Start your Tech Adventure today
Some tips and advices for the Tech enthusiasts
Hello, Tech Adventurer!
Have you ever dreamed on how you can start your career into a Tech one?
Well, maybe you are closer than you have imagined…
According to the U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, Tech market is evolving and increasing year over year.
Technology jobs will increase 11% every year from 2019 to 2029 in the US, adding more than 500.000 job opportunities.
Most part of these statistics are related to technical jobs such as cloud computing experts, security experts, data experts, etc. But don’t feel bad about this, because to fill up those positions, companies need HR experts to hire those people, Financial experts to manage costs and budget, Project Managers to manage the projects those people will work for, IT Operations experts to ensure company’s systems and infrastructure are running smooth, and many more structures inside any company.
Let me tell you a story about myself when I was younger. Before I have joined college, I never had a good career guidance and the opportunity I had was to start a degree in Business. I was a curious person who was facinated about technology. This curiosity took me to my first job and imagine what, it was not in business but in a technology area in a multinational company.
Since then I have been through many different areas (IT Operations, IT Security, Project Management, Consulting, System Support, etc), many mistakes, many different companies, many learnings.
Now 12 years later I’m here trying to share some knowledge so you have a chance to take advantage of what I have learned.
That’s why I’de like to share 3 advices with you and I hope those can guide you through your Tech Journey.
Learn, Learn, Repeat
The same way tech jobs are increasing and evolving, technology evolves over time and new demands and knowledge are required.
The Tech Journey is a constant learning adventure where you need to explore trends and requirements to evolve.
I’m not telling you just to take a college degree or anything like that, but you need to read books, participate on forums, podcasts, webinars, events and also seek knowledge from courses and partners.
Another important way to improve your knowledge is taking part on projects and this does not means leaving your current job: you can help people online, participate on a non-profit project, teach others, anything that can help you to improve your knowledge.
Most important, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”, it’s a cliché from Steve Jobs, but we cannot deny the truth of those words.
Become a lifelong-learner! Lifelong learning is a form of self-initiated education that is focused on personal and professional development. What that means? Use the examples listed above to always be on a constant learning cycle.
Specialize Yourself!
The Tech world is a vast environment where you can follow many different paths and to truly succeed on this field you need to specialize yourself in one domain first.
To increase your chances of getting a job, you need to specialize in one area. You can find many different areas inside one sigle topic, for example, in IT Security you can specialize on Security Operations, Auditing, System Security, among others. Choose one you like and focus on it.
Choosing an area is the first step. After that it’s good to mention that Certifications matters! On most jobs opportunities many certifications can be required such as PMI, CISA, Microsoft Certified, Scrum, etc. Search for job postings and check which are the most required certifications for your area and plan for it.
A plan to get a certification in most cases is a long road. The most desired certifications such as PMI, CISSP and others you need to pay for the exam and schedule it in advance. So you must have the money and be prepared for months of study prior to the exam.
Don’t give up if you don’t pass on the first attempt, most of those exams have a passing rate of only 20–30%, that’s why they are so desired. Reschedule it and focus on your study, you can do it!
If you are a developer, you can also build a portfolio. To do that you can use some platforms like GitHub, create your account and start interacting with the community. There are many people and projects you can help there.
Choose your path and improve yourself to stand out from the crowd.
Remember: recruiters don’t know you, so having good certifications and portfolios can help you to stand out out from the competition.
Know your company’s core business
Now the final advice, regardless your specialization, company, position, area, you NEED to understand your company’s core business and how it operates!
For example, you cannot be a programmer from a logistics company without knowing how the company operates or how could you improve the company’s system for a better operation? You cannot be a Project Manager without knowing the company’s goals or how could you guide your team to deliver a good result for your stakeholders without knowing what they want?
Again we can use an example from Steve Jobs. He was a Tech Leader without writing a single line of code. He understood the business requirements and led his technical teams to deliver the best results based on the company’s goals.
A good way to start understanding your company’s core business is to stay in touch with other areas such as sales, HR, logistics, finance.
You can do this on casual conversations, asking questions during business workshops, asking someone from other areas to explain some process and also participating on company’s events.
Know people, know the processes, understand the company’s goals and drive your results towards them.
Keep in mind that Technology areas are always in need for people with business knowledge. Having this kind of business understanding can open doors so you can also have the chance to change positions inside you current company.
One final advice to help you: none of the above tips will work if you don’t have an action mindset. So if you want to start your Tech Journey, Go for It, TAKE ACTION!
Those were my advices. I really hope they can help you through the Tech Journey no matter what your goals or area are.
