It’s no doubt IT teams across Australia have encountered quite a few curveballs over the past few years. But with each one, tech pros have also been presented with new learning opportunities and experiences for growth and development.
Now, in 2022 and beyond, there’s ample opportunity to put these newly acquired hard and soft skills to good use.
The next wave of skills tech pros will need are those they can learn. Research from the SolarWinds® IT Pro Day 2021 Survey: Bring IT On demonstrated how tech pros are beginning to see the value of a balance between nontechnical skills and traditional certifications. Together, these skills play a leading role in career advancement.
Here are five modest yet crucial skills that will pave the way for a successful IT career, both now and in the years to come.
Be Resilient
The word “resilience” has arguably become overused in the last year, but it remains essential, as resilience and grit are two important yet overlooked traits for many tech pros.
Building a resilient IT department has the potential to drive digital transformation and uplevel security throughout any organisation. By being resilient, embracing change, and harnessing strong problem-solving skills, tech professionals are bound for greatness. The hard part is being aware of or acknowledging the moment when you or your team have shown resilience and being proud of it afterwards.
Pivot With Efficiency
Another skill for IT professionals to harness is “pivoting without regret.” This means being able to efficiently change priorities, shift goals, and move to different projects with little or no notice. It also means being flexible with turnaround times, app updates, and various tech projects. When done effectively, it can ensure smooth multitasking and transparency.
Recognise the Purpose of Code
This isn’t about understanding what every line of code does, and I’m not suggesting every tech pro should become a full-stack DevOps engineer. I am, however, advising tech pros to learn the importance of code and understand it to a level where they can look at a block of code and have a general idea of its purpose.
This skill isn’t necessarily about becoming the top programming expert in the industry but becoming familiar with the bigger picture of code and its ultimate use.
Join the Cloud
The recent move to include cloud in enterprise infrastructure requires a new skill for tech pros to adapt: the ability to translate things understood on-premises into the cloud.
This means taking the time to understand and learn the differences between on-premises environments and the cloud. Spend time making a checklist of questions to ask. For instance, is routing materially different? How is storage handled? Does RAID 5 even exist? Do I need to worry about power supplies regarding compute workload? Ask all the questions you can think of until you run out, and then see if you can answer someone else’s.
It may be old-fashioned, but sometimes study groups can help. Get your team together and work through the motions so you too can join the cloud.
Shift Your Perspective
The final and perhaps most important skill to harness is the power of perspective, or the ability to see things from the perspective of your end users, whether they’re customers or colleagues. For IT professionals, switching perspective allows for more efficient, effective, and robust monitoring, tracking, and resolving of internal issues.
Though many of these “hard” and “soft” skills may appear challenging to incorporate and measure in daily work life, the onus is on the individual. Managers must take your word for it more than anything. By leveraging teamwork and holding each other accountable, you can contribute towards the first step in your individual and collective success.
Ultimately, keeping up-to-date with the most in-demand skills is essential. Learning will inevitably be the greatest skill for tech pros to ensure professional success in the ever-changing IT landscape, and it’s imperative for IT pros to start recognising, practicing, and maximising these skills. With these five skills as your perfect starting point, the key to unlocking your career enhancement will be right at your fingertips.
