How To Improve your Resume, Job Search & Interviews or Get a Tech Job
Have you ever wondered how some people stay ahead of rapidly changing technologies while others seem to let their skills become extinct like the Dodo?
Well, apparently, someone in Dubai, U.A.E. wants to know the answer so badly that he sent in his question by postal mail!
If you need help with a Question or Challenge, be sure to ask it as a comment on this page and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader's question below!
NOTE: There is an e-book at the bottom of this post on "How To Stay Ahead of The Technology Curve". Be sure to download and read it, ok?
Dear Kingsley,
Having come to be known about you as a pioneer IT Coach, I need some information from you if you can help me.
At present, I am reading a book Microsoft Office 2003 bible which includes all the basic and in depth functionalities of excel, word, powepoint, access, outlook, frontpage, etc.
It's a huge book with 1200 pages. I'd like to know how I can memorize this book quickly and efficiently.
There are other books on programming to be memorized. in this age of information overload, everyday we are presented with lots of paperwork, reports and books to remember.
As an IT coach, could you please show me the techniques to remember this amount of information so as to get the job done on time and move along with the rapidly changing technologies.
Fahim, Dubai, U.A.E.
Years, ago, while considering a career transition, I was advised not to pursue Information Technology careers because of the rapidly changing technologies, literature, techniques and tools.
At that point in time, many IT professionals had shipwrecked their careers because they couldn't transition from legacy skills in Cobol or Fortran or Mainframes to the smaller, more modern computers running windows.
My adviser pointed out to me that succeeding in an information technology career would be a tough challenge because many IT professionals with graduate computer science degrees from good schools had failed!
Some of the reasons why IT professionals fail in their career include:
The Challenge of Rapidly Changing Technologies: keeping up with rapidly changing tools, processes and technologies is a hard job. Some vendors release multiple versions of their products within a year forcing users to upgrade their skills or become obsolete.
The Challenge of Poorly Written Textbooks: many IT books are written by geeks for geeks. They're difficult to understand, slow to read and intimidating in size. Many tech workers still find challenging, the effort required to keep up with technology by studying IT books.
The Challenge of Information Overload: There are various skills, technologies, tools and processes that need to be mastered for every unique employer or job situation. IT workers end up buying and studying lots of reference books in a bid to stay ahead of all the problems they aim to solve!
I transitioned my career by learning the skills required for my new career in six weeks! and by acing my first technical job interview
In six weeks, I navigated an amazing amount of technical literature and reference books ... to discover the hidden path that leads to IT career success.
The lessons I learned in those six weeks have become some of the hallmarks of my career including:
How to study new IT skills quickly, comprehensively and competently (I studied mine in under six weeks)
How to ace IT job interviews (I scored above 90% in my first interview test)
How to get hands-on experience without a job (I got the required hands-on experience before my first job)
Fahim, I understand where you're coming from and the challenges you're facing.
The challenges of succeeding in Information Technology (IT) Careers as pointed out in this blog post are real. However, I've solved them and I don't see any reasons why you can't after I share my success strategies with you!
I'm going to e-mail you a free e-book that details "how you can solve the same problem in your career" and in addition, you will also get any future updates to the e-book free!
I will also be giving away a free copy of the same e-book to the biggest users of my "Tell a Friend" Button or Link on any of my blog posts!
This post answers a question posted by Fahim on "how to study or keep ahead of rapidly changing technologies."
if you have a question about your career, be sure to post it as a question on this discussion page and I will answer it for you!
If you'll like to get a free copy of the e-book on how to stay ahead of the technology curve, go ahead and download it now
I'm one of those mainframe COBOL legacy application systems dinosaurs who stayed in that technology too long.