From programming and digital business expertise to management and collaboration skills, there are many professional skills that young IT professionals need to hone to rise to the top.
But where should you focus your attention to climb the tech career ladder? Five industry experts give us their opinion.
1. Explain and be ethical with your team
Danny Gonzalez, director of digital and innovation at London North Eastern Railway (LNER), a railway company, says there is no escape: if you want a technical job, you you will need strong skills.
To that end, his organization is investing time and money in developing the skills it needs to pursue its data-driven digital transformation agenda. “Take machine learning, for example: several members of our team take different types of machine learning development courses to learn these specialized skills,” he explains.
However, Danny Gonzalez also believes that it’s the soft skills that help you get the big stuff done, especially when you start taking responsibility for work schedules. “You have to take people with you on this journey. They need to feel passionate about what you’re trying to accomplish,” he says.
“Individuals must adopt the right behaviors to work as a team. We can’t do anything in the company on our own – we depend on almost all of its other areas. If you don’t bring strong soft skills, you won’t get very far because everyone comes together to get things done. »
2. Leverage your technical and non-technical know-how
Stephen Booth, CIO of Coventry University, says anyone wanting to work in IT will need to have technical skills, but by far the most important skills are the right attitude and the ability to connect with people .
According to Stephen Booth, the focus on soft skills is all the more important since many of the traditional tasks performed by IT professionals are taken over by external providers. The remaining internal staff may have to deal with a change in orientation.
“Roles are changing,” he says. “Yes, we still have pure coders and infrastructure engineers. But the cloud has brought huge changes. What was once a server engineer is now someone who manages a relationship with a vendor to provide a service. »
This shift in roles and responsibilities means that successful IT professionals must deal with a wide range of people with disparate requirements. According to Stephen Booth, the most effective employees use their technical know-how to help the company solve its problems.
“You need to understand the technology, so you can translate requirements and needs. So you still need this technical basis. But more and more, we’re looking for people who can engage and who can translate what people want into this thing that they’re building. »
3. Become an influencer
Bev White, CEO of recruiter Nash Squared, also says soft skills are crucial for professionals looking to successfully climb the career ladder, especially those who want to move into leadership positions. “Being able to take people along, be a good leader, and be able to motivate and encourage people is really essential,” she says.
Being a pure technical specialist “is not enough”, adds Bev White, because someone who has avoided honing their soft skills will not necessarily see the value of creating a strong culture within teams and the importance of developing a compelling mission for change.
Additionally, increased responsibility for elements of the technology stack by non-IT lines means that business communication skills are essential for what remains of the core technical team.
“I think what we’re seeing here is that the leadership role of IT is getting much broader,” she says. “High-level professionals have to interact with a large number of people who perform business functions, which were previously considered technical functions. These days, digital experts come in all shapes and sizes. Soft skills are therefore essential, because you have to be a very good influencer. »
4. Develop your presentation skills
Daniel Smith, head of analytics at apparel brand PANGAIA, says IT professionals need to be able to present data and show businesses the benefits of digital transformation projects.
“That’s where we see skills shortages – both in terms of sets and communication skills,” he says. “Even getting familiar with something like Power BI can help. Once you start using a tool, it helps you become familiar with all the tools you use. »
Professionals who have the ability to present data should then hone their more general skills, especially a confident communication style.
Daniel Smith gives an example from his own work. He recently spent time with the internal impact team to try to help them meet carbon reporting requirements. After listening to their requests, Daniel Smith was able to define the technical work in a format the business could understand – and he says it’s probably an important requirement for all IT professionals.
The best description I could give them was: “It’s a carbon balance sheet that looks like a financial balance sheet, but it’s only about carbon. And they said, “Yes, finally, someone explained it to us.” And so, for me, it’s those soft skills. Because it is by extracting this problem from the company that it sometimes becomes painful.
5. Adopt the right behaviors
Mark Bramwell, CIO of Saïd Business School at Oxford University, explains that despite the general need for technical skills, his department always looks for key values in new recruits.
“Technical skills can be taught, but behavioral skills are very difficult to change,” he explains.
“We are always looking for key elements around our values, such as honesty, trust, respect, excellence, collaboration, entrepreneurship. If people can display and demonstrate these skills, they are the kind of people we would like to have in our organization, and I would like to have on my team. »
Source: ZDNet.com