Hi, I have often wondered what it takes to be successful. OK, we could now go into a discussion about the definition of success and maybe we can do that later? At this point I would like to know what you think. What is important to be successful? Is it your professional skills, technical knowledge and expertise or your ability to get along with people and communicate your ideas? You might argue that the answer to this question depends on the type of job you hold but isn’t this a decision you take yourself?
not sure what you’re getting it you need both technical skills and the ability to get along with people if you want to be succesful. if you don’t get along with people you won’t be able to gain much technical knowledge either. sounds like a no brainer to me.
I agree with hipster that you need both to be successful.
Today, there is so much work organised in projects, even as a programmer (I take them as an example because they are/were always said to sit alone in a cellar and programme, progamme, programme) you need to interact with other people - your customers, your colleagues yada yada yada.
But of course, you also need technical knowledge, professional skills etc. to succeed in your job - you should know what you do and what you’re talking about
It seems to me that you need both. The times when persons on their own could do something outstanding have passed - almost everyting that is done now, is done collectively, that is why the ability to communicate with people and be able to understand them is very important.
Fom the other hand, if you don’t intend to be a leader, the ability to motivate and lead people takes a back seat. But anyway, if you are arguing about which decision is better when doing something, you will surely need the skills to communicate and convince.
From the other hand, no matter how good leader you are, in my opinion it will be difficult for you without knowledge of (the details of) what you (your team) are working on.
What is your definition of success? I think this is an interesting question which we could discuss here. You say you don’t want to go into philosophy but isn’t everything in life more or less about philosophy? A company has its philosophy, a person has their philosophy etc. To me the word philosophy means principles and values. If you learn a language you also learn more about culture and mentality. So why not talk about success?
For me philosophy now is a headache, because I have to pass the exam… Yes, Philosophy itself is a very interesting subject, but not when you have to know all the differences between, say, neopositivism and empirical criticism :x and when your point of view has to coincide with that of your teacher :evil: or else you risk to flunk. Well, enough about sad…
Yes, you are right, this is a very interesting question. Having read your question, I asked myself about my own definition of success. To my surprise, it was rather difficult for me to formulate an answer, though it seemed quite clear and evident. Having thought it over, I can say that for me to be successful in the first place means to be happy. I think it’s not what you do, it’s whether you like it or not…
These two are both needed to be successful. Even the most technical guy needs some communication and interpersonal skills to succeed on any of his endeavors. A system analyst who is very good in designing system architecture but doesn’t have the ability to clearly convey his idea to his colleagues and clients will not succeed.
On the other side, a project manager with good interpersonal skills but lacks techical ability will not understand how the project work and cannot easily adopt to changes.
Hello amanta, you are raising an interesting question: How do you define success? And you also say that you might ask yourself at the and of your life whether or not you have been successful. Why ask at the end of life? Why not ask this important question earlier?
It seems that I agree with amante_amina - our definition of success constantly changes. While we are young we have one definition, when we become elder, the definition of success changes with us - omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. So the question is, if you think you are successful now, will you think the same, say, ten years later?
