Beginners Guide to Level Up Your Game in the IT Industry
My career in IT industry started as a Service Desk Analyst. This role generally acts as a starting point for some technology enthusiasts who are unsure about their core interests in the Information Technology domain. Initially, I was only involved with resolving the basic (level 1) technical problems that our employees faced on day to day basis. Gradually my responsibilities started growing and so did my interest and knowledge in this field. After spending about 6 months in this role, I had gained a high-level overview of IT Infrastructure, Development, Testing and Security practices. My interest was more inclined towards the infrastructure side of things and when my senior colleagues introduced me to the concept of Cloud Computing it captivated me to set my career goal as a Cloud Engineer. On my journey so far, I have learned some very nice things which I would like to share. I am aware of the fact that these concepts might not apply everywhere, but I hope this can give a direction to those who are lost in the middle of nowhere.
Thumb rule: The Time You Invest is Directly Proportional to the Money You Will Make
This is true for almost all the roles, but I consider this as a ground rule for advancing your career in IT. With the everyday growing technology, if you are not up to date with the market, you are losing your worth. Reading and understanding different technologies and products is must if you want to be recognised as an industry expert. You need to spend your quality time studying and up-skilling yourself which will increase your value in the market. Remember, you don’t need to be a technical nerd but a knowledgeable and smart technologist.
Add More Value to Your Current Role
We mostly tend to buy value for money things and so do most of the organisations. Even though your roles and responsibilities might be very standard or straightforward, I would suggest you develop a thought process of how you can be more valuable to your employer. Think about something that will distinguish you from others like automating the repetitive tasks, creating templates for standard responses, documenting your work on the company’s knowledge base/ wiki. This will help improve your approach of looking towards things as well as your overall value as an employee. Remember the goal should be to become as an asset rather than just another employee.
Validate Your Skills with Relevant Certifications
Have you ever heard of the phrase — “What is seen is Sold”. I think this phrase is valid to a certain extent. After setting up my career goal to become a cloud engineer, all my thoughts & actions were inclined towards achieving it. I spent roughly 10–12hrs per week studying and gaining knowledge of cloud computing. Even though I was confident about my skills and knowledge my seniors were not as I was just talking about it and not doing any actual work on it. It was then when I realised that I need to validate my skills to seize any upcoming opportunity and prove my worth. I cleared the AWS Cloud Practitioner exam and then got the AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification as well. These certifications acted as a proof that I have a working knowledge of Amazon Web Services and opened several opportunities for me.
Get Yourself a Mentor
“Colleagues are a wonderful thing — but mentors, that’s where the real work gets done.” — Junot Diaz
I am saying this from my personal experience — A mentor acts as a catalyst in boosting your career. Even though you are highly skilled, certified and doing your best to achieve your goals you can still get a feeling that the juice is not worth the squeeze. This frustrating time usually comes when your efforts are not channelised. Discuss your goals with an industry expert as they can understand you very well. Even your colleagues, seniors, your managers can act as a mentor for you. Never hesitate to ask for their help on how you can achieve your goals.
I am sharing these thoughts based on my personal experience and it might not be applicable to everyone but if this helps someone out there then it’s worth sharing. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments on this as it will only help me improve.
