What you know doesn't matter

I have a number of colleagues that base their job security on one metric and one metric alone.

What they know

Unfortunately when questioned further what they mean becomes clearer and more worrying. It's not that their training, insight or approach is unique and not able to be reproduced. Rather, they are referring to (as a most excellent friend of mine put it) "esoteric knowledge" about their environment. Some choose policy as their instrument of security, some choose belligerence and some choose a combination of these and other foundations to ensure their place in an organisation is secure and indispensable.

To all those who think this way - please take a good look at what you are doing. I can assure you that your security is short term and the impact to yourself and others is at best tolerated. As the original aggregator did recently bring to my attention, those who are good at their job inevitably get away from it, at least in IT. Those who do otherwise are characterised quite simply.

Seemingly counter intuitive perhaps, but entirely normal. A great software developer will not be writing code forever and will instead elevate their peers and eventually those who work for them. A great system administrator will not be writing shell scripts forever and will be asked to build a team to continue their most excellent work. Every DBA seeks to take care of bigger and better resourced data warehouses and can surely not expect to do so alone.

In all industries, we all seek to move into better pay rates, better work conditions and generally better lifestyle.

To actually improve your pay rate against the cost of living, you need to increase your value to whichever organisation you work for (even if, and especially if, you work for yourself) - no amount of hard work will offset the gains made through efficiency and knowledge transfer.

To improve your work conditions, the need to maximise your options for growth and advancement whilst minimising your need to perform mundane and repetitive tasks must surely be paramount.

Improvements in lifestyle are a product of both these things - your family and friends are surely not wanting to see you happy and growing as opposed to satisfied and surviving.

We are all human, and advancement is what separates us from the animals. Not passing on knowledge, empowering those around you and failing to relinquish control serves no one, least of all yourself.