Do you feel the pressure to be constantly learning new skills in order to keep up to date in your industry? It’s exhausting. But you aren’t alone.
If you find yourself under the impression that you don’t possess the necessary skills to pursue a career in IT, we’d like to prove you wrong. Whether you’ve already begun working in IT or are searching for opportunities to start, read on…
Like most industries, drive and eagerness to learn have a lot to do with success in IT. These soft skills are more difficult to learn that most technical skills – so if you consider yourself a motivated, enthusiastic worker, that’s half the battle. You may have all the knowledge in the world, but without the right mindset, you won’t be the most successful. Remember, cream rises to the top.
Soft skills refer to skills that are unique to you. They play an important role in workplace success, along with other key traits, talents and attributes.
Technical skills can often be easier to learn than some of the soft skills you need in IT. The following attributes are often innate to people who succeed in IT roles. Of course, if you don’t feel like you possess all of these attributes, don’t let that discourage you from exploring a career in IT. IT is a wide sector containing jobs which range from IT Analysts and Software Developers to Cyber Security Specialists and Technical Support Workers.
1. Communication Skills
Communication skills are universally useful skills for anyone working in any department, however, it is vital that someone in IT can efficiently communicate across different departments. IT professionals tend to work with colleagues across numerous teams to provide technical support and solutions for people having issues and must know how to best communicate to those who are less tech-savvy. When working with your non-technical colleagues from different departments, it’s crucial to clearly, concisely and patiently clarify and break-down the convoluted procedures into a language that non-IT workers will be able to digest.
This communication can be verbal or non-verbal, specifically through emails or over-the-phone advice, therefore, these instructions must be concise and easy to follow.
This ability to listen attentively and offer specific and thoughtful advice is an essential skill that comes hand-in-hand with a career in IT and will help aid successful collaboration and cross-departmental relationships.
2. Time and Project Management
IT professionals will often be working to multiple deadlines and on simultaneous projects, therefore, must manage various responsibilities. To do this successfully, you’ll need to be self-motivated and possess self-discipline. Throughout the course of an IT project, new deadlines are set, and new challenges often crop up. You must be able to accurately assess the length of a project, adapt your process when setbacks occur, and readjust your priorities in order to complete the project on time.
Prioritising your time and processes to meet deadlines and move projects forward efficiently is ultimately essential for the business across all departments because other teams will rely on you so that they can continue with their work. Delegating time-sensitive tasks across your team is highly important as you can ensure that project goals are complete, expectations are met, and needs of others within the business are fulfilled.
- Keep a to-do list
- Set realistic and manageable goals
- Prioritise and chunk tasks with upcoming deadlines
- Put deadlines into a project management software
- Delegate tasks to your team to help with the workload
- Minimise distractions where possible
Being organised in any aspect of your life will allow you to live a more relaxed, productive life. It is a very desirable skill for an employee, particularly within IT because it demonstrates that you know how to work to a schedule and will respect milestones which is massively valued.
Your ability to manage your workload will be tested almost daily while working in IT. If you bring organisational skills to this role, you’ll undoubtedly succeed in impressing your colleagues by managing multiple projects and giving each one an equal amount of attention.
If task prioritisation and time management come naturally to you, then so might a career in IT.
3. Perseverance
As Walter Elliot said:
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other”
With learning, growth and progression come challenges. To be successful at whatever you do, there must be some struggles along the way. In IT, it’s important to have a try and try again attitude towards work and never feel willing to give up. The most successful IT professionals are eager to persistently tinker away on a technological issue until they’ve identified the root of the problem and found a solution.
An invaluable attribute of successful IT professionals is the drive to learn new skills. The landscape in emerging IT software and technology capabilities is ever-changing and if you don’t embrace it, you’ll miss it. If IT professionals refuse or fail to implement new, relevant technologies, they’ll fall behind or be replaced by someone who does.
If you’re considering a career change or just seeking new opportunities for career progression, search all IT vacancies at s1jobs.
