If you are looking to make a career move in tech, there are certain professional skills you’ll want to develop or make sure you have. Of course, the hard coding languages will be a top priority you’ll need to master to succeed. However, bringing a diverse set of skills to the role will truly set you up for success as you start your job search.
“Being versatile in a tech environment is becoming more important to employers as technology quickly evolves and companies push into their digital transformation,” says Dave Muller, Senior Vice President of Technology at The Execu|Search Group. “As these technologies are being created, companies are expecting and hoping that developers will bring more to the table than just writing code for their aspect of the job.”
Below are five professional skills to develop if you want to stay versatile in your skillsets and succeed in the tech industry.
All tech teams want to be as efficient as possible. That’s why having a good understanding of DevOps will be important if you want to move up in your career. Although DevOps can mean different things to every organization, being efficient in your development operations will showcase your ability to learn quickly and will give you more time to work on innovative projects throughout your career— giving you a leg up on the competition.
With the power to securely share digital assets from a decentralized single source, blockchain technology has been groundbreaking for almost every sector. Popular for being the database behind cryptocurrencies, blockchain holds many promises for the future.
It’s no secret that the cloud is superior to on premises databases. However, just understanding how the cloud works might not be enough these days. “Every aspect of a job, from data analytics, code and DevOps, is integrating on the cloud, which presents brand tools that can be learned,” says Dave. “One of the most popular cloud databases to master is AWS, as it’s the most in-demand cloud system amongst employers.” One of the best ways to understand AWS is by getting experience on the job. However, if you don’t have the opportunity at work to develop this skill, there are also online courses that allow you to become AWS certified.
New software methodologies and practices, such as paired programming and agile environments, are requiring tech teams to collaborate more than ever before. If tech candidates don’t have the communication skills to work with teams, it will be very difficult to be successful in the tech industry. In particular, if you aspire to become a team lead or an architect, your communication skills will be essential to getting to this role and moving up.
Although there are new programming languages coming out very frequently, these software languages are built on the fundamentals of computer science. If you have a good understanding and foundation of computer science, you’ll be able to pick up these technologies and frameworks very well. “Tech organizations are looking for developers who can learn quickly and can solve problems, and having a strong computer science background enables tech candidates to do those things,” says Dave. “While you may not know all the languages a future employer may need from a developer, many organizations will give you a shot if you have a strong understanding of computer science.”
