Skills Vital to Success

The NCAA tournament bracket is out, colleges across the country are buzzing with excitement, and office conversations have turned to the price of admission to this year’s bracket challenge. The true madness of March is about to begin.

This time each year, basketball fans and non-basketball fans alike come together to feast on the joys of competition. We watch as college athletes who have worked to master their craft take to the floor night after night through the tournament gauntlet, in an attempt to win a national championship. Only the team with the most skilled and prepared players will be able to cut down the nets at the end of the tournament.

Every player playing for a national championship this year has worked for countless hours to be where they are. They have developed skills that are incredibly important to the overall success of their teams. The same can be said for successful IT professionals. In order to land a job in the IT field, and be successful in that field, you have to develop the right skills.

Monster.com, a popular job finding website, recently posted a feature about Six Must-Have IT Skills for IT professionals. They are as follows:

Quality Assurance — This process is central to developing software and systems. Employers are often looking for those who can handle QA on top of other skills.

Documentation — Support professionals, coders and other IT workers are often asked to document their process. This skill will give you the edge over many that could be competing for the same job.

Databases — In today's data-driven business world, there's a database for almost everything. The more conversant you become with this increasingly important IT discipline, the more valuable you'll be to employers and coworkers.

Networks — Everything today is on a network. These skills are vital in today’s workspace.

HTML — Basic HTML is easy to learn, and is another skill that will give you an edge in any tech savvy space.

Microsoft Office — It may seem silly to have to learn something as basic as Microsoft Word or Excel, but if you don’t know how to import an Excel worksheet, for example, then you could be in trouble.

These six skills may not be at the top of your list to learn or develop right now, but they should be. Just like on an NCAA tournament team, the most well rounded players are often the most valuable to the team’s success.

It will take some determination and desire to master your craft, but with these skills you will become more valuable to potential employers. They will want you to be a part of their team.

About the Author — Jake Slater is the social media manager for GoCertify and a graduate of Brigham Young University. The head cheerleader from last week's article found out about Jake's long-dormant crush and wanted to pass along this tender message.