It is all too easy to become so busy with your current career in tech that you completely ignore thinking about how you will really get it going for the future. This is part of the reason why some people pay for training courses and coaching sessions, as it gives them some time from their too-busy day to think about where they will go career-wise in the New Year and more distant future. You can start small by penciling in an hour per week or month to focus on and better your tech career. Consider these other ways in you can jump start your career in technology.
1. Come Up with and Commit to a Future Career Goal
The old adage that you cannot get where you need to go if you do not know where
you are going in the first place is still true. In order to kick start your tech career, you will first have to come up with, and most importantly commit
to, a future career goal. Setting the goal is the easiest part, since it
requires serious courage and staying power to really stick with the plan. You
can help yourself by doing these things:
• Relay your goals to other people around you — just doing this increases your
likelihood of actually doing the things you need to in order to reach the goal.
• Write down the goal — when you put something down on paper, you transform it
from an abstract goal to a more tangible one.
• Make plans to realize the goal — one small and manageable step at a time will
help you get from here to there. It is far more difficult to take giant leaps
than it is to take the baby steps.
2. Gain a Basic Understanding of Databases
Another resume builder for your burgeoning tech career is the topic of
databases. You can find everything you need online without any difficulty in
order to build up your own MySQL database on a Linux server. If you learned how
to program in PHP, then you will find it very easy to get into your new
database and manipulate the data, too. Another easier method of accessing and
performing operations on the MySQL database is with shell scripts.
3. Join an Open Source Project
A project that may both help you to gain some valuable tech world contacts and
also to put these new skills you learn to use is an open source project. These
abound on the Internet. Working on such an open source project will show you
the useful ways such technologies that you are learning can be employed on a
real-world computer development level. This also looks terrific on a resume.
4. Read About Network Security Basics
Another good task you can undertake to further your tech career is to pick up an eBook on the basics of network security. There is no need to become a master of the subject for it to help you, unless you plan on making the transition to a cyber security career. It goes without saying that every technology professional needs to possess a basic level of comprehension of network security, more so now than ever before these days. Anymore, this is as important as having business insurance.
5. Learn a Computer Language
What better way could there be to improve a tech career than by learning something new about technology. Picking up a computer language will not only make your resume look more impressive for future opportunities, it will also literally make you more impressive. PHP is among the simplest to pick up and it runs efficiently and effectively on Linux servers. Java is another popular computer programming language. If you feel more ambitious, you could pick up C++, which is akin to the Latin root basis of all present computer programming languages. Another valuable skill is Hadoop reporting. While Excel Hadoop reporting is not technically a computer language, it is just as technical and perhaps, equally as profitable as a resume item. Resources online abound to help you with these tasks.
6. Build a Professional Looking Website
If you do not already have your own professional looking website, now is the
time and this is the year to make it happen. Having such a website is a sharp
two-edged sword, as you can not only demonstrate that you have the capabilities
to build a professional website, but you also have a marketing and branding
platform for yourself and the future of your tech career with such a
website.
If you have learned how to use Linux and built a MySQL database, you can
utilize Apache Tomcat for the application server and the PHP language you
picked up from an earlier step to code applications for your website. By
ensuring that it appears professional, or putting up an application with real
utility on it, this will impress potential employers and job contacts greatly.
While you are doing as many of these recommendations as you can, it is
important to not neglect your network of professional contacts. You should have
a sufficiently strong network of people to help you with introductions, and
enough of them at the company where you work already.
