How Do I Improve My IT Skills?

You can improve your IT skills through self-paced study, formal classes, or sometimes employer-sponsored seminars. The working knowledge required for information technology jobs changes rapidly, along with hardware and software upgrades, and continuing education is considered vital for keeping your IT skills up to date. An initial step is often to examine which specific areas you need to improve, such as word processing, file management, or programming. The next is to investigate available learning resources and decide which one is the best for your specific needs and schedule. After completing a course or series of online tutorials, you may also have the opportunity to demonstrate your new IT skills by passing a certification exam.

A wide variety of self-paced tutorials are available online for both vendor- and non-vendor-specific software packages. Many of them are free of charge, although the quality of instruction can also vary. Before selecting an online tutorial, checking the credentials of its creator can usually give you a good idea of the material's usefulness for helping you upgrade your IT skills. Online software tutorials can also be constructed with various mediums, such as video, text, and hands-on practice simulations. Picking a set of online lessons that matches your individual learning style can often make a big difference in how well you will be able to retain the new information and apply it to your IT job.

Classes at a community college or adult vocational school are additional options for gaining new information technology skills. Many of these schools allow students to enroll in one course at a time without signing up for an entire degree or certificate program. If you are seeking to learn certain hardware skills such as computer repair or network cabling, an on-campus class is usually considered the best choice. These kinds of courses often include hands-on practice with the needed equipment. A college course may be a good option if you want to learn a more complex software package or programming language with which you have no prior experience.

If you are currently employed at a technology company, investigate any offered seminars or workshops aimed at upgrading employee IT skills. Some employers even pay for these courses or reimburse tuition for their employees who complete them. Taking an employer-sponsored seminar can be a valuable learning experience, and it often demonstrates initiative that your boss may remember when considering candidates for promotions or pay raises.