What’s in this video?
In this video, I will first look at what you need. Nowadays, there are so many courses, certifications and higher education to increase your knowledge, so I will look at what it all means and what you need.
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I will next look at getting that first job. This can be hard when you have no experience and they want experience. But I will look at some ways to help you getting that first job, even with no experience.
I will next look at what jobs are out there. IT is such a big field and there are so many different areas that you can specialize in.
At some stage in your career, you will most likely look at getting your next job. This may be in the same company or with a different company. I will look at what you need to get that next job.
Next, I will look at developing a strategy. Depending on what you want and where you want to get to, it is best to have a strategy. I will look at how you develop this strategy to help you get what you want.
Lastly, I will look at career pitfalls. Following the right strategy helps, but there are some mistakes that people make that limit their career. I will look at how you can potentially avoid these pitfalls.
What you need
To start with, what do you need? In today's digital landscape, experience takes precedence. It's often the top criterion that employers prioritize. However, there are exceptions to this, and I'll delve into that later in the video, especially when it comes to securing your first job without a substantial track record.
Too much experience can be a bad thing, that is, you can be overqualified. Depending on where you are in the world the workplace will see this differently. A friend of mine was saying, until he moved to a different country, he had never heard the term overqualified. In his country, if you possess exceptional qualifications and are willing to accept a position below your true worth, employers are quick to seize the opportunity and hire you. In other countries, this may be seen as a negative. They recognize that you can easily get another job somewhere else and you probably will. They would often rather go for someone less qualified who will stick around. So, when you go for a job and there are better candidates, don’t start thinking that you won’t get the job, you don’t know what they are looking for. Better candidates don’t always get the job.
Now for the topic of certifications. The main purpose of a certification is to validate your experience. In other words, it helps support, that you can do what your experience says you can do.
If you don’t have experience, this does not mean that you should not get the certification. More on that later in the video.
A formal education in some cases may help you get a job. But once again, nothing is as good as having some experience. That is why I often advise individuals to consider securing a part-time job while in college or during breaks. Doing so places you significantly ahead of other candidates upon graduation.
Statistically speaking, having a degree in the long-term will allow you to earn more money. Of course, this is not always a guarantee, there are some very well-paid individuals out there that never went to college. If you have a job, it is worth enquiring if your employer will help fund you getting a degree. Some workplaces will do this.
In my opinion, in the long term, it is always worth getting your first degree. If you have a degree already and it is not in computing, I would not worry too much about it, as your degree does not have to match the profession that you are in. Once you get your degree, you are in the ‘degree club’ so to speak. A friend of mine once said, your first degree just teaches you how to learn. If you are working and then start a degree, I would suggest doing a degree in IT, but at the end of the day it is totally up to you.
Getting the first job
Now, I did promise that I would look at how to get that first job. To really understand what you need to do, I am instead going to look at what employers look for?
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References
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Credits
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