Getting Social Can Be A Career Changer

IT professionals spend their day striving to give users, and the business, better technology and more productivity tools. But a big question is whether IT professionals themselves are adopting and using such tools to help foster their career and advancement.

Most tech workers likely are using most of the tools as part of their workday, such as instant messaging and chat to help users and solve problems. But they should also be using such social media tools for personal development.

A good starting point may be a blog detailing workday challenges and how they overcame those hurdles. It can also lead to a stronger thought process about how to prevent such issues down the road and prove helpful to colleagues who may face similar challenges. By taking a few minutes each day or once or twice a week tech professionals will illustrate their desire to help others, improve their own thinking processes and show leadership qualities.

In the same vein, IT professionals should read other tech blogs, especially those of top-level CIOs who are offering up rare insight on tech trends, industry news and how their own enterprises are deploying technology to solve problems.

Other social interaction tools, such as Twitter, can be a very quick way to get help, advice and insight so a few minutes each day and some time at the end of the week could prove invaluable when you need help instantly or have solved something and want to share it quickly with your contacts.

By using social media tools as both a work resource and a career development technology, IT professionals can easily prove themselves to be more than just a tech guru and someone a company wants to lead a business team when such career opportunities come in to play.

As many surveys and industry reports consistently indicate, valued tech leaders are those who understand the value of communication in business today and using social media tools is an easy way to move in that direction.

Learn how your next IT job could just be one tweet away. If your interested in a better career in IT, check out more career resources available.

By: Judy Mottl