Q:In addition to technical knowledge, what other qualities are essential if one wants to get a job in IT industry?

A:IT people may come from different academic backgrounds and possess different technical knowledge, but certain qualities and skills will help more than others. People skills such as communication skill and interpersonal skills are always important for many positions. As a recruitment agency, we find most of our clients looking for IT professionals always emphasize that “communication” is the key element in hiring.

The ability to communicate persuasively, both orally and in writing, with other managers, staff and clients is vital, and thus, proficiency in written Chinese and English is always important for writing technical documents and reports .

A professional IT practitioner is also expected to have a combination of strong analytical and presentation skills. It is essential to have the ability to use information from a wide range of sources, to investigate, analyze and then elaborate their IT advice to those non-IT users or company decision makers.

Q:Is it possible for one to get in the IT industry if one has strong interest but no relevant academic qualification?

A:It is possible to “Enter” the IT industry for no essential academic qualification is required. However, all sectors of economy require the services of skilled technical IT people. Therefore, without relevant qualification will narrow your further development in IT career. That is why we would recommend you to equip with the basic skills and qualifications in order to enhance your chances.

Professionals are required in areas such as system developing, project management, DBMS, information warehousing, Internet and E-Commerce. Depending upon particular job, we would recommend you to take the relevant training programs and seminars to equip with certain entry-level IT specifications (i.e. MCSE, CCNA, CISSPL, LPI, etc.). If you desire to develop your career among multi-national corporations, university degree of information technology is a must as the entry level.

Therefore, it is always good to get some updates of recruitment industry, professional advice and IT advancement techniques from recruitment consultants.

Q:The IT industry is always changing. How can we upgrade ourselves in order to remain competitive in the job market?

A:IT can be a cutting-edge business, where new hardware and software are having new features constantly. Professionals are required to enhance their knowledge in their specific IT areas in maintaining their competitiveness in the market. Advancement can be accelerated by participation in relevant training programs / seminars conducted by hardware / software manufacturers (i.e. IBM, Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft, Dell, Linux, Checkpoint, etc.) and professional bodies (i.e. CHKCI, BCS, HKCS etc). It is common to hear an IT expert says that they always learn new IT knowledge by reading some overseas IT magazines and articles to capture market updates. This is the most challenging part to be an IT professional that you are required to make yourself in the loop of the newest trend.

The rapid development of computers in business, banking, telecommunications, logistics and multimedia entertainment providers demands a great deal of computer engineers to support the design and services of computer systems and application software . Once you are focused on your specific industry, you are also required to understand the whole business models and updated trends about that industry in order to formulate a suitable IT technology applicable in that industry. This is the key value of being an IT professional nowadays.

Reaky Lau, Executive Consultant - IT Talents, Staff Service (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd.