Loki you have hit the Nail on the head...Those guys with High- end specialised skills simply don't come cheap....however whatever you specialise in had better be rare (to find suitable skills ) to find but still needed reasonably in the Market...therefore in summary, specialization is not so bad here so long as you will serve a need in the Market and you can charge premium since consultants are few PS: I attended a Talk by Eric Kimani and he had two major advice points among many others that i took to heart: 1. Start a business or specialise in a skill that has high Barrier to entry e.g Don't rear chickens...a standard 2 kid can rear them as well 2. Start a business to serve a need. Do not start a business simply to make money... On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 11:36 AM, Nicholas Loki <lokimwenga@yahoo.com>wrote:
Hi Skunks, Interestingly I had a meeting recently with a rep for a major services company from SA with a large footprint all across Africa and he asked me what I'm good at. I went on to explain that I can write code as well as I can create and manage several relational database management systems as well as a bit of knowledge around UNIX bases OSes etc etc. He then insisted I pick one and I told him writing code, cos thats been my passion since when I was in college (Eric...). He told me the reason he kept insisting is cos as a business man he sells skills and he doesn't sell that cheap. Whats wrong with a little specialization?
KR, Loki
"Excellent people exceed expectations".
------------------------------ *From:* Eric Mugo <kabugum@gmail.com>
*To:* Skunkworks Forum <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> *Sent:* Mon, November 23, 2009 7:53:54 AM
*Subject:* Re: [Skunkworks] Skill requirements and availability
I used the example of several guys coming to setup a Superdome server....basically out there you will find a guy who for example has specialised in only one product so much e.g. In Africa, we only have two/three guys who are recognized to Train Checkpoint Firewalls...who are recognized by Checkpoint from Israel...ask this guy to configure a Cisco Firewall and he will simple refuse....he has only specialised in Checkpoint and knows so much indepth information infact the vendor sends him/her pre-released products to test them.... thats what i meant by Hign end Specialised skills.....
On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 11:00 AM, Shiro Njagi <sheeroh@gmail.com> wrote:
"in a nutshell...i think our Market only allows for very High end specialised skills to prosper but for low end skills or skills that have low Barrier acquisition, its a death wish to specialise there..."
Care to expound? What are these high-end specialised skills and which are the low-end ones?
On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 10:54 AM, Eric Mugo <kabugum@gmail.com> wrote:
I tend to think that our Market is not as highly specialised as the Developed Market hence the need to have multi above average skill in different areas. Myself i have found myself in situations where i had to learn a skill that honestly has very little to do with what I do....
I have seen vendors who come to work in my organization who are extremely specialised ...setting up a IBM P595...there was a guy just to assemble the Hardware, another guy to create/manage the partitions, another guy to set/manage storage....
in a nutshell...i think our Market only allows for very High end specialised skills to prosper but for low end skills or skills that have low Barrier acquisition, its a death wish to specialise there...basically with all the graduates being churned out, its like openening a stall to sell jeans in an exhbition...a class 3 dropout can do the same....
Cents
On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 10:37 PM, Al Kags <alkags@gmail.com> wrote:
I was at an SME discussion forum in which SME's were talking about skill - or the general lack of multi-dexterous skill. At some point we were talking about the technological requirement of SME's.
Quite a number of them wished that they could have (relevant here) a techie who is excited about technology, who therefore has a genuine aptitude for hardware and software management, BUT ALSO is able to manage their website effectively managing copy, working out online promos and such.
Of course some might say that this is an unreasonable requirement. But I have learnt from people who have grown that specialisation is a good thing that limits all kinds of growth. They, those I have learnt from, became successful and top in their industries because they could wash dishes and cook gourmet meals... I.e. They could offer several unrelated expertise.
It occured to me to wonder: what's the prevailing view here? Kags _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke Other lists ------------- Announce: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks-announce Science: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/science kazi: http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/admin/kazi/general
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-- Shiro Njagi
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.
~~Maya Angelou~~
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