The only thing constant in the world is change, I believe it was a Greek philosopher who said this, and I could not agree more with the gentleman when it comes to technology. There has been a rapid development in technology during the last 20 years. You might have heard of some technology giants, who already have vanished, or you might have heard of or renown companies who have lost their magic. As the title suggests, we are going to be focusing on technological job aspect of the tail, but we will try to keep the focus a bit generic.
What do I mean by that? Let me illustrate it with words. If you are between 30 and 60, chances are quite high for that you have heard of Nokia or might even have used it. The company which I believe was and still is Finish exists, however, they no longer are the biggest producer of mobile phones which they once were. A funny fact though was that Nokia started of making tyres, how they ended up making mobile phones, to begin with, is another story.
However, back to our point, if during early 2000 you were a programmer or into mobile phone field making a bet on Simbian Operating system would have been a safe bet. Simbian was the innovate operating system that Nokia used in all its mobile phones, prior to the arrival of touch phones by no other than Apple and Google. Nokia failed to adapt to the changing world and meant that touch phones will never be a success. An only feasible and effective way to type is to used physical keys! Yeah, good luck with trying to explain this to a kid who has been born with touch screen everything! From gadgets to toys to anything you might imagine. So, back to the main topic, the lesson from the narrated story is, if you had focused on a specific technology you might have ended up ruining your carrier. You might have had a stunning CV, but one which would not have been very attractive to a lot of employers.
A wise professor of mine used to say, it is not important to know how thing is done in technology, the most important thing to know is what is possible. If you are a programmer, you can solve a task a million different ways using different programming languages. Same applies for an IT pro, who daily work with IT systems and keep our society working. So what are these 5 skills that every employee or potential employee should possess that an employer would love to hire?
1) Know The Basics
It sounds too simple that it might even sound stupid, but however, this still remains to be a fact, if you do not know the basics you never will be able to fully grasp or comprehend the technology. As we are talking in general terms, let’s apply this to a programmer first. If you do not know what datatypes are supported within a programming language you would surely use the wrong datatypes causing a miserable design and even a worse application. Applying the same example on an IT pro, if you do not know how a computer works, how can you optimize a system or how can you make a system stable?
2) It is all Logic
A lot of information technology is logic/logical. There is no room for emotions or thoughts. Make sure to make logical choices especially when it comes to computers. It can be a simple task as writing a program or a complex task as programming a spaceship landing for NASA. In either of the cases, the solution will follow or should follow certain mathematical algorithms in order to make decisions rather than guesstimates.
3) Become a Jack of all Trades
Unless you really want to become a senior technician or an expert within a limited area, you should be trying to gain and gather a lot of knowledge of more products. I am not saying that you should not master one or two fields, and I am rather saying or advising you to master some fields but do not make that the only thing you know. If you have forgotten it already, you can scroll up and read about the example of Nokia and their descent from being the largest mobile phones vendors to becoming a company who barely produces mobile phone. If you can, you should rather focus on point (1), so that your concepts are as clear as possible. When a point (1) is in place, you are well set to start using different tools. As we have been using programmers as examples, let continue to use this analogy. Having the foundation in place, you as a programmer would be able to program in any programming language as it only would be a question of semantics. However, if you only focused on a specific feature of one specific programming language, you would have had a hard time to adjust and to adopt a new programming language.
4) Embrace Change
Whenever change arrives it can be seen as a new opportunity or it can be considered or perceived as a burden. The way you perceive change will impact how you function both with regards to productivity as well as well-being.
5) Continuous Development
Curiosity killed the cat, but it does not kill the technical guys and gals. Normally the more curious you are the more successful you are as a technical person. Keep on learning new stuff and try to stay up to date. Attending seminars and courses is a great way to keep on developing your skills and keeping yourself up to date. Another good practice is to keep on taking certifications. This makes sure that you are up to date with regards to technology and that you are attractive for employers.
Here are some of the companies hiring in Ireland right now!
1- Amazon
2- Google
3- PayPal
4- Stripe
5- Facebook
6- Salesforce
7- Microsoft
8- Intel
9- Dropbox
10- Apple
I hope that you can follow these simple advice and tips and become more successful in your job. If you are a technical person, I would really like to get feedback regarding your thoughts on the material provided within this blog article. From a level of 1 to 5, how much do you think these things apply to you? Looking forward to hearing from you.
