Ehsan Ali Argues the ‘Yardstick’ is Wrong for Senior IT Professionals

In a recent LinkedIn post, Ehsan Ali discusses a common piece of career advice – to “market yourself better” – and argues that this advice is often misguided because senior IT professionals are frequently judged by the wrong criteria from the outset.

Ali challenges the notion that individuals need to fundamentally change who they are or what they can do. Instead, he posits that the issue lies not with the professional’s capabilities, but with the context and the evaluators.

“Most of us were never judged properly in the first place.”

He illustrates this point with several examples of what he considers improper judgment:

• A Principal Engineer being evaluated based on a simple keyword match.
• A Delivery Lead being assessed by a recruiter who has never managed a large-scale transformation project (e.g., $20M).
• A migrant leader being judged on “local experience” despite possessing extensive global delivery experience (15 years).

Ali likens this misjudgment to a scenario where a fish is penalized for its inability to climb a tree and then told it lacks confidence. “No. You lack the right pond,” he states, emphasizing that the environment and the metrics used for evaluation are the primary obstacles.

The Wrong Room, The Wrong Game

The core of Ali’s argument is that senior IT professionals often find themselves in situations where their true value is not recognized or appreciated. He highlights how individuals have experienced significant career turnarounds after ceasing to be evaluated by inappropriate standards.

Ali shares anecdotal evidence of such transformations:

1. Senior IT professionals who were jobless for 18 months subsequently received two offers exceeding $300K within 60 days.
2. Individuals stuck at a $200K salary bracket jumped to over $460K+.
3. Professionals who remained at the same Project Manager level for 11 years achieved a $100K salary increase.

“They didn’t become more capable. They stopped being measured by the wrong people,” Ali asserts. This suggests that the talent and skills were always present; the problem was the lack of a suitable platform to showcase them.

“Your value isn’t the problem. The frame is. The room is. The audience is. The game is.”

Finding the Right ‘Pond’

The advice from Ali is clear: instead of trying to adapt to an unsuitable environment or attempting to perform tasks for which one is not suited (like climbing a tree), professionals should identify and seek out environments where their existing strengths are valued and rewarded.

“Stop trying to climb trees. Find the pond that pays for what you already do best,” he concludes. This call to action encourages senior IT professionals to be strategic about their career moves, focusing on finding the right opportunities and employers who understand and appreciate their specific expertise and experience, rather than trying to fit into a mold that doesn’t suit them.