No matter which IT field you're working in, there are several skills that are useful for every IT professional to know. Here, seven experienced IT professionals working in the networking, programming, project management, and security fields share what they believe are the most important skills that every IT pro should know.
1. Programming
Even if your job doesn't require software development, it's useful to understand how applications are built because everything we do -- from following Twitter feeds to filling out expense forms -- is enabled by software. IT professionals with an academic background in computer science will likely have done some programming as part of their education. For others, there are many ways of learning programming.
Martin Harvey, PMP, managing consultant at Coroware, says: "The language I'd recommend learning would be any C-based language. It's a fairly common language that can be found in Microsoft and Java platforms, but it's not trivial. At the other end of the spectrum there are more interpretive languages such as Visual Basic and Python. It's easy to mess around with Visual Basic and Excel macros on your PC. You'll learn about the fundamentals of programming and the logic of how data is stored."
2. Learning from the book The Mythical Man-Month
Publisher Addison-Wesley Professional describes the book The Mythical Man-Month as "influential and timeless." Originally published in 1975, author Fred Brooks shares his experiences as project manager for IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Brooks made several mistakes including adding more workers to a project falling behind schedule, and underestimating the time it would take to complete a project. The book was republished in 1995 with new thoughts and advice from Brooks. Harvey says: "It's like 100 things your mother told you. I still made some of the mistakes after reading it. But if you read the book, maybe you won't make the mistakes or you will recognize that you are making them and know when to duck."
3. Understanding the basics of networking
"The network is how everything connects and every IT pro should know how that happens," says George Morton, a dual CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert). Morton says IT pros should study and understand the following:
•Who is Cisco, Juniper, etc., and what do they offer. "Knowing that Dell makes switches won't get you to the top of the game," says Morton.
•TCP/IP and IP addressing
•Network Address Translation and Port Address Translation
•IPv6. "It is coming and the sooner you get on board the better for your career," Morton says.
•IP telephony: packet vs. switched
•What are routers, switches, and firewalls?
•Basic Access-List configuration for Cisco
•To be able to read a Cisco IOS running configuration; not so you administer the router but just understand what it is or isn't doing for you.
•Be familiar with guidance from the
National Security Agency's Information Assurance for securing your network.
Morton recommends several books:
•
Cisco Networking Simplified
A first-class introduction to networking
•
Cisco IOS Cookbook, Second Edition
This book should be on every IT manager's desk. I use it to build some of the world's most complex networks. Why? It's easy to read, creates standards for the client, and covers almost everything I need.
•
JUNOS Cookbook and
ScreenOS Cookbook
