The five must-have IT skills. Ten top places to live for IT careers. The eight most sought-after computer jobs. The three make-or-break interview questions. Four classic IT jobs no one wants. The six most important questions to ask any new technology employer.
And on and on it goes.
It seems that no one can write about technology without quantifying the topic. One is tempted to say that nerds must like numbers. But you see the same trend in any woman’s magazine. Diets, fashion advice, health tips, parenting suggestions, romance recommendations. They all come listed with numbers. (If one were an HTML geek, one would tag them with <ol>.)
What’s the deal? Do people just like numbers? Does it make us comfortable to see that there are exactly five skills – no more, no less – that we need for IT success? If we just master those five skills, we’re good to go.
We know why writers like numbers. Numbers make their job easier. Numbers help them tailor their piece to their editors’ requirements. How do writers get those numbers? They make them up. They look at how much info they have, how much they need to pad or pare their piece, and they add numbers accordingly, dividing or combining informational points as necessary.
So we’ve decided to buck the trend and give you a list of suggestions that we hope will prove useful in any career path. (Notice that our list is not numbered. If you look at the HTML code you’ll see we are using the <ul> tag.)
Here goes:
- Stay current with IT trends so you can talk intelligently about them. But choose jobs only in those fields that interest you. We know Big Data is, well, BIG. But if you aren’t interested in Big Data, don’t force yourself into that career path. There are lots of other options.
- Live where you want to. IT jobs are everywhere, and many of them allow telecommuting. So don’t move just to find a job. Moving’s a major pain in the neck and no one should do it unless he really wants to.
- The right questions to ask in an interview are the questions for which you want answers. There might be three questions or a dozen questions or no questions at all.
- Never assume that any computer job is totally passé. Be flexible and willing to learn even old skills. Be the infant phenomenon who knows the skills that aren’t even taught anymore. Combined with the latest IT trends, those old skills will set you apart. You may not ever need to use COBOL, but knowing COBOL and mainframes is a nice party piece to trot out from time to time.
- Learn how to get along with other people. Interpersonal skills may be the single biggest asset you can bring to any interview. Wouldn’t you rather hire someone you like than someone who seems arrogant and uninterested in the people around him?
And don’t worry. The latest figures show that IT professionals, on average, receive 34 solicitations per week. And that’s the only number we’ll use. For now. Check back next month.