11 tips for starting a career in IT: where to study, what skills to develop and how to look for a job

Aigerim Temirbekova, 26, from Kazakhstan, has been living in America for several years. She works Sr. DevOps Engineer in Los Angeles W.E Project.

The girl actively blogs on Instagram. Aigerim was happy to share her advice with those who dream of working in the IT field.

Who to work in IT

If you want to work as an IT specialist, but you don’t know who exactly, there are three options:

• Developer: you need a programming language. And without it, nothing. Developers are creative people, they are the ones who come up with cool applications.
• Sysadmin: no programming language is needed, but knowledge of the OS is required, preferably Linux. Sysadmins love order and hate change. Therefore, they fought with the developers. But then DevOps appeared.
• Devops: you are between two groups. You understand the desire of developers to create without rigid frameworks. And at the same time, you understand the desire of system administrators to track every change in the system. Therefore, the ability to read and understand the code of developers will help you. I was hired without this knowledge, but this rarely happens. You also need sysadmin knowledge: cloud servers and networking. Therefore, the DevOps path is longer.

You need to decide on the direction, and then understand: Do you need Python and Java?

How to enter IT

1. Find a good bootcamp or course.

You can learn everything yourself, but it takes time and discipline. For a guaranteed result, choose a bootcamp with good reviews and a guarantee of employment.

2. Find a job or internship immediately after graduation.

Apply knowledge while it's fresh. You will quickly begin to forget everything, so do not delay. It will be scary, but it is better to deal with the complexities already in the process.

On the subject: Top 25 highly paid professions in the US for which a bachelor's degree is enough

3. Keep learning.

While working, you will realize that you lack some skills. In IT, you need to constantly learn to be competitive.

Advice was also shared by Zhupara Madieva, HR at Rocket Firm

The world is changing so fast that not everyone can keep up with it. The IT industry has come a long way. And a large number of technical specialists appeared. Working as a recruiter, Zhupara brought out some points that are worth pumping if you work as an IT specialist:

1. Be ready for change, moving away from “I used to work like this”, “Well, this is how we always worked”.

2. Develop emotional intelligence. Keep your emotions under control, develop the ability to empathize.

3. Strive for multitasking: simultaneously listen to the interlocutor without losing the essence of the conversation, and answer messages and calls.

4. High communication skills: adapt to the tone of the interlocutor, support humor, argue the objection.

5. Desire to self-study: take training courses in your free time, develop speech, read books.

3 tips for IT people from Veronika Tsykhanivskaya (HR manager, IT recruiter), thanks to which you will be hired:

1. Tell about yourself that corresponds to the vacancy you want to get.

2. You don't have to be the perfect candidate, it's important to be the right one. Perhaps it is your unique experience, a combination of technology knowledge and soft skills that are needed above all.

3. Make it clear to the interviewer that you are ready to give, not just take. Don't promise too much. For example, if you tell them that you have ideas for internal company projects, they will appreciate it.