Long gone are the old stereotypes of the weird company IT guy. The socially awkward, quiet person who worked in a different part of the office, planning ways to make our working lives that much harder by constantly upgrading and tweaking systems and telling us what we were doing wrong. Those days are gone if they were ever really here.
It’s now cool to be a tech geek, they now account for the fastest-growing demographic of start-up entrepreneurs. Also, you don’t have to be a guy anymore. Though representation of women is still less than perfect in many areas of the industry, it is certainly changing for the better. Hopefully, the more positive female role models out there to inspire, the more women will feel welcome in the industry.
Whatever your gender, if you’re thinking of a career in IT, but aren’t sure it’s for you, then have a look at some of the common character traits that will make it more likely to be something that you’d be good at.
Here are the main ones:
You know your stuff
OK, that should go without saying really but you do need to be an expert in the area you are hoping to work in. That’s not to say that you know everything there is to know. Technology changes so fast, you constantly have to find ways to keep up to date and maintain your level of knowledge. This is the same whether you’re looking to go into IT Support or programming.
You embrace the new
IT systems are vastly different from how they looked 20 years ago and the technology in 20 years time will look unrecognisable by today’s standards. If you don’t like change, then a career in IT won’t suit you. Embracing and learning new technologies should excite you.
You’re a problem solver
You love a challenge and have a logical brain that loves to try and solves problems.
If you work in an area such as IT support, then a passion for problem-solving will serve you well, the desire to get to the bottom of an issue and correct it.
A cybersecurity consultant will need to analyse the security landscape and anticipate new threats and solutions to mitigate them.
The same goes for other areas too. Programmers, app designers and SaaS specialists are all looking to solve the problems. They may not be the traditional break/fix problems that people generally associate with IT, but they look to solve the problems they see in the world, whether that’s the problems of society or potential clients.
Final thoughts
There’s no one type of person that works in IT. Though it’s easy to think that way due to what you see on film and TV, the real world is very different. There’s no one size fits all approach and just like most other careers, as long as you have the skills and strength necessary, then the rest is inconsequential.
