Name: Peter R. Everitt
Title/Employer: Senior VP/CTO at Modulant
Age: 49
Education: BS Industrial Management " Purdue University
Tenure in IT industry: 22 years
First Tech Job: Project manager for installation of manufacturing shop floor data collection system.
Current Role: As Senior VP and CTO for Modulant, I am responsible for the Contextia Products and Services Group of Modulant. I am responsible for the development, marketing, sales, and deployment of the Contextia Product Suite and associated services for both the federal and commercial markets.
What's been your best job and why?
My present job is both the most challenging and the best. We are taking a government services organization and reshaping it to be a commercial software vendor. There are numerous challenges and obstacles that must be overcome for success. Being responsible for the marketing and sales are new roles for me and they are challenging because there is no perfect blueprint for how to move forward. I have both a technical responsibility and an operational responsibility that require totally different skills.
What do you think is the number one non-IT skill IT professionals need today?
Effective communications skills are by far the most important skill required. You have to be able to communicate with customers, partners, teaming members, employees, and management. Each group needs a different skill to be successful. Some require good writing where you are trying to be persuasive, some require negotiations skills, and others require you to listen to what an individual is saying. All of them add up to good communication skills.
What do you credit your career success to?
I credit the success I have had to two things: First, always accepting challenges even if I wasn't sure I would succeed. My education is in management not IT. I never considered IT as a career. I am probably one of the worst programmers you will ever meet. But I can learn on my own and I can work with others to get the information I need to accomplish the task. The second thing is to never accept failure as an end state. In any profession if you are truly challenging yourself you will have failures. It is not the failure, but what you learn and how you proceed that will determine your success.
What are the top three skills a high-level IT manager needs today?
Communications: As stated earlier, most management jobs are mostly communications.
Leadership: You can not succeed in challenging activities if you can not lead. Leadership is both by example and by conviction. On very difficult and challenging objectives, you have to keep the forward momentum even when others want to retreat.
Ability to Self Learn: Technology and capabilities are changing so quickly, you must be able to learn new thing quickly and to be capable for determining what is relevant and what is not.
What's your favorite IT resource site and why?
I don't have a favorite site, but I now use podcasting to keep up with the latest trends. I can RSS feed those sites that I find interesting and they update the IPod each week. I can then choose the time when I want to listen to the information. This is very convenient for traveling and while driving.
What is the best career advice you've ever received?
Never let failure be an obstacle to success.
What's the top advice you'd give to a new IT staffer?
That technology that cannot be used is worthless. Simplicity will beat complexity every time. So when you think of technology consider the usefulness and ease of use rather than the latest and greatest. Listen to what your customer wants not what you want to give them.
What would you advise someone looking to find the type of role you currently have?
You have to be willing to accept that the chances of success are a long shot even if you do things right. There are other forces that you do not control and will never control that can lead to disappointment. But if you enjoy the challenge and have the fortitude to see it through it's a great opportunity.
What is the one career decision you would change if you could?
I would have been more prepared when I started my own company. A great idea is not enough. Finance, marketing, and sales are much more complex than they seem when you believe you have a great idea.
If you had the choice to jump into any other job, tech or non-tech, what would it be?
CEO of a new technology company. It would be the next challenge.
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