TrainACE - IT and Cybersecurity Training Blog

Highly skilled IT professionals are in demand. Expanding corporate need is outstripping current candidate pools, and as a result, companies are now looking for outside-the-box IT skills that are transferable across job markets and can fill expanding cyber vacancies.

IT pros, meanwhile, aren’t static in their job searches. Recent data suggests the average worker changes jobs between 10 and 15 times over the course of his/her career. The reasons vary — better pay, improved benefits, greater autonomy — but IT career advancement often depends on transferable IT skills that are in demand across multiple industries. Let’s tackle the top four.

Standard Operating Procedure

Every business is now a technology business. From massive enterprises handling public cloud migrations to startup companies managing the influx of big data, the use of network, cloud and application technologies are now an integral part of corporate success.

What does this mean for IT pros? It pays to know the basics. These include IT certifications such as CompTIA A+ and Network+ that teach the fundamentals of help desk, computer support and network management roles. The best bet for many professionals is to take IT training for both A+ and Network+ to provide flexibility across corporate environments and technology needs. It’s not a stretch to say these two courses form the core of any transferable IT skills.

Project Management Skills

The ability to bring projects in on time and in budget is an ongoing challenge for many areas of IT. As demand for ever-faster go-to-market strategies increases, having the ability to organize teams, solve roadblocks and keep projects on track is empowering experienced project managers to look for increasingly high profile roles in IT, or to jump into the IT industry from other industries.

Whether an organization operates based on modern agile methodologies or more traditional waterfall project management styles. Each has its value and anyone with PMP, CAPM, PRINCE 2 or similar qualifications can find a good fit in Information Technology.

In the US PMP certification is a gold standard and is great for anyone with several years of project management experience under their belt. For those folk who are just starting out, the CAPM training and certification covers many of the same technical skills as PMP but requires less experience to attain the certification, so is a great place to start.

Cybersecurity Expertise

If gaining transferable skills for IT career advancement is your goal, opt for cybersecurity training. Popular courses such as Cisco CCNA Security Training and Certification prepare IT professionals to tackle infosec challenges in common network environments, making them invaluable in a market still struggling to close the cybersecurity skills gap.

Here, the specificity of security skills is their transferable strength. Organizations worldwide have watched business after business suffers from data breaches and network failures, and recognize the need for skilled infosec staff in their corner.

If you’re not quite ready for CCNA, consider the Security+ to jump-start your infosec career.

Collaborative Consistency

If you don’t work well with others, chances are you’ll find it difficult to land a new IT career. Many companies now draft hiring policies designed to weed out applicants with attitude problems.

As a result, “soft skills” such as inter-employee communication and empathy are on recruiters’ radar nationwide as they look for staff members who have both the technical prowess needed to manage IT infrastructure and the interpersonal skills required to handle day-to-day interactions.

Part of building this transferable skill comes down to in-situ interactions with colleagues and managers, but IT experts can also shore up their ability with courses like Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). Because CEH not only teaches the skills necessary to legally hack client networks, it also tackles the critical role of informing organizations of their risk and developing a plan to mitigate future vulnerabilities.

Transferable Training

Ready to take on transferable skills? Our IT training programs can help prepare you for critical certification exams and provide the cross-company advantage you need for long-term IT career advancement. To learn more about TrainACE or the classes we offer, contact us today.