In the ultra-competitive IT job market of today, finding the right job is not as straightforward as one would wish. Understanding how it works is a must.
In the ultra-competitive IT jobs market, finding the right IT job is not as straightforward as one would wish. Things move fast, with top skills and technologies changing every few months and a constant stream of qualified IT candidates making it difficult to secure the best jobs out there.
But today’s complex environment is also one ripe with opportunities. Understanding how it works will help you achieve both your professional and personal goals.
Also, need advice on how to start or develop your freelance consulting business in tech or IT? Need to start a new permanent or freelance assignment? Join Mindquest and get support from our team of experts.
The growing IT talent gap
Technological advancement has its adverse consequences – skill obsolescence is a well-known side effect of progress. However, with new technologies emerging at a growing pace and changing the way businesses operate, the IT talent skills gap is rapidly widening.
Not surprisingly, most recruiters cite skills shortage as their top challenge. The lack of qualified candidates drives salaries up and empowers those professionals who possess the most desired skills. These candidates become increasingly hard to attract and retain, which, in turn, perpetuates the vicious cycle. That’s good news for tech experts.
Ironically, the same evolutionary speed that often makes IT professionals so valuable and sought-after can be their downfall if nothing is done in response. More so than in other professions, technology experts have the implicit duty to constantly renew themselves in order to remain competitive and grow their careers.
Emerging skills and niches
New technological and business breakthroughs are constantly updating the list of most desired skills and capabilities. While softer skills like communication and time management are life-long partners of success; technical knowledge needs to be periodically revisited and updated to keep up with enterprise trends. The rise of data science, the AI boom and the strong momentum of cloud computing are all setting the agenda for the most in-demand IT skills.
In addition, the pandemic has put the focus on business-related skills. With companies increasingly looking to hire IT professionals who also understand the business side of things and can coordinate better with the rest of the organisation.
The change of focus makes sense. As higher-level business and management skills can help a great deal in navigating change and identifying new opportunities. For IT professionals and technical profiles, making a lateral career move to become more business-savvy can prove very beneficial.
How the Covid-19 Pandemic is Accelerating the hybridisation of Careers in Tech & IT
The current health and economic crisis is generating profound changes in careers and recruitment within companies. And especially within tech & IT departments. Manuela Delfort-Garampon, co-founder of Mindquest and Club Freelance, sees both a rise in freelancing and a comeback of permanent contracts. Two trends which may seem contradictory but which in reality testify to a convergence of the two forms of employment. The pandemic is causing a hybridisation of tech.
Pandemic hybridisation tech – Crisis-proof agility: the confirmation of the freelancing model
The common denominator in all crises is urgency. With the Covid-19 pandemic, companies have had to reorganise under unprecedented pressure. In this context, many organisations called on freelancers and external experts; a phenomenon far from being new in the IT field. But which has intensified in certain industries essential to business continuity.
Specifically: the urgent deployment of tools that are essential to the implementation of teleworking has generated a wave of requests for network and support consultants, cloud, VPN, and cybersecurity experts of all kinds. Some IT departments have also resorted to freelancing to compensate for the recruitments that were already planned.
At the same time, some candidates and IT professionals have made a choice in this period of crisis to turn to freelancing opportunistically. Both to stay active and to position themselves on high added value missions that help companies quickly deploy critical solutions.
While the flexibility of the freelancing model has long appealed to companies and applicants alike. The agility it provides has made it an obvious solution to the current situation. But that’s not the only trend regarding careers transformation in the tech world.
Consolidation for tomorrow: the return of the permanent contract
Beyond the emergency, many companies see the current crisis as an opportunity to get ahead and differentiate themselves. Many paused their recruitment efforts during the first lockdown, but most have resumed – or even accelerated – their search since September.
Why? Quite simply because in times of crisis, the best talent is more essential than ever in an IT team. Hence the need to attract and retain top performers that sustain strong teams. The war for talent has intensified around these key profiles. Which companies are tearing off and now want to “secure” under permanent contracts.
At the same time, the permanent contract has made a comeback in the hearts of many candidates and tech & IT professionals; even among some who previously swore only by freelancing. A certain number of freelancers have chosen to go (or go back) to salaried employment, in order to (re) find greater stability in these times of crisis.
Resorting to the freelance model, although it has grown in importance with the crisis, does not however supplant the permanent contract model. In fact, the two statuses coexist now more than ever.
Pandemic hybridisation tech, towards the end of the silos between statuses?
In terms of professional careers, the last few decades have seen many silos gradually fall. For a long time, the norm was to do the same job in the same company throughout one’s life. Then careers began to be built across several companies. For the past twenty years or so, it has been common practice to have several different jobs during a professional career, and sometimes to retrain or reskill completely. Today, there is also the alternation and combination of statuses, with an increasingly porous border between permanent contracts and the self-employed status.
In fact, this trend of hybridising careers in the world of technology and IT did not originate from the pandemic. The motivations for moving from one status to another can be multiple and independent of the current crisis. Example: many freelancers decide to (re) switch to permanent contracts to access management positions. But the current pandemic is greatly accelerating the phenomenon.
Status doesn’t matter as much as it used to. For companies, the challenge now is to attract the best talent, whether they are on permanent or freelance contracts, to accelerate their IT projects. For professionals open to new opportunities, what matters is more the interest in the project and the technical stack, as well as the dynamics of the team. Status is no longer an end in itself.
Continuing education is key to your professional development as a technology expert. But what are the most popular IT certifications amongst employers?
Embracing continuing education is key to your professional development as a technology expert. And beyond what you can learn on your own or through experience, official certifications are a great way to validate your newly gained expertise in front of the industry. But what are the most popular IT certifications amongst employers?
Given how fast new technical roles are being created and traditional ones are branching out. This can be a quite daunting question to answer. In fact, as any seasoned IT specialist will tell you, there is no simple, straight answer to this problem. It all depends on what you need the certification for.
Here are some pointers to help you navigate the increasingly complex certifications ecosystem.
Find your next assignment on our freelance and permanent IT recruitment platform, or join Mindquest so you don’t miss out on any job opportunity!
General-purpose certifications
Often regarded as the first step towards pursuing a career in technology, general-purpose certifications are amongst the most popular IT certifications. From networking to repairs or system configuration; they touch on a broad variety of topics without getting into much depth in any of them. Not surprisingly they are frequently compared to a driving license. These certifications, such as CompTIA’s A+, are an effective way to learn the fundamentals of computing and establish a solid foundation for your career.
But they can also be helpful for more seasoned professionals who want to transition from a functional role to a more technical one. The growing need for Agile and Scrum methodologies, which tend to encompass a more generalist set of skills. Is another example of how general-purpose diplomas can help advance your career.
Role-specific certifications
However, as it happens with most things in our society; the most popular IT certificates tend to favour specialisation rather than a holistic approach. Role-based educational programs have gained so much popularity in recent years. That industry giants like Microsoft have rebuilt their entire training catalogues to accommodate the various career paths within their ecosystem.
Specialised certifications are most often divided by level of experience. That makes them a great resource for specialists seeking to advance their career from the associate-level to other; more senior positions within their speciality.
The most in-demand specialist certifications
☁️Cloud and security badges
Some of the fastest-growing role-based certifications are those that have to do with the cloud. Digital transformation is accentuating the talent gap for cloud skills, and official certifications can help bridge it. The most popular certifications within this ecosystem include the AWS Certified Solutions Architect diploma and the Microsoft Azure Solutions Architect badge.
Virtually the same thing is happening with security certifications. The sweet spot lies where the two fields meet. Getting certified in cloud security is certainly a winning proposition when it comes to employability and salary expectations.
🛠️ERP and CRM training
Another area in which role-centric certifications tend to deliver a solid return on investment is that of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) software. With even more adoption than cloud, most medium-to-large-sized businesses today employ these systems to coordinate operations across departments and keep track of clients and sales.
Whether it is in finance or supply chain management, companies need experts who can set up the environment and maintain it. Getting SAP certified, for example, will open the doors for you to thousands of lucrative and exciting career opportunities.
Need advice on how to start or develop your freelance consulting business in tech or IT? Need to start a new permanent or freelance assignment? Join Mindquest and get support from our team of experts.
A bit of common sense and some broad-reaching advice will help you prepare for technical interviews if you are an IT professional
One of the most common questions that get floated around online discussion groups about IT careers is how to prepare for technical interviews. These are a natural step for positions that require a very specific set of skills. And for which “faking it until you make it” is simply not an option.
What kind of coding challenge should you prepare for when applying for a junior React.js developer position? What sort of test will you need to pass if you want to become a cloud architect at an industry-leading business?
Well, sorry to disappoint, but there are almost as many answers to these questions as technical positions and companies exist out there. Each technological niche and practice will require you to focus on a different interview prep strategy.
Yet there is no need to panic. A bit of common sense and some broad-reaching advice can go a long way.
Prepare for technical interviews: Do some basic research
There is just so much that you can find online these days. Visit the aforementioned Internet forums and look for what recruiters and other experts in your line of work have to way. Chances are someone has already asked something pretty similar to your question.
Review sites like Glassdoor often provide past interview questions and will give you a feel for what you are about to face. Dedicated LinkedIn groups are also a great source of insider information.
Finally, do not hesitate to reach out to experts themselves. Whether it is a recruitment specialist or a Twitter back-end development star; they will more often than not be more than happy to point you to the best way forward.
Educate yourself
Now that you know what you need, go get it. As an IT professional, you are already probably used to the idea of continuing education. Identify what online courses, series of YouTube videos, or coding sites you should follow.
Get an official certification if it makes sense for that specific application. Even if you don’t end up getting the job, you will be able to list it on your CV. But you will also be able to make the certificate count towards your eligibility for that specific application. So you will have a higher probability of getting the job.
Practice and practice again
No secret recipes here. Prepare for the technical interviews by going through a homemade practice test, correct it, learn from it. And repeat the process. If you have a friend or acquaintance that can help you review it, then now is the time to call them. It is also time to open yourself up to constructive criticism.
Also, when the moment of truth comes, approach every real technical interview as an opportunity to practice and get better. That will take some pressure off of your shoulders and let you focus on the problem-solving you are so good at.
Continuing IT education is everything, and you should keep that in mind throughout your entire professional career to make the most of it
IT experts know this well; no matter how unattainable a technology or problem can seem at first glance; things look much prettier once you are out of the woods and the project is over. And that is because one thing has changed: you. Now you have the experience, the knowledge. You have learnt something. Continuing IT education is everything, and it should keep on being exactly that for your entire life.
Especially in the world of technology, where the difference between the good and the great often comes down to the ability to adapt to the ever-changing nature of information systems. But do not forget you can learn many other non-IT-related topics that will also help you a great deal throughout your career.
Continuing IT education: Skills obsolescence
Renew or die is a motto that can be applied to many things in this world. IT careers are no exception. One unfortunate side effect of digital transformation is the rapid rate at which the value of one’s current skills declines.
One day, your resume has everything top employers seem to be looking for on it, the next, you are scrolling through Internet forums trying to figure out what language or framework you should master in order to get that promotion you feel you deserve. Whether it is Python, Docker or cloud security skills, keeping an eye on the top tech skills of the moment is a bullet-proof plan against skills obsolescence.
But an on-going approach to education has other benefits too. Countering the tedious effects of devoting too much of one’s time to a single activity or line of focus is one of them. We have all experienced that imaginary brick wall that rises in between us and our goals when we have been doing the same thing for too long.
Forcing yourself to step out of your comfort zone and learn something new will solve that problem. It will give you an energy boost and a renewed sense of purpose. Do not ever underestimate what a properly motivated mind can achieve.
Becoming a better professional
Thirdly, educating yourself can have a very positive effect on your current performance and capabilities. Whether it is something directly related to your line of work or something as detached as Middle Eastern history, there is always room to connect what you learn to your present endeavours.
Serendipity, or finding value in things you were not originally looking for, is a marvellous phenomenon. Capitalise on it to connect the dots and bring new perspectives into your everyday activity. Become a better professional by becoming a more knowledgeable person.
Continuing IT education: Mentoring
Finally, a life-long educational spirit will also make you, incidentally, a better teacher. The more you understand what someone learning something new needs of in terms of direction and resources, the better mentor and manager you will become. The best teachers tend to be great students.
That’s not to say you will naturally develop excellent teaching abilities without no effort on your part. Mastery requires experience. But you will, however, develop a certain sensibility and empathy that will make you a much more effective communicator and educator.
And is often a key part of the career plan of an IT freelancer. So what length of mission to choose between Short or Long Assignments for IT Freelancer?
One of the big advantages of working as a freelancer is flexibility. Flexibility in the choice of your schedule and yourplace of work. But also in the choice of your projects and the duration of your missions. Before to learn how to ensure a constant stream of work and how to advance your career, it’s necessary to know which assignments is the best for you. Short or long, the duration of an assignment is a determining factor in the choice of an assignment. And is often a key part of the career plan of an IT freelancer. So what length of mission to choose between Short or Long Assignments for IT Freelancer? What is a short or a long mission? What are the advantages and disadvantages of long and short assignments when you are an SAP consultant, a freelance web developer, or even a cybersecurity consultant?
Short or Long Assignments for IT Freelancer? Choosing a short assignment when you’re an IT freelancer
What is a short mission?
In the world of freelancing, we commonly call “short assignment” all assignments ranging from one day to 3 months of activity. However, in the field of technology and IT; where missions are on average longer than in other types of trades. We tend to consider as short missions all missions which duration is less than 6 months.
Particularly suited to professionals who have decided to go freelance; short assignments represent the ideal opportunity for a “beginner” freelancer to put their technical skills into practice. But also to expand their references and develop a significant capacity for adaptation.
What are the advantages of doing a short assignment for IT freelancer?
Short assignments are the opportunity for IT freelancers to string together different assignments for several clients in various industries. This heterogeneity of experiences is often favourable to the development of soft or interpersonal skills. And generally offers a rich educational environment.
For teleworking enthusiasts? Be aware that customers are more likely to offer you the opportunity to work remotely for short assignments.
In tech and IT, the duration of the assignment often depends on the area of expertise. And always falls within the time frame of the company’s needs. A consultant who participates in a two-year SAP migration project will a priori be more likely to be offered a long assignment. While a cybersecurity expert may intervene in the context of short assignments if it is to resolve temporary problems – although a holistic approach is often necessary and will result in longer assignments.
On the remuneration side, short assignments can be advantageous. Why? Quite simply because they often imply an urgent character. This will give you a better chance of getting a high ADR (Average Daily Rate). But who says short mission says more missions. You must be able to easily find projects or clients to avoid too long or too frequent intermission periods.
What are the downsides of short missions?
The main drawback of short assignments is the constant challenge of constantly having to look for a new assignment, thus requiring the regular renewal of your client portfolio.
This also translates into a very variable turnover. You must therefore expect to have to manage particularly irregular income.
Also note that short assignments do not favour integration into a team. If you have a strong need to belong to a group, chaining down short assignments can create loneliness and dissatisfaction in your day-to-day as an IT freelancer.
Short or Long Assignments for IT Freelancer? Choosing a long assignment
What is a long mission?
More and more companies are hiring freelancers for long IT projects. These long assignments last more than 6 months and can reach 24 months of activity with contract renewals.
Long assignments are generally entrusted to freelance consultants who have broad enough shoulders for hefty work.
Why favour long missions?
First of all, carrying out a long assignment ensures the IT freelancer has regular remuneration and medium-term visibility into their finances. Enough to take a weight off your shoulders.
In addition to this financial stability, this type of mission offers satisfaction to workers who favour work from A to Z on a project and who want full integration into an IT team – while retaining the freedom inherent to the freelance status.
Finally, long assignments can also be an opportunity to discover the work within an organization, to measure the possibility of a longer-term collaboration with permanent contract.
What are the limits of long missions for IT freelancer?
Long assignments anchor the independent consultant in a certain routine which can be compared to the status of a permanent employee.
The experience obtained on a long mission is also often less rich and diverse than that resulting from a multitude of longer missions. But they allow you to go deeper into projects and develop other types of skills.
So, what should you choose when you are an IT freelancer?
There is no one mission duration that is better than another. The duration of the assignment is an adjustable variable which depends on the motivations and personality of each IT freelancer.
Depending on your preferences in terms of types of projects, your ability to easily find assignments, and your appetite for a team configuration, you will prefer short or long assignments. And remember: nothing prevents you from alternating long and short missions.
Why and how should you pursue SAP and SAP S/4HANA certifications? Hear it from Denys van Kempen,Technology Expert at SAP focusing on SAP HANA and Analytics.
Why and how should you pursue SAP and SAP S/4HANA certifications?
Denys van Kempen is Technology Expert at SAP focusing on SAP HANA and Analytics. He has been at SAP for more than 10 years, where he helps SAP’s Global Partner Organisation support and educate partners about the company’s technology. Denys is a true SAP advocate, blogging extensively and managing content for the SAP HANA Academy.
How did you get started in your career, what do you do at SAP?
It’s funny that you
ask, because, out of curiosity, I recently picked up a starter certification
for Azure fundamentals. I just did the exam and was happy to pass. And it was curious,
because, when I looked at the transcript where it lists all the certifications
that you’ve done in the past, I saw how I had started out in IT almost 25 years,
and my first certificate was in Windows 95, doing the networking.
One of the most fun parts of the whole software industry and the whole community around it, is that it is constantly changing, and the only thing required is a willingness to learn. If you are interested in studying, you can work in IT. That’s the main qualification you need, as far as I am concerned.
I am now in my early 50s, I speak to a lot of people, and people have very, very different backgrounds. But I would say that is the most essential qualification. Today we are looking at the cloud platforms, yesterday it was blockchain and then it was big data. The only thing you know is next year it’s going to be something different, and we have to take out our books and study the topic.
Why should SAP experts pursue certifications?
I think there are basically two camps. There are people who enjoy learning new things, who maybe even enjoy the challenge of sitting an exam and hopefully pass. And then there is the group who thinks they have a lot of experience already and don’t really need to answer silly questions. I think there’s value in both arguments.
I’ve seen very good exams. But there are also examples of exams where you have to provide answers to questions nobody would know by heart. The certifications that aim for experience and how you solve things are better examples than just those who ask you to memorise things. And I think most vendors try to get that.
Getting a
certification is a great way to make sure you study all the aspects of a
certain technology, because typically you work with the most common things, but,
if you study the topic, you have an opportunity to learn things that are more
obscure, less well-known. For your own benefit, getting certified gives you the
confidence that you know the product inside out. It’s a great way to solidify
your knowledge.
Are you seeing a particular branch of SAP and SAP S/4HANA certifications that is on the rise these days?
Two years ago, SAP
made the strategic decision to go cloud-first in all the development. More
recently, that decision was accelerated. Everything is going cloud these days.
I think you have that
same effect on certifications. There are not really that many people today who
pursue a certification for only on-premise software. It doesn’t matter which
vendor, everything is going cloud. That would be my advice: if you learn
something new, make sure it runs on the cloud. That’s where the future is.
When it comes to cloud, you can work on software that runs on the cloud, or you can help set up and maintain the infrastructure, the internal plumbing. Would that be a good career move for someone that’s just starting within the cloud ecosystem?
That’s a good question.
SAP systems can be very complex, and you have these very large companies, like
big food manufacturers or big banks, whose SAP landscapes are huge. There are a
lot of functional people, of course, involved in making sure everything works,
but also technical people, doing the networking, the backups, etc. And moving
all those landscapes onto the cloud is a major shift of focus.
A question I get from time to time is one from people who have been working as Basis Administrators. They wonder what their role will become with everything going to the cloud. If you’ve been working with backups and things like that, that’s no longer a concern for the customer, because it’s being taken care of by the cloud provider. So, you see that shift.
A lot of the technology is now on the cloud, and no longer on the side of the software vendor. So that would definitely be something to look at. If you have a strong technical interest, you’ll have to study how to work with those cloud providers. Configuration and security, for example, they remain very important, but it’s a different role from the traditional one.
How people make their certification journey easier for themselves?
I would try to stick
as close as possible to the information the vendor provides. Most of it is
freely available or at a very low cost. The thing is that there are just so
many materials out there that you end up going from one rabbit hole to another
and lose focus. If you just stick with the course manual, you’ll be able to
have a quick preparation for the exam, but if you get side-tracked, you search
for exam dumps and study the wrong answers… well, I would certainly not
recommend that.
Also, don’t make it a
project that lasts too long. It’s either going to be 6 or 8 weeks, but make it
something for which you are going to study frequently, even if it’s half an
hour every day. Just come half an hour earlier to work and spend that half-hour
when you are still fresh working on that. That’s far more reachable than if
it’s going to be a 5-month project and every weekend once in a while you try to
cram it all in.
How about the books you publish through the SAP Press?
Well, that’s a bit of
a different story. For example, if you look at Azure or Google Cloud, they
provide a lot of information for free or at a relatively low cost. It’s up on
Coursera or EdX, and for 50 euros you can study for a month and that’s all you
need. That’s a very reasonable amount of money to invest in your career.
Unfortunately, for some SAP and SAP S/4HANA certifications, you have to go through training, and that training can be quite pricey. If you’re self-employed, you might not have the budget. In those situations, an exam guide might be of help. In addition, the course manuals are written to support the course, so they are always challenging. We write these books specifically to help you pass the exam.
Want to make the most of S/4HANA’s career potential? Check out our comprehensive S/4HANA Careers Guide.
SAP’s Learning Hub, for which you can request a free trial, should be your go-to place for official learning resources and documentation.
Working Amidst On-And-Off Lockdowns. We’ve outlined for you all the key aspects you should cover to find the perfect daily work routine.
Working Amidst On-And-Off Lockdowns. If you live somewhere on planet Earth, chances are you are currently experiencing at least some level of confusion thanks to the constantly changing public guidelines and workplace arrangements. The evolving pandemic has us all struggling to keep up with daily news and company memos, our already-busy minds now having to shift from tracking soaring infection rates to figuring out when exactly this week’s curfew kicks in.
Amidst this apparent chaos, it can be challenging to
find balance in both your personal and professional lives – and also in between
them. Days at a half-empty office merge with fully remote ones at a
way-too-small flat you share with other people.
Establishing a stable and effective work routine is
not easy in this context. And, since we know that working in IT is hard enough
for you to be investing too much time into figuring this whole thing out, we’ve
outlined for you all the key aspects you should cover to find the perfect daily
work routine.
Working Amidst On-And-Off Lockdowns? The right remote work formula
Each one of us beats at a different rhythm, and it´s
not always an easily identifiable one. Unless you’ve tried all possible work
schedule arrangements since the start of the pandemic, you’ll probably need to
do some more experimentation to find the right one for you. That is, of course,
if your current job allows for that level of flexibility.
Some companies are operating fully remote until
further notice, while others combine on-premises and remote work or let their
employees make the choice. If you are a freelance consultant or external
contractor, you are probably used to working remotely, but maybe you do so at a
co-working space or are thinking of trying one after being stuck at home for
too long.
Just make sure you find the combination works best for you.
Once you’ve got your weekly schedule figured out, it’s
time to focus on your home workspace. We all need our little bubble to be able
to concentrate on our to-do list and work more efficiently. Working at home
complicates that if you share it with other people.
Maybe you find yourself having to alternate replying
to work emails with watching over the kids. Or perhaps you only have one spare
bedroom in your apartment and there’s two or more of you working from home. At
another time, you’d go to the corner cafe and find some focus in the soft
background chatter of random phone calls and clinking cookware. Now there’s not
much escape.
Whatever your situation, it is vital that you claim
your own space within the house or flat. Whether it is a corner of the living
room or a make-up desktop you’ve built out of spare pieces of furniture, you
need to delimitate a space exclusively devoted to working. The couch, of
course, should be out of the question.
Proper use of white noise and music apps can also help
you focus and create that bubble.
The proper toolset
Having a good place to work won’t make much of a difference if you don’t have the right tools. In the back-and-forth context of on-and-off remote work, such tools are those that allow you to work seamlessly across locations and coordinate with your colleagues and clients. In other words: cloud-based collaboration solutions and organisational tools.
These apply to both universal organisational tools
like calendars and project tracking apps, to those targeted to IT professionals
like yourself. From ERP cloud solutions to ticketing and integrated software
development cloud tools, these can have a great positive impact on
productivity, especially when adopted by the whole team or company.
Catching a break
How and when you take breaks is one of the key factors impacting productivity. Some people prefer working for long stretches of time and taking a couple of long breaks a day; others alternate shorter, high-intensity stretches of work with more frequent, shorter breaks – a strategy made popular by the Pomodoro method. Find the formula that works best for you and never neglect breaks no matter how busy you are. A rested mind is a more productive and focused one.
And, since catching a real break can be a bit not
quite effective when you spend the whole day between the same four walls, try
being more flexible with what a break means to you. Exercise could make for a
very good break, so could a quick video game match. Some experts have even
started recommended going out on a fake commute even if we are working from
home. Going on a walk before starting your day and right after business closes
can apparently be very beneficial.
Nurturing you relationships when you are working Amidst On-And-Off Lockdowns
We are social animals, and the intermittent lockdowns
are making it harder for us to nurture our existing connections and developing
new ones. When it comes to work, and beyond satisfying our need for
socialising, developing solid relationships with colleagues and clients goes a
long way to making work easier, better and faster.
Being negated the opportunity to chit-chat by the
water cooler or go out for an after-work drink, you’ll need to be more
proactive to ensure you are not neglecting the social aspects of your
professional activity. Schedule frequent video calls to get that much-needed
face-to-face time with peers and clients. Reach out more than you would
normally do to cancel out the downsides of isolation.
As an IT expert, you must always keep your eyes peeled for the new top IT skills that will help you stay relevant and advance your career.
It’s renew or die in the world of technology. As an IT expert, you must always keep your eyes peeled for the new top IT skills that will help you stay relevant and advance your career. But the constant evolution of IT tools and the shifting business climate brought about by the pandemic can make it difficult. For example to decide where to focus your upskilling efforts in the year ahead.
So, where to begin? This list is a good starting point for anyone looking to strengthen their CV/resume or redirect their career.
Top IT skills:
Python: Unmatched Versatility and Popularity
Python continues to dominate the programming language landscape, solidifying its position as a must-have skill for IT professionals. With roots dating back to the late 1980s, Python has evolved into the leading language, especially in the developer community. Its applications in data science and machine learning make it indispensable, while its clean syntax remains appealing to coders.
Structured Query
Language (SQL) is a domain-specific language for handling data stored in a
relational database management system – a database structured in rows and
columns in which all data points are related to one another.
Developers and database administrators use the language’s code to perform actions such as inserting, retrieving and deleting data. Thanks to its database structure, SQL also allows for quick data processing and is used by some of the most popular database management systems, like Oracle’s MySQL or Microsoft’s SQL Server.
Java: A Quarter-Century of Relevance
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Java remains a powerhouse among programming languages. Renowned for its “write once, run anywhere” portability, Java retains its position as one of the top three most popular languages. Its vast ecosystem, ranging from the Spring Framework to enterprise application servers, underscores its adaptability and continual relevance. Regular updates and refinements further emphasize Java’s commitment to staying cutting-edge.
Cloud Computing with AWS and Microsoft Azure: Navigating the Sky
In the post-COVID business world, cloud computing has become more critical than ever. Amazon Web Services (AWS) continues to lead the cloud platform space, with Microsoft Azure as a formidable competitor. Proficiency in either of these platforms enhances career prospects significantly. Whether it’s AWS’s established position or Azure’s rapid strides, having cloud expertise is a valuable asset in today’s tech landscape.
Would you like to know about life in the cloud? Check out our Microsoft Azure career overview and discover all the paths you could take.
Docker: Containerization for Modern Development
Lat but not least, Containerization, with Docker at the forefront, has become essential for future-oriented developers and IT teams. The benefits of scalability, rapid deployment, and enhanced security make Docker a vital skill. Containers enable the creation and deployment of applications in self-contained units, providing efficiency and bug-free operation across diverse computing environments. Understanding Docker’s capabilities is crucial for staying at the cutting edge of modern development practices.
We’ve narrowed it down to 3 key areas you should focus on if you want the year ahead to be as successful as possible and get 2021 right.
Thumbs up: you’ve made it past one of the most infamous years in recent history. Hopefully, you’ve had some time to unwind over the holidays. Ideally, you’ve used some of that time to reflect on your professional trajectory and get ready for 2021. Most likely, you’ve simply been too busy enjoying your seasonal favourites to start working on that just yet. No worries. We’ve narrowed it down to 3 key areas you should focus on if you want the year ahead to be as successful as possible and get 2021 right.
Get 2021 right: Adapting to evolving market demands
Technology
is constantly evolving, creating new market niches and specialisations and transforming
existing job functions. The pandemic has added an extra degree of uncertainty
and change into the mix, making it more vital than ever to futureproof your
career strategy through reskilling and upskilling. How to go about it is not too
much of a secret: inform yourself, define realistic goals and learn whatever
you need to achieve them.
Ask yourself whether or not you are doing enough to stay up-to-date with current technology trends. Follow the trade press and sign-up to newsletters that are exclusively dedicated to IT careers. Then reconcile emerging market needs with your own professional profile and aspirations, identifying those hot skills you should be acquiring over the next few months to remain competitive.
Current most in-demand skills include artificial intelligence, cloud and cybersecurity. But don’t forget to develop other, softer skills like business acumen or organisational capabilities. They can well make the difference between aspiring to a great versus a good job.
Remote work: Finding the
sweet spot
At this
point, it has become clear that not only the current remote work situation is
going to last for several more months, but that traditional, on-site
presenteeism is forever gone. No news here, right? So what about it?
Well, as
much as you might think you’ve got the whole working-from-home predicament
sorted out, this should be the year to fine-tune your work routine and to find
that sweet spot that works just perfectly for you. Perhaps it is 3 days at home
and 2 at the office, or maybe you find it easier to always work from home. Perhaps
you’d rather just go into the office once a week for team meetings or to
socialise with colleagues.
If your
current employer or portfolio of clients allows for that level of flexibility,
take advantage of it and put together your own work schedule. Look to see what
you could improve on regarding your daily routine. Experiment with how often
you take breaks and how long these are.
Polishing your professional image
Finally, to get 2021 right, make sure you are paying enough attention to the image you project as an IT professional. and keep in mind that your social media presence, your CV and your professional networking activity all have an impact on said image. And all these moving parts need to be in sync. Not saying that you need to become an influencer in 2021, but chances are that your online image can use a little polish.
But, besides improving your online visibility and making sure you present a cohesive image, you should be thinking of how you position yourself as a pro from a strategic standpoint. Keeping up with the times by reskilling and adding new capabilities is not as effective if you are not marketing it accordingly to any future employers and partners.
