Another working year has begun, and you must be asking yourself: How can I advance my professional career? To answer this question in a detailed and accurate way, let’s do a self-assessment.
Assess your technical skills
What is your level of knowledge (not only theoretical, but also practical), regarding various hardware configurations?
This does not only take into account famous computer architecture designed by Intel or Apple, but also computer buses (parallel and serial), memories (volatile and non-volatile) and peripherals (input, output and storage devices).
What about software installation and configurations?
It is important to know how to install different operating systems (including their old versions in case of repairs), especially in those situations where the user is unable to access their data due to a physical problem in the storage device. If in the past it was enough to just install and configure productivity software (Office, etc.), nowadays it is also important to configure antivirus software properly in order to have a reliable level of security on any computer system.
Do you network computers securely?
All computers around the world are interconnected in some way to a network. Therefore, it’s important to know how to configure and manage various types of networks through different protocols. Furthermore, how to improve the performance of such networks while maintaining a high degree of security of the interconnected systems to prevent data leaks and infiltration of computer viruses is an essential technical skill.
How to improve your technical skills
There are obviously countless technical skills that can be improved, but considering only those mentioned above, we can improve them as follows:
Building low-cost desktop computers with various configurations and at the same time installing one (or more) operating systems on a storage device is an excellent practical way (there are a lot of tutorials available on the Internet) to improve our basic technical skills. Furthermore, there are many courses and tutorials available for free on the Internet that can teach you how to configure and install any kind of software application (including antivirus and security packages) and network configuration (including performance improvement and data security).
Analyze your soft skills
For those who work only with machines, that is, without any interaction with people (whether in the workplace or anywhere else), soft skills may not seem necessary. However, if you interact with your co-workers and with customers, then mastering soft skills is relevant. By the way, for those who haven't realized it yet, in these times of our AI boom, soft skills are and will become much important in a near future.
There are many soft skills that can and should be improved, where the main ones are:
- Communication: To talk and most importantly, to listen to customers.
- Time management: To prioritize and organize tasks in a way that allows you to meet all your deadlines.
- Adaptability: To adjust to sudden changes in your work environment and schedules.
- Collaboration: To interact well with cross-functional teams.
How to improve your soft skills
There are many ways to improve soft skills, the best of which is through practice. For example, if we want to improve our communication skills with other people, we should try to talk to as many people as possible from different backgrounds. At the same time, we should try to build solid relationships through networking that can impact our professional career in a positive way.