Jack be Nimble …=
; the
Job Market ain’t what it used to be
Let’s face it, the la= st year has been very tough on the IT industry. Even though the media is reporting = that leading indicators show the economy is improving, for IT the news remains pretty bleak. A harsh reality is that when times are bad, IT is one of the first areas to get hit, and one of the last to ramp back up when things improve. So, what’s an IT pro to do to tread these waters?
In this type of market, experience plays a much more important role than certification when it comes to getting a job. At the sa= me time, many out of work IT professionals are faced with the realization that their job skills have stagnated and their education needs to catch up. So, it’s a double-edged sword … on the one side you have to look for ways to get more experience, particularly if you’re trying to break i= nto the IT industry, and on the other side you have to be diligent about your education/certifications in order to keep your skill set as marketable as p= ossible. When the job market is flooded with well qualified people, you want to be as nimble as possible, so that should you find yourself in need of employment you’ll have an advantage over other people.
One of the terms thrown around in relation to stock po= rtfolios is diversification. You can thi= nk of your skill set in the same way. Obviously there are high end specialists in= IT that will always be in demand because not a lot of people have their skills, but the vast majority of IT professionals are not in that type of situation. Look at skills to complement what you currently have, and also look in rela= tion to job postings on the major job boards to see what types of skills are in demand. Read industry publications to get a feel for where technology is go= ing, and visit IT discussion forums such as CertTutor.net to network with other = IT professionals.
The following is a basic example of how a Windows administrator (NT, Windows 2000) can gain complementary skill sets that cou= ld help gain an edge in the job market. Consider these different options for a general Windows admin: