Paul Knapp has written an interesting article on “What Every Graduate Should Know Before Entering The IT Industry”. 6 points to keep in mind.

1. Once you’re pigeon-holed, it’s extremely hard to break out
2. Technical Skills are hard currency
3. Your whole career in IT will be spent updating your skills
4. IT is a volatile industry
5. You should get experience by working at bargain-basement prices
6. Get your vendor certifications

Check out the article to understand the 6 things above better. Here’s an interesting quote from the author from the 3rd point above.

“When I started my Lotus Notes development career, all you had to know to enter the field was basic Notes development. One year later you had to know LotusScript and ODBC to get a job. The year after that, Domino and HTML were added to that list. The year after that, every job wanted Javascript. Then they wanted Java. Now increasing numbers of jobs are asking for J2EE and XML. If I don’t continue to add new skills to my repertoire, I’m likely to be struggling to find work.”

As a recent graduate myself, I found his article true and interesting at the same time. I have started off working as an Oracle Database Admin and wondered if it offered any good long term strategy. I think I would much rather work in web development as it is a more interesting area. Being able to design and reach out to a wider audience sounds nicer and more challenging. hmm… Any suggestions?

What Every Graduate Should Know Before Entering The IT Industry
Link to the article that is mentioned above