These Rare And Important Skills Can Help You Quickly Launch Your IT Career
Information technology touches many aspects of our lives these days, and the need for more skilled IT workers is ever-growing in our societies, with lots of areas for increased specialization in the professional arena. Skills known in the information technology field as “disruptive” are even more in demand, and growing much faster than the average rate. Disruptive skills are by definition rare, emerging, and important for creating future-ready solutions for companies. And, for those very reasons, employers seek out candidates who have those skills in information technology. In fact, recent reports have shown that people with a knowledge-base and background in disruptive IT skills are often over-seen for other high-level positions, even when compared to candidates with prior management experience.
Having key disruptive skills present on your resume can help you to stand out from other job applicants, and these skills can help you get started on a promising path in information technology, without needing a Bachelor’s degree. These skills can also aid you in attaining leadership positions, while you do management training on the job.
Our research partner, Emsi Burning Glass, has compiled data to pinpoint the top disruptive skills in the information technology career field, for those seeking a strong start that is also future-ready. Let’s take a look at what the data reveals:
As you can see, there are five key disruptive skill sets currently in high demand in the fast-paced and cutting-edge career field of IT. With targeted learning during high school, and the benefits of focusing on these rare and important skill sets, jobs are typically available for those looking to start their information technology career right away. So, let’s take a closer look at each of the disruptive skills on this list.
Azure Security: Security in the information technology field is a big deal these days. Everyone wants to make sure their information is secure, from small private firms to big corporations. Azure Security refers to security tools and capabilities available on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform. And, we’ve all heard about how important cloud computing is these days. According to Microsoft, the tools for securing its cloud service encompass “a wide variety of physical, infrastructure, and operational controls.” Familiarity with Azure Security is a disruptive skill you will definitely want to strengthen as you work on your career prep.
DevSec Ops: DevSec Ops is short for “development, security, and operations.” And, since we’ve discussed how important security is in the skill listed above, it becomes really clear why this disruptive IT skill is sought after. DevSec Ops automates the integration of security at every phase of the software development lifecycle. Security is present at inception of the technology here, from initial design through to integration, testing, deployment, and software delivery. If you enjoy computers, design, engineering, and/or problem-solving, then you may want to look into learning this disruptive skill set a bit more.
Public Cloud Security: Security makes another prominent placement on our list of disruptive IT skills. Public Cloud Security refers to the technologies, policies, controls, and services that protect public cloud data, applications, and infrastructure from threats. Because more and more businesses rely on aspects of cloud computing in their daily operations, the needs of companies to have people on staff with this disruptive skill set is set for massive growth.
Kubernetes: This disruptive IT skill is heavily focused on data and web hosting. Kubernetes (also known as K8s) is an open-source container orchestration platform that enables the operation of an elastic web server framework for cloud applications. To make that explanation perhaps a little clearer, it can support data center outsourcing to public cloud service providers, or can be used for web hosting at scale. Having an educational focus in this area on your resume, with or without on-the-job-experience, is a sure way to stand out from the crowd, and to demonstrate quickly to potential employers your immediate value upon hire.
AWS Cloud Formation: “AWS” stands for Amazon Web Services, and AWS Cloud Formation is Infrastructure as Code (IaC). Basically, it is a service that is part of the Amazon Cloud. Template formation is a big part of this disruptive IT skill set, and templates can certainly make work move ahead smoother and faster, and with more brand consistency across the board. If you enjoy coding and design, then you may want to look into learning this disruptive skill set a bit more as you focus on career prep.
It’s through hands-on, project-based learning and online classes and programs that Stride Career Prep students can develop key information technology skills, while also continuing their high school experience. Working on career prep now, and striving for progressive (and disruptive) IT skill sets while moving forward, can help students graduate and be prepared to immediately launch into rewarding careers in information technology.
No matter what future you choose to have, as information technology options come into focus, career prep courses with Stride help you begin your own journey towards success! Stride Insights also has more information about some of the strongest Entry Level Jobs In IT, too!