6 Signs That Indicate You Need to Update Your IT Skills Now

Feeling stuck in a rut is something that every IT professional feels.

Regardless of your role and position, there will come a time when you will feel that your job is no longer rewarding and that you can’t go any further in your company.

Overcoming this demotivating feeling can be difficult if you simply do nothing and wait until it goes away. Most of the time, this feeling never goes away on its own.

If you find yourself in this situation, you can get out of this rut by looking for opportunities to experience career advancement. You can do this by updating and expanding your IT skill set.

However, you don’t have to wait until you lose interest or feel frustrated to enroll at an IT training institute in Abu Dhabi to update your tech skills.

When you broaden and upgrade your skills before this happens, you will notice positive changes in your mindset and attitude. This will help ensure you never get bored in your job and achieve career growth.

When to Upgrade Your IT Skill Set

When do you know it’s time to update your IT skills? Take note of these six signs:

1. You are constantly being passed up for promotion.

Nothing can be more frustrating and discouraging than seeing your colleagues getting promoted ahead of you, especially if they haven’t been in your company as long as you have.

In such instances, you might think that putting in longer hours or finding ways to curry favor with your boss can put you next in line for a promotion. However, another possible explanation is that you lack certain skills.

You can be sure you are at par with your colleagues when you broaden your knowledge and acquire new skills.

To know which skills you need to brush up on, check the requirements of the position you want, then compare them to your abilities. You might discover that you need more training in a particular area before you can advance to the next stage of your career.

2. You are not getting results from using the technology in your workplace.

IT is a field that is constantly evolving. New technologies are being introduced several times throughout the year. It is highly likely that new technologies are also constantly being introduced in your workplace.

If you are having difficulty using all the features of these tools to do your work or be more productive, you may have to engage in some self-study.

This means that aside from undergoing the training provided by your company, you may need to take up an online or traditional class to know the ins and outs of a particular IT innovation so that you can use it optimally to your advantage.

Whether it’s a tool or program introduced in your workplace or you need to understand how data analytics works, take the initiative to master these on your own.

3. You are always asking others for help.

Asking others for help is not a sign of failure. When you know your limitations and when to enlist the aid of your coworkers to complete a task, you also show your maturity.

However, there is a limit to this line of reasoning. If you keep asking others for assistance and it reaches the point that you have to rely on others to do your work or you end up using other people’s time to know what to do, you’ll have to consider learning new things or polishing your skills on your own.

Refreshing and updating your knowledge and skills by taking a class is the best way to boost your independence and show others you are capable of learning new things on your own.

You will also become more productive and efficient at work, and become a valuable asset to your company. 

4. You keep making mistakes.

Mistakes are common in the workplace. However, if you keep making the same ones or commit an error so big that it causes a huge problem for your company, you need to work hard to ensure you avoid repeating them.

Making huge or frequent mistakes is often a sign that you have become complacent in your job. This is not something that you want to be known for since it will impact your reputation and your chances of achieving career advancement.

Keep in mind that nothing good will come out of making too many mistakes, especially if you want to remain in your job. Updating your skills and acquiring new ones can help you turn things around.

If you want to ensure you never repeat these mistakes, review and compare your skills every six months against industry standards. Another option is to take refresher courses regularly to make sure that you are still on track.

5. You notice fewer positions requiring your skill set.

Whether you are actively looking for new work or not, take the time to read job posts or ads regularly. Are there still plenty of positions across the industry that target the skills you have? Or are the roles you are qualified for slowly disappearing?

If you notice that there are fewer and fewer roles similar to yours on job listings every week, take it as a sign to update and expand your skill set.

By doing so, you can ensure you remain employable if you lose or leave your job.

You’ll also be boosting your chances of being considered for more roles, which means you can expand your employment options and get a position higher than your previous one.

6. You haven’t updated the skills part of your CV and profile in a long time.

If Microsoft Office, computer programming, and other general IT skills are still the only ones listed on your CV and online profiles, now is the right time for you to add more.

Having skills in HTML, coding, InDesign, and other programs can make you more versatile and set you apart from your coworkers and other candidates for a particular job.

In a field like IT that constantly changes, it is never a good idea to let your skills become stagnant.

It is important that you update and expand your knowledge and skills regularly to keep your career moving forward and show your value to your employer.

Even if you are satisfied in your current job, if you notice any of these signs, consider your learning options and update and expand your IT skill set now to continue feeling fulfilled in your work and increase your chances of experiencing career advancement.