M-Factor In Life : y = m*x + c for success -Part 1 Career

What is y = m*x + c and M-Factor

Our life stands on this simple straight line equation.
For those who is not aware of this explicit equation of straight line, please look the following links.

http://thesaurus.maths.org/mmkb/entry.html?action=entryByConcept&id=2949
http://www.mathsisfun.com/equation_of_line.html#Countrynote

In brief,
for y = m*x + c
c - Some constant for the straight line
m - Slope of the line
x - always varies
y - final output dependent on the above 3 variables.

Let's relate this equation to few of the general things that exist

In this series the first is Career:

Career :

Take the example of changing the job from company X to company Y with reference to line equation:

a) c is the constant i.e. what you would have from company X. That covers your resume, your qualifications, your experience in your field say sales/engineering. This is assumed to be remaining constant while company Y hires you.

b) m is slope of your life. It is dependent on lot of factors e.g. time, your output efficiency, your skills developed in the time. For example your performance in the first few months in company Y would indicate the slope. It is not only performance, but minimum time taken by you to learn/grasp and apply new ideas and prove yourself.

The company can directly hire you seeing your resumes and your background verification, but they look to this M-Factor, so that how would the performance of yours would be leading to aligning of goals of the company Y. How much time would you take to be PRODUCTIVE? This I refer as M-Factor.

c) x is time variable, which decides the net output y. If your m is very high i.e. you are highly productive from day 1, then slowly your m would decrease. You need to take measure so that the product m*x always increases to a particular level. Obviously there are other personal/professional factors which we never have to forget.

d) y is the final output that you are delivering. This y should be always increasing. When there is a jump from company Y to company Z, then c for company Z should be y.


Mantra for success in Career :

1. Ensure that c for the next company is the y of previous company. Don't change your languages/learning frequently. e.g.

(a) If you had a experience of QA for last 5 years, then changing job of development profile in the next company might lead to decrease in the next value. c decreases
(b) If you are working on windows platform for last 10 years, it does not make any sense to you to jump to Linux platform. Remember hobby might NOT fill your stomach and pockets :)

2. Join the company where you see the value of m is high.
Ensure that y >> c.
We know that x (time) always increases, so your goals (for next few years) should be such that you achieve the desired "y". Your m factor should be such so that you can achieve the goal. The goal could be anything like Salary in FY 2010, my assets in year 2010, my knowledge in 2010, my friends/relatives in 2010 etc.

3. To ensure a big high in M (M Factor), you need to update your skills. It could be anything like going for higher education (Masters) or addition in your professional profile (like Membership/Languages) or Social domain (Your family/friends). We are all aware that lots of guys do join MBA so that the skill set increases or their career takes a jump.

Obviously you need to look at all factors to ensure your success in your career..

Best of luck in your career !!