You’ve got your IT diploma (or soon will have) and you dream of a job in IT. Great! You get one point for enthusiasm before you have even started. Read this blog post to find out what skills will help you even more in your quest to become a starter in IT.
Hard skills in the IT world
The first thing companies look for in future IT staff is the knowledge and hard skills that starters have acquired during their Bachelor or Master program. The requirements on a recruiter’s checklist will differ depending on the path you want to follow as a future IT professional.
Would you like to develop cool apps that will make the lives of countless users much easier? Then your CV should ideally include one or more of the following skills:
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- PHP
- JAVA
- MySQL
- C#
- ASP.NET
- .NET
Or is your head more in the clouds? That is, IT clouds? As a cloud or systems engineer, you will need to be able to handle many other programs, operating systems and technologies. Such technologies include:
- Networking
- Beveiliging
- Cisco
- HP Storage Solutions
- Unix
- Linux
- MS Enterprise
- MS Office 365
- VMware
- Citrix
- Powershell
Would you like to work at Planet Talent as a starter in IT? Find out about our IT infrastructure and IT development career-trajectory.
Soft skills in the IT world
Your personal skills or soft skills are also very important to convince a recruiter to choose you. You can really make a difference here. Many starters can present the same diploma and technical skills, but not everyone possesses the same social skills, analytical abilities, and sense of organisation or is equally stress resistant.
The list of soft skills is impressive and – let’s be honest – it’s impossible to tick
all the soft skill boxes. Find out which skills you already have, make them your own and stand out!
If you possess one or more of the soft skills listed below, then you are on the right path.
Five important soft skills in IT: these will be a plus
Communicative
In IT, you never truly work alone. Together with your colleagues, and under the supervision of a project manager, you develop applications or networks for clients. Therefore, it is very important that you are able to listen carefully to the needs of others, but that you are also not hesitant of expressing your own opinion and ideas.
Problem-solving thinking
Not everything will go smoothly right away. From time to time, you encounter your own limitations or those of the technology you’re using. What do you do? Do you give up? Or, do you look for a solution and a way forward?
Eager to learn
The IT sector is constantly changing. Your current knowledge can only take you so far as it may soon become outdated. That is why it is crucial to be eager to learn and acquire new knowledge.
Responsibility
As a starter in IT, responsibility may feel like a heavy burden. But it is important for you to have “ownership” of your work and the tasks assigned to you. If something goes wrong or you lose track of your work, don’t blame others.
Analytical abilities
As an IT professional, you need to keep a constant overview of your work and the professional journey you are on. Analysing data is your middle name and the better you are at this, the faster you will achieve good results. Who knows, perhaps you’ll find an even better way to do things!
As we have stressed above, hard and soft skills are not static: you can always develop and explore them. Planet Talent can help you with this. Apply for one of our traineeships and together we will hone your soft and hard skills.
