Computer related jobs are available in almost all the industries. The details of such jobs as well as the required knowledge, skills and qualifications vary greatly depending on the particulars of a job. The career advice appropriate for a computer job would depend on what kind of job we are talking about as well as the person concerned. Still all the computer jobs have some common characteristics. Following are the top 5 career advices for computer job that would be applicable to most computer jobs.
- Focus
Computers related jobs employ a variety of different technologies and tools. There are many tools and technologies available for doing the same kind of tasks. For a successful career in a computer job you must choose one or more tools or technologies to master. If you lose focus and spend your time learning too many different things, you would not know enough about any one thing. Versatility is good, and is necessary in today's changing job market, but if it comes at the cost of excellence it is useless.
- Stay Updated
The software industry is one of the fastest changing industry in the world; ever. New software and new versions of older software are launched frequently. In order to be successful in a computer job you must keep your knowledge updated and stay informed about the latest developments of tools and technologies that are related to your domain. Whenever possible use the newer versions of the software. They are more productive in most cases and also have a wider support and fewer compatibility issues.
- Resume Updating
When you are applying for a computer related job do some research and modify your resume based on the information gathered in order to emphasize your skills and qualification that are most relevant to the job in question. Although a good advice in general, it is particularly applicable to computer job due to the large number and versions of tools and technologies involved.
- Keep Improving
For a successful career in computer related job you should keep your knowledge and skills improving. Improve your existing knowledge and skills and learn new once which are relevant to your domain. This will improve your performance as well as being helpful in case of a change in business environment.
- Develop Common / Transferable Skills
Although there are many different technologies used in computer jobs; the number of underlying concepts is much smaller. These concepts such as Object Oriented Programming concepts, Data Base Management System concepts, Data Structures etc remain more or less unchanged by changes in technologies and are same throughout different platforms. Having an excellent knowledge of these can be very helpful if you have to change the job or shift to a different platform. You can consider them as software equivalent of soft / transferable skills; as they are transferable between different technologies and platforms.
The top five career advices given above are applicable to most, if not all, computer jobs and can be of great help to you in your career.
