What Skills Do Graduates Need for Successful IT Jobs?

IT is still a popular field with many in-demand jobs. Many graduates come out of college each year looking for jobs in this field. Most have the technical skills taught in their courses, but many do not know what else is involved in finding and keeping a job in IT. Below are some of the skills IT grads need to be successful.

Specific IT technical skills 

If you are hired as a programmer, you should definitely know popular programming languages and how to learn new languages. If you are a networking specialist, you should understand all that is involved in that and be able to exercise your expertise. These are the skills that you most likely learned in your courses. Now is the time to put them to use.

General technical skills 

other than skills specific to your field, there are general technical skills you might use. For instance, you might need to use Microsoft Word or Excel. You might also need to do basic research on the Internet.

Problem solving/critical thinking 

Along with technical skills, it is extremely important that you are able to solve problems and think critically. It requires the ability to think logically and apply what you have learned to a real world situation. Critical thinking-the ability to think for yourself and "outside the box"-is also important. If you were good at story problems in mathematics, this is a skill you should be able to master. Many times you will be required to use these skills in connection with your technical knowledge. Depending on the nature of your job, in fact, troubleshooting and creatively solving problems may be the main part of your job.

Creativity 

When it comes to thinking "outside the box," it is a good idea to also have the ability to be creative. This doesn't mean that you should disregard the accepted rigors of your profession. Sometimes there is only one way to do something. However, there are parts of just about every job that can benefit from some creativity. In IT, that usually translates to the "out of the box" thinking referred to earlier.

Plays well with others 

One thing just about every job has in common is people. You have coworkers, supervisors, customers, clients, patients, students, or some combination of them. In jobs where you work predominantly with others (technical trainers, support specialists, etc.), it is pretty obvious that you need to be able to work well with other people. Along with intangibles such as attitude, the ability to work well with others is critically important to just about every job, even in IT!