Being a leading IT recruitment company in cloud technology, we are often approached by graduates who are new to IT and are looking to forge a career in the Cloud. To help you start your career within cloud technology we have put together some tips, which we hope you will find useful.
Know Your Strengths
Identifying your strengths will help you to build upon them. Firstly start of by making a list of your strongest skills, both soft and hard.
Soft skills are usually self-developed and are not specific to any job and can be easily transferred from role to role. They include things such as: customer facing skills; communication; problem solving; being able to work within a team.
In contrast, hard skills are those that you need in order to carry out your job. Examples of hard skills include: fluency in a foreign language; knowledge of a specific software or how to design a website.
Knowing where your strengths lie, will assist with determining what positions could be suitable for you, and where you might need further self-development in order to apply for those you are not yet ready for.
Gaining Experience
We work with a variety of companies and most of them prefer to hire people with some experience. But frustratingly in order to gain experience you need to be given a chance.
The best way to gain this initial experience is to consider internships, apprenticeships or volunteering. You will need to consider which option might be best for you, before making a change as this could affect your income for a period of time.
Personal Development
To enter the world of cloud technology you need to develop your skills and knowledge. And this will take time. There are many ways that you can continue with your learning and self-development, such as accessing forums, testing developer tool-kits and attending relevant trade shows etc. These are great ways of learning where experts within in the industry collaborate and hang out, and will give you the opportunity of getting hands-on experience.
Certifications
Starting at entry level is hard. It takes a lot of patience, motivation and time. IT can also be one of the most expensive careers to enter, as training courses and certifications are very costly.
Taking certifications is extremely important as it demonstrates to hiring companies that you are committed and have a certain level of competency. And the added benefit is, that having a certification, could add as much as 20% on your base salary.
Take a look at our Pathway Guides and the Top Skills for Cloud Experts, for further information on a getting a career in cloud technology.