New skills - blagger or guru?

[DieScum]

How do you guys approach getting up to speed with new skills?

I've been thrashing about furiously in the deep end, like some sort of hormone enraged teenager with their first porno mag, trying to get up to speed with a new skillset. All this is in a live environment in front of the client. Either training (me being the trainer *gulp*) or with someone perched beside me.

Plenty of late nights and early mornings with the manual and testing stuff.

I find it really stressful and unpleasant but I'm now at the point where I actually have some skill in it now. I know the errors, know how to solve them, can relax a bit and start to really think about how to use it properly. Great for my CV and future earnings. Really horrible at the time and my reputation with my first few clients is trashed.

How do you guys approach new skills? Do you just jump in the deep end and blag it (and risk looking clueless)? Do you never accept a gig unless you know your stuff ( and how can you know your stuff without having done any gigs
in the first place?)

Does it always work out or do you just have to accept that the price of new skills is looking like a tit at the start?

[Zorba]

Depends how mature or in demand the skill is. If it's new to market and you can be reasonably sure that there are no other experts available, it can't hurt to take a shot as long as you have a complimentary skillset. It also helps if the new skill is not the primary one that's required for the job, but something that you can work on as you have in your spare time.

However, lying about experience is a fool's game which will bite you on the @ss one day. It's amazing how many people that you will encounter have worked at the same clients as you did - so you'd better make sure you really did work there!

IMHO of course.

[Chugnut]

Depends upon the likihood of sliding into that new skill in the current contract I reckon.

I was initially bought in to work on application development on Desktop projects but have just transitioned to Server. My server qualifications officially ended at NT4, but my face fits with the client now and I've picked up some server bits and bobs along the way. The next six months should fill in a lot of the gaps.

If it's a completely new direction, blagging may be required although I can't see how Project Managers can get a contract if they have no prior experience. Even if most of the ones I've encountered show little signs of it.

[rootsnall]

How do you guys approach getting up to speed with new skills?

I've been thrashing about furiously in the deep end, like some sort of hormone enraged teenager with their first porno mag, trying to get up to speed with a new skillset. All this is in a live environment in front of the client. Either training (me being the trainer *gulp*) or with someone perched beside me.

Plenty of late nights and early mornings with the manual and testing stuff.

I find it really stressful and unpleasant but I'm now at the point where I actually have some skill in it now. I know the errors, know how to solve them, can relax a bit and start to really think about how to use it properly. Great for my CV and future earnings. Really horrible at the time and my reputation with my first few clients is trashed.

How do you guys approach new skills? Do you just jump in the deep end and blag it (and risk looking clueless)? Do you never accept a gig unless you know your stuff ( and how can you know your stuff without having done any gigs
in the first place?)

Does it always work out or do you just have to accept that the price of new skills is looking like a tit at the start?

I have used your exact approach a number of times, no way around the stressful and unpleasant bit but it's quick effective paid training if you can pull it off. I'm dreading having to do it again !

[tay]

I dunno... but I think I will get Prince 2 and then magically have 3 years experince of project management on my CV. Never blagged my CV before, so want to find out how it goes. Project manager interviews must be easier than developer ones.

[Ardesco]

I don't bother blagging, it just makes you look like an arse when you can't do the job. What I do is look for roles that match my core skillset but also require work in other areas that i'm interested in.

For example my current gig uses Oracle, never used it before and the client was fully aware of this but I have the core skills required and have worked with SQL before, bit of learning the differences between SQL and Oracle on the job and I can do what is asked of me (even though I need to ask questions now and then). At the end of the gig i'm going to have at least 7 months Oracle experiance to add to my resume, always nice to expand your skill set .

[Epiphone]

As above my server knowledge ends at NT4 but I've picked up enough to get by on 2000/2003 and"positivly spin" my current knowledge.

Just got the Vista cert though which not many people have so I'm now an "expert" for the purposes of interviews

[yellow]

Never blag, heard a few horror stories - but more often than not when you're gone it's the poor ol' permies that have to clear up your mess; I've been there.

Just started a new contract, couple of gaps in my knowledge including some Unit testing related skills - I was totally honest at the interview, they took me on and were happy to let me have a bit of time getting up to speed so it's been ace.

[DieScum]

Yeah, blagging a complex skillset is utterly, utterly crap. Depressing, humiliating, dignity crushingly bad.

As I work as a consultant I don't have too much choice in the matter. Just utterly crap for me, the client paying thousands a day for an expert... but the sales guy made his commission. I either had to do it, or just point blank refuse and look for another job.

Utterly crap.

[Cowboy Bob]

I don't bother blagging, it just makes you look like an arse when you can't do the job. What I do is look for roles that match my core skillset but also require work in other areas that i'm interested in.

That's what I do as well.