IT Career Issues and Communication Skills

All employers want you to have a basic understanding of the technology being used in whatever area of the Information Technology (IT) field you go into; however, the most important skill has nothing to do with computers or networks. Tammy from the Industrial Credit Union put it succinctly. “Communication skills are a priority. Someone with tech skills are a dime a dozen.” What employers are looking for is someone with skills and the ability to communicate. Communication skills are key to a successful career in IT.

In most fields of IT, you will interact with customers or clients on some level. Whether it involves pitching a product, making a presentation, or helping them diagnose and fix a problem. Though a career in IT can be very enjoyable and challenging, we are primarily in this field to make money. As an entrepreneur or employee of a corporation, we must do as Chris Powell, from Western Washington University, suggested and ask ourselves, “How can I add to the bottom line?” It’s more than making the client happy with fancy words and a smooth voice; it’s about communicating the information they need in a way that will be understood. Our ability to do that is key to making the client, and in turn ourselves, profitable.

Unless you are a lone entrepreneur, you will have co-workers or be in a position where you have to manage others. We must be able to get along with others and be able to work as a team. Being able to communicate with co-workers is important to effectively doing our jobs, but we must also be able to communicate with and work with difficult co-workers. Of all the speakers we had in our IT Ethics class, the most bitter was Harlan from Retrotech. As warning of what to expect with co-workers in our future career he s...

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...seful with a major problem at a datacenter. We will all deal with incident response. As a tech, you must be able to determine what the real problem is, what happened, and be able to communicate the fix in detailed instruction so that the next person who runs into that problem is able to fix the issue with the instructions you have prepared.

Steve Burnett, from the Burnett Group, said, "Regardless of the changes in technology, the market for well-crafted messages will always have an audience." Though your knowledge of computers is important, the most important issues you will deal with involve your ability to communicate with others. Not only must you be able to communicate your message clearly, you must also be able to understand what others are trying to communicate to you. Only by developing these skills can you have a successful career in Information Technology.