IT is one of the fast-growing careers today. You’ll realize that even at your workplace, IT vacancies keep popping up. Most businesses and employers keep looking for more IT-focused individuals, and having the necessary skills needed for various IT roles puts you in high demand. Remember that this field keeps changing and growing every day as technology advances. Therefore, even if you’re an IT graduate, you need to expand your knowledge further to keep up with the growing pace.
It may interest you to know that IT is among the best paying career fields worldwide. So, working in this field is exciting but lucrative and rewarding as well, much so if you possess these 7 vital IT skills needed for various IT roles.
IT Skills
The information technology (IT) sector is vast. That’s why you’ll see people with different job titles all working in the IT department. This means that there are several roles in this huge sector, from the front desk to programming and networking. Also, note that each position requires a different type of expertise and knowledge. Because of the difference in IT positions and roles, employers also look for various IT skills when hiring the best candidates for their firms.
While others may focus on a particular skill, like your knowledge of a specific programming language, other employers look for your general understanding of IT and basic computer skills.
Here are the vital skills most employers are interested in.
1. Communication Skills
Working in an IT department means that you interact with different kinds of people daily. Most IT travels across the country representing their firms in matters IT. Also, they provide technical support to those who aren’t tech-savvy. They also work on projects and present them to others at work, demonstrating leadership all through. All these roles can only be possible if they have excellent communication skills, both spoken and written.
2. Leadership Skills
Besides having the right communication skills, employers also look for leadership skills from IT individuals. They want to see if you can motivate others in your team, how you can handle difficult situations, and how well you can delegate duties to your juniors without others feeling favoured. And since you’ll be required to work with others to complete IT projects, leadership skills are vital in this field.
3. Can You Write a Code?
Coding is also one area employers are interested in when hiring IT professionals, especially if the position in question is about programming, web design, or software development. In most cases, people who can comfortably code in different programming languages have the upper hand in such jobs.
This means that you don’t have to confine yourself to perfecting only a single language. Even after graduation, you can still register for different online IT courses to expand your knowledge in other programming languages such as Java, C, C++, etc.
4. Do You Have The Necessary Networking Skills?
For most IT individuals, you must understand the concept of computer networks for you to survive in this field. Networking skills go all the way to communication skills as anyone working in the IT networking department must work with others in the same department and outside in building the company’s network system.
In this role, do ensure that all your colleagues can access the information from the internet and the company’s database. This means that at any given company system, you must accommodate people. Therefore, you need to possess excellent communication skills to relate well with all of them, both your seniors and juniors.
5. The Basic Computer Skills
Most employers look at your knowledge of the four basic computer skills for the front office support desk in the IT departments. These skills will allow you to perform well at your workplace and enable you to keep up with the fast-growing technology today. These skills include;
• Your Data Entry Knowledge
Your ability to enter data into the company’s databases fast and without making mistakes is what will get you that lucrative job.
• Word Processing
You need this skill to enable you to create and edit various word documents for the company with ease.
• Privacy and Security
All information concerning the company you’re working for must be kept secret and shouldn’t leak into the internet.
• Do You Know How To Use Search Engines?
The most common one is Google, and most people know how to use it. But, employees need to understand all the functions of google that can be quite helpful in their work.
6. Time Management Skills
Can you manage all your projects well and finish on time without supervision? This is what most employers look for. As an IT individual, you should assess the project in question and give an accurate timeline for completing it. Ensure you follow and stick to your timeline.
7. Problem-Solving Skills
In the IT sector, several changes come from technology advancement, which creates many problems with most companies’ systems. Therefore, employers only hire professionals with problem-solving skills to define the issue at hand, know its cause, and provide the right solution.
