Developing Your IT Toolbox: How To Learn Versatile IT Skills in 2024
Working as an IT professional is an incredibly versatile discipline, requiring a broad range of skills. While it’s easier than ever to learn IT Skills in 2024, those same skills are also changing faster than ever before. That being said, there are several things you can do to stay up to date while capitalising on the value of your existing skills and that’s what we’ll be exploring today.
Staying Up to Date With The Latest IT Skills
In some ways, for those working in IT it can be hard not to stay up to date with the latest IT skills. While new systems and technologies are appearing all the time, the needs of the job often require professionals to work with those same technologies straight away. In practice this can mean that either you learn by doing or you spend your whole life catching up (and, let’s be honest, for most people it’s always a bit of both).
On the other hand, IT being as broad a field as it is, emergent technologies might not always be directly relevant to the field in which you’re working. As such, it can be easy to feel left behind unless you have a way of staying up to date, even on subjects that don’t directly relate to your work.
This isn’t always a problem – not if you’re staying in the same job at least – but where it is a problem, it can be a compounding one. Over time, it can be easy to feel left behind, making the process of catching up feel daunting and difficult.
That being said, there is an easy way to keep your IT skills polished, and learn directly from the experts.
Learn IT Skills Through Mentoring
Of course, the internet is great for providing information on a wide range of topics but for those who need to learn new IT skills quickly, the most useful resource you can have is a Mentor. Working with someone who’s directly involved in the area of IT you’re looking to learn more about means getting the practical, useful information, directly from someone who uses it.
One of the reasons that mentoring can be so powerful in IT is because of the jump between theory and practise.
For example, you might have a good grounding in the theory underlying web development but that doesn’t mean you’ll be familiar with every framework out there. Instead you’ll only learn those that are relevant to your work. If you’re changing jobs, therefore, you might need to learn a new framework at short notice and that’s exactly the type of circumstance where working with a Mentor could save you a lot of time and effort.
The best part is that you needn’t stick with one Mentor indefinitely. Instead, you can find a Mentor who’s an expert in the field you’re looking to learn more about until you’re all caught up. Rinse and repeat for any new topic.
The Value of IT Skills in 2024
Of course, it’s important to stress that the benefits of mentoring can go both ways. Just as mentoring makes it easy to learn new IT skills at speed, it also makes it easier to monetize your own IT skills, particularly if you’re highly experienced within a niche.
And that’s not even getting started on the number of new people looking to learn IT. In years gone by, a company might only need one or two IT experts, if they had an IT department at all.
Those days are well and truly gone. In 2024, almost every company either has a well-staffed IT department or chooses to outsource their IT needs. Either way, there are far more IT jobs and far more people looking to work in IT – especially as IT positions are often either remote or hybrid working, which is particularly popular among younger demographics.
The practical upshot of all this is that any IT skills and experience you have are becoming more and more valuable, day by day, as more people are looking to broaden their own IT toolbox. All of which means that now is the perfect time to become an IT Mentor yourself.
And the very best part is that you can be both a Mentor and a Mentee. You can learn the skills you need whilst sharing those you have, all in your own time, from the comfort of your home.
Whether you’re looking to expand your existing IT skills in 2024 or to earn money teaching your skills to others, Career Navig8r is the place for you! The sign up process is quick, easy, and 100% free, so why not get started today? Your IT mentoring journey awaits!
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