{"id":70479,"date":"2014-05-02T08:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T13:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=70479"},"modified":"2014-05-01T19:31:08","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T00:31:08","slug":"technology-related-career-trajectory-whats-your-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=70479","title":{"rendered":"Technology-Related Career Trajectory: What\u2019s Your Plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sheryl L. Christensen, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ California<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Technology-Related Career Trajectory: What\u2019s Your Plan?<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Sheryl_Christensen\"<\/a>Many insiders in the field of web-based projects, both library-focused as well as business-related, are no longer quite as enamored as they once were of programming certifications, or\u00a0even, in some instances, IT degrees.<\/p>\n

There are still fields that absolutely require specialty certification and\/or a technology degree\u00a0prior to or during the beginning stages of an employment contract; however, more and\u00a0more employers are looking for a results-oriented portfolio<\/a> of work to be presented prior to\u00a0consideration.<\/p>\n

A portfolio of work, as opposed to a certification document alone, expresses insight and depth\u00a0regarding a person\u2019s skills, previous job-related achievements and wins (!), and may also\u00a0provide an expressive peek into a person\u2019s ingenuity, creativity, and style.<\/p>\n

So – what to do? For starters:<\/strong> copious amounts of research.<\/a> If the type of position you are\u00a0looking at absolutely requires a certification or a degree, your path may be largely pre-forged.\u00a0Read position descriptions and talk to and read about people who are in the field that you\u00a0are aiming to join. What would they do differently if they could do it all again-now? What is\u00a0their wish list for new employees coming into the field? Find out what the expectations and\u00a0preferences are for education and for showcasing what you can do.\u00a0Begin your trek to proficiency and employability with an end in mind. There are so many\u00a0classes and so many paths and so many potential programming languages and platforms to\u00a0learn that your wheels could very well spin for years jumping from course to course to course\u00a0with no end in sight and no career materializing on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Find out what schools, courses, traits, and, if necessary, certifications are well-regarded\u00a0in your chosen field.<\/strong> I feel that there is no such thing as frivolous or wasted knowledge:\u00a0everything we learn plays a part in who we are and, by extension, what benefit we imbue\u00a0to our immediate and global environments. But, there is also something to be said for an\u00a0efficient progression toward our goals. Staying on track to a goal that stimulates our intellect\u00a0and passion also supports and expands our confidence, which, coincidentally, is a trait that\u00a0contributes significantly to our marketability.<\/p>\n

Mull it over.<\/strong> Give yourself a bit of time to puzzle about the educational and experiential path\u00a0that will take you from the knowledge you currently hold to the expertise that you want to\u00a0showcase in your portfolio. Some considerations to think about: the parameters of available\u00a0training, cost, time, and also the output (proof of skill) that will result and that you can\u00a0ultimately use to advertise to potential employers.<\/p>\n

Build out from the nuts and bolts.<\/strong> List the characteristics you want for your portfolio project \u2013\u00a0platform interaction and wizardry, programming, design, structure, functionality, organization,\u00a0metadata implementation, a usability report, etc. – so that the training you choose will lead to\u00a0a focused attention on your skill and expertise as well as the benefit your skills will bring to an\u00a0employer.<\/p>\n

Map it out.<\/strong> Make a chart. Implement whatever type of Project Management style that will\u00a0motivate you to act. Create a visual for yourself that diagrams the path and timeframe to\u00a0completion of your goal so that you can keep it in front of you. Every goal you check off on\u00a0your map can become a mini-graduation celebration with the benefit that continuing goals are\u00a0already in place which will help to avoid time-consuming wheel-spinning and loss of focus.<\/p>\n

Show off.<\/strong> Network – Promote your work on LinkedIn and other social media platforms; link to\u00a0it on your resume and add the web address to your business cards. Ensure that employers can\u00a0easily access your masterpiece! You may even consider creating a brief report: what platforms\u00a0have you employed; what specialized skills have you used in the creation of the end product?\u00a0Briefly discuss the benefits of your choices and what challenges they solve or avoid.<\/p>\n

Whether the path toward systems librarianship<\/a> or another technology-related career is your\u00a0passion \u2013 or \u2013 possibly a career progression that you feel you can\u2019t avoid, taking the steps to\u00a0make a focused plan will help to keep perspective and get you where you want to go with less\u00a0frustration and more (dare I say?) swagger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Sheryl L. Christensen, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ California Technology-Related Career Trajectory: What\u2019s Your Plan? Many insiders in the field of web-based projects, both library-focused as well as business-related, are no longer quite as enamored as they once were of programming certifications, or\u00a0even, in some instances, IT degrees. There are still fields that absolutely require specialty certification…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":63732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,3629,3940,5917,5174,6191,6190],"class_list":["post-70479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-california","tag-portfolio","tag-sheryl-christensen","tag-technology","tag-technology-degree","tag-technology-related-career"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Sheryl_Christensen.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-ikL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/63732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}