5 things you should know to start your IT career
There are a few things that could help the life of the ones that are starting their IT career.
Note that I said help, not make it easier. There is no easy path to succeed on this field, you need to study, share knowledge, study more, exercise soft skills and many other things
Below are 5 tips that will guide you to the success path.
Stay close to your mentors
Probably you are working closely to very good people, but also with people that is not very helpful. You need to identify the ones that can really help you.
Choose your mentor and stay close to this person. Listen what he/she says, try to get lists of things to study, pay attention on his/her actions, discuss about the things you are studying, be a good listener.
I’m sure that, doing this, you’ll learn a lot.
Ask questions
Don’t be afraid of asking questions to more experienced people.
Tell them what you are studying, explain your understanding of that concept you just read about. They will be happy to correct you, explain their point of view and give you tips, because they already passed through all this process.
If you are trying to solve a problem and it’s taking a long time or you are stuck, there is no problem to ask for help. But before asking for help, make sure you already researched enough and also make sure you’ll ask the right questions.
Don’t look for a comfort zone
Once you get good at doing something, don’t think your career is all set. The comfort zone is you worst enemy.
As a developer/engineer/architect, you must be studying, looking for knowledge and innovation all the time. Every day new theories, new frameworks, and new concepts are invented. We must be up to date as much as we can.
Appear, take initiative
Once a guy that worked with me said “Those who don’t appear are not remembered”.
It means we must be helping people, bringing innovation to our project and sharing knowledge. This way your co-workers and the IT community will notice and respect you, and new opportunities will come to your life.
Take the most challenging tasks when everyone else is afraid. Teaching is the best way to learn, so the main tip here is to make presentations, write blog posts and start discussions with your co-workers.
Be humble
Always be humble, no matter how smart and respected you are. Be nice with interns, experienced developers, HR people and everyone else around you. This way everyone will like you, and again opportunities will knock your door. Remember that no one likes arrogant people.You never know enough, keep studying
Learn how to learn
Learning how to learn is one of the most important things. Each person has its own way to learn and you must discover yours. I wrote an article addressing this subject, it’ll be nice to complement this reading with this article.
That was all for this post. If you have any questions or want to discuss more, you can reach out to me on the comments section. I hope I helped a bit, thank you!
