The Makings of a VALUABLE Employee that Any/All Employers Should Want

The bulleted items below are characteristics and areas that I have always believed in and will always continue to believe in. They are aspects that every employee should be striving to achieve in any line of work. I know this fairly well, to the detriment (but not bad) of folks around me in my social/work circles because of my having sacrificed so much personal time from when I gained my first degree, then the following grad degrees and then later (recently), learning to become a Data Engineer and now focusing on Gen AI and ML Engineering.
First — if you desire to read the full paper, make sure you have coffee/tea & time…. and note — in addition to annotating desired values within others, there are also some reflections of me in this piece as well as where I stand and how I believe in myself.

The following characteristics / areas are what GOOD employers should be looking for in potential VALUABLE employees — as well as making the time to do so actively. And a bonus of looking for and finding a valuable employee is reduced attrition rate.
In turn, really a quid pro quo — individuals with these kinds of traits are looking for good, solid companies that WANT to bring in someone like them. And in most cases, these folks desire to stay at a good company rather than leave after 4–6 months of disappointment at a not so good company.
But of course, this is not a complete list….

Unfortunately, employers rely on recruiters via other head-hunting companies or from within their own company — before the actual manager and future team are aware of this new candidate.
But neither of the recruitment groups appear to make a ‘good, solid’ effort to check for these characteristics. This is due to them being buried under resumes and attempting to pick good employees based on key words within the resumes. And now using AI more and more to sift out what they perceive as good potential employees.
So, what do those potential job candidates do, they (we) load up the resumes with key words to get the resume through the resume grind.
Instead, employers should consider spending just a wee bit more time on checking out some or all of the following characteristics of a potential employee:

• Being a good learner — this shows up in the job candidate’s college records and their professional career path learning — topics and areas that helps them a) learn more in the area they are working in and b) learning MORE work adjacent/tangential topics/areas that help them excel and continue to grow — to become more knowledgeable in the current area and tangential areas. Even if the potential candidate is/was not a straight A student, doing the learning alone displays that potential candidate’s commitment to learning and in most cases, being a good learner.
• Being a fast learner — while it is definitely time consuming to learn anything (today, in the tech world), many good learners make a GRAND effort to learn things as fast as possible — without skipping over crucial content within these areas. This is a difficult thing to do but successful employees TRY to learn as fast as possible. This might mean, studying during lunch, reading up on something during breaks or folks like me who spend a lot of time at night after work, morning before work and on weekends — at times sacrificing time ‘not’ spent with a spouse/partner.
• Adaptability…!!! Knowing how to adapt to new things. Welcoming new topics, new subject matters because you know that learning more new subjects will help you grow in the long run as well as help others who might to adapt and learn but have a difficult time doing so. That is, as long as you continue to grow in your primary area. This is because of technology — it CONTINUES TO GROW AND MORPH into newer versions and even new territory for which you may need to learn to survive.
• Knowing when and how to do research and/or PROBLEM SOLVING. This is a huge space. There are times when employees get stuck on some topic while studying or at work. Those good employees, they know when they are stumped BUT they also know when they need to dig up more knowledge and background material to help them fix whatever stump they are trying to go around, over or through. The good employees/staff members KNOW how to PROBLEM SOLVE. This is such a significant piece of every employee’s career

— — Without going down endless rabbit holes… Which many of us have done at least once or thrice in our careers.

— — and Problem Solving does not necessarily have to be in the technology hemisphere, it could be in many others, such as Intelligence where I used to work

— — — — my areas of problem solving came together far prior to (and during) my joining the intelligence world and then the Cloud world.
All of the following play a part — they all combine to create a good, solid foundation for brain plasticity, and ‘still’ continuing to expand — in problem solving (and creativity).
My career background is (always was) complementary in all aspects. IT — running data center communications (voice & network data), infosec, mainframe & pc security; working in a NOC/SOC and assisting people like the CEO of HP (Carly Fiorina) with a Cisco router issue… having learned in the past — Fortran, Mainframe Assembly, Pascal, COBOL, C++ (and in today’s world — SQL, Python, some LaTex), multiple advanced math classes; chemistry and physics. Plus, I made the effort to learn to speak, read AND write; Japanese, Arabic, Russian and Mandarin Chinese. AND, I also played trumpet in high school marching band and concert and piano in college. Even what I did in Intelligence, especially in having to use strategy and tactics as a senior intel member.
All of those areas play a part in brain plasticity to look at solutions in a different light and at times being CREATIVE.

— — — — Knowing that you are in a spot and stuck and knowing that you have to do problem solving is one thing. But knowing you have to problem solve and LOOK OUTSIDE the box is another. Being CREATIVE is another bright spot in problem solving. Building a good foundation and shaping your brain with multiple areas of learning, all of that creates two GOOD brain hemispheres — the logic half and the creative half. This can help those VALUABLE employees in being more successful. The above all helps one in looking at all problems from a different perspective — it just happens, and you cannot just hit someone up out of the blue and expect an immediate answer. It might take minutes, hours or several days for a good comeback answer.

• Collaborating. This is sensitive area that many folks find embarrassing at times because they may not know the answer to something. But, showing that you are humble enough to ask for help via collaboration can show that you are open and you are not one those wannabe know-it-alls. Others can help you become better, while you in turn can help others going forward become better. Collaboration can solve problems in a much faster manner at times.

— — This WILL aid in being MORE efficient in any and all work that you do.

• Sharing credit for success AND taking the heat for mistakes. Sharing success credit is easy, unless one is a diva who wants to hog the spotlight. But, taking the heat for another who may deserve it but you want to give them a chance to grow without that burden of suffering failure — THAT may make you a better person (or even a leader) in the eyes of others.

— — This is where Confidence kicks in, in my eyes. Taking the heat for mistakes and sharing success, THIS continues to build more confidence in one’s self and it JUST KEEPS GROWING…. Do not be afraid and paralyzed, just grow.

• Employees who enjoy what they are doing!

— — This should be a primary goal for anyone working in any field.

— — Unfortunately, not all fields of work embody this because of the type of work being done. What I can offer on this one is, try to find a role that you really, really like doing or — bide your time in the short-term doing roles you ‘do not’ enjoy for when you can finally relish and enjoy the work you WILL be doing later on.

• And last but not least yet most important of all — DRIVE…!!!

— — This is what makes anyone successful in whatever they are doing. Drive plays a most prominent part when one is willing to sacrifice in the short term to be successful in the long run. Such as temporarily NOT earning a paycheck is one of those types of sacrifices. It may be a tactically short-term hard choice but strategically — it pays off much better for many of us.

— — Drive is a foundational element of anyone who wants to be successful in life…

To realize a successful workplace, as many of you out there know — employers should be looking past a potential employee’s:

• skin color (being black, brown, white, red — IT SHOULD NOT MATTER),
• being male or female (unless it is a physiological situation where size/strength matter…???),
• height (yes, some people (men & women) look for height, not sure if it is a conscious or sub-conscious psychological thing),
• race (Japanese, Nigerian, Native American, etc.),
• looks — this, THIS is a highly important one

— — While a potential employee may look sleepy to you, that may be their genetic make up and not something they can fix — and besides, that sleepy looking person may be so much smarter than you — that sleepy looking person ‘may’ hold two PhDs for all one may know

— — And besides, looking for the most handsome or most beautiful employee is not a good strategy, unless you are in the beauty contestant world

• Political views — this is another huge area that is a no-go zone to look for — other than ensuring that the incoming employee knows full well that politics is not something to be doing at work…

All of these physical features should come secondarily or tertiary (basically, not at all) with employers instead looking at that potential employee’s ‘Cognitive Diversity’ background. This is something I have written about in the past.

Encourage Cognitive Diversity, because it can only grow and pay huge dividends. And yes, I am biased on this count because it is something anyone and everyone can see and believe in adopting/encouraging.

The make-up (mentally, emotionally, physically) of an individual is the sum of their lives — the richer that make-up, the better:

• where they live / lived,
• what kind of school(s) they went to

— — note: just because a person went to a top-level Ivy League school does not necessarily make for a better person than one who went to a public college in Oklahoma

• what kind of social, economic, etc. environment(s) they grew up in
• did they learn to play any kind of instrument or

— — learn another language

• are they ambidextrous (allows for GREAT brain hemispheric activity)
• etc., etc., etc. (I had to stop here…)

So what that other person talks slower than you — it does not mean they are mentally slower.

Diversity is a great thing. You never know what you can learn from another, no matter who that other person is… Why be afraid of change and growth…

Primarily, a VALUABLE employee (or potential employee) is one who has demonstrated their stretch to grow over their career by what they have learned in the past and what they expect to learn in the future.

For me to become EVER more valuable, I had considered going after a PhD but, PhDs are expensive and I cannot afford to take time out nor pay for that at this time. Especially with my wife not being able to work. And especially not after taking all this time off to learn Data Engineering, Gen AI and ML Engineering — and burning through my savings to learn these three areas for most of — so far — the past 18 months (Three months, at the end of 2023, of which were spent doing A LOT of GCP Data Engineer job searches and then throughout 2024 — Five months spent in the offers from Booz Allen and Deloitte [and then the onboarding with Deloitte]).

I know that “I” could not have learned (and still learning) these three areas to completion while working full time. If I had attempted to do so, it would have taken so much longer just to gain the two (2) Data Engineer certifications, due to commuting into and out of DC (45 minutes — 1 1/2 hours just one way) going to other work sites (Virginia, Maryland).

And for sure, no one can blaze through a new tech topic. For example, while the course may state 20 hours — you will ‘likely’ have to do research and do additional studying (I know I had/have to), which may incur another 40–60 hours ON TOP of that stated course time of 20 hours.

Plus, if you are doing several courses to ensure you are learning enough, well, that is a lot more time you have to put in. And doing this while working and commuting everyday (as I did to NSA from N.W. DC every day) — earning any certification takes a much longer time.

And to be a know-it-all for any topic…
Sheesh. I wish I could be a know-it-all today, the good kind — the kind that shares knowledge, not the hog it all type or the diva of know-it-alls.

In the past, it was possible. I was a know-it-all for several IT areas — and it saved the company I was doing IT for 11 ½ years, a LOT of money such as NOT calling IBM to come out and fix something — from Front End Processor, to Data Multiplexors, etc.

In the past, I have shared my knowledge — enough for example, to where one guy with us in L.A. went on to get a new job, taking a couple of my data communication books (without asking) and another guy went on to grow at our company before moving on to another company.

• And I believe in believe in being a ‘good’ role model, enough so that one guy at State Dept in D.C. went on to gaining his MBA and yet another guy went on to gain more advanced cybersecurity certifications. (no idea how many women I influenced but I did NOT leave them or anyone out of my circles…). Being a good role model means just doing a good job and letting others with open eyes and mind see and observe your efforts.

Today however, in these fast technology times, I am not quite sure if anyone could be a know-it-all any more… too much information, too much knowledge/technology — TOO MUCH FAST-CHANGING technology.

But — I plan to continue growing, hands-on, for the next 10 years before I take it down a notch or three… because I am a tech nerd, although very serious about strategy, intelligence and other subject matters — still a tech nerd… can’t help it.

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tags: adaptability, brain plasticity, cognitive diversity, collaboration, creativity, DRIVE, fast learner, good learner, learning, potential employee, problem solving, sacrifice, sharing, strategically, Strategy, tactically, valuable employee, valuable potential employee,