in your company who are aware that they are becoming more and more dependent upon computer technology, yet so distrust and fear computers that they are capable of generating a whole set of physical symptoms in them. These people need data processors in their companies who, rather than continuing to build mystique about computers, devote themselves to simplifying the subject. Maybe in future years there will be a new data processing occupation, computer therapists.
Computer anxiety is not reserved for the non-computer person, however. The nature of data processing has built-in sources of tension. Even the most gregarious data processors will spend a great deal of time interacting one-on-one with a computer rather than with other people. While this may be acceptable to those who are naturally introverted, it takes a toll on most people over a long period of time. That's why it is so important for you to seek opportunities to mingle with people instead of just with machines. Not only is it good for your career advancement, but it's good for your mental health as well.
