June 24, 2021

Skills that will outlast tech industry disruption: Future-proofing your IT toolkit

8 min read

Those in the tech industry are perhaps better conditioned to change than any other field. It’s pretty much built into the job. But this doesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t core transferable skills that will be applicable no matter what lies ahead. If you’re an IT professional and want to make sure you’ll always be employable, here’s a selection of skills that you can rely on long into the future.

The ability to learn new platforms and languages

Having existing knowledge of a programming language like Python or library like React Native will help you land roles throughout NZ for the foreseeable future. But even better is having an efficient and effective way of learning new disciplines that can be applied to work relatively quickly.

Some might argue that the ability to learn is simply something you’re born with. We don’t agree. With practice, learning can become fine-tuned. Doing research on ways to learn, memorise and apply fresh skills can speed up the process from novice to educated on any given platform.

Part of learning is putting yourself out there to get feedback and work through challenges you don’t immediately know the solution for. Going through this process isn’t just teaching you the end skill, but actually improves your ability and openness for future learning too. We need to be open to learning first before anything will stick – and this means not being an expert. This can be an interesting challenge for those who are long-standing experts in certain platforms and languages. But no matter how experienced, having the ability to learn is going to help you broaden your CV and be a more attractive employment prospect down the road.

Testing and QA methodology

We struggle to imagine a world where testing and QA is not part of any digital-based solution. Quality control is critical in order to deliver a good user experience as well as patching any vulnerabilities.

Testing in 2021 is a combination of processes, people and tools. And it’s not just the technical or ‘functional’ testing that’s important; user acceptance, integrations and security also need thorough stress testing before the product is released to the end user.

If you haven’t already, take some time to learn more about testing approaches – in a larger organisation you may have access to testing specialists who can provide a depth of knowledge in this area. Also do some of your own research online around the tools currently available and learn how these work.

Having a working knowledge of testing platforms helps more than just those doing the QA. As a developer or architect, you can consider these aspects of a build during the build itself, helping to deliver something better at the QA stage. As the digital world becomes more complex and nuanced, the ability to apply a QA lens to a project is highly valuable to any employer.

Front-end design and user experience skills

If user experience ceases to become a desired skill in tech, we’ve got bigger problems. As an IT professional, the UI and UX of a solution will always be a key consideration. Understanding principles and best practices around making a product accessible and enjoyable to use is an applicable skill to virtually any project where there’s an end ‘user’. Websites, internal portals, software, tools – these all need to be created with the UX at the fore.

The devices we use may change, the platforms we engage with could be different, but we aren’t going to stop demanding better experiences.

It’s a broad field with plenty of elements to learn about. For many IT professionals working in the industry today, UX is simply part of the project and learning is happening every day through conversations, sprints, presentations and testing. For anyone not already in the FED or UX space, there’s a lot of online information and courses available where you can grow your understanding of the field. With many projects requiring front and back end resources (often from the same person!), simply working alongside experts at front end and UX will help build your capability here.

Data management and security practices

It’s maybe one of the most talked about elements to technology in the past few years, but there’s no signs that data and its management will become any less of a priority for organisations any time soon.

With more of our business and personal lives being run digitally, we have bigger demands on the safety and handling of the activity. For any organisation that handles individuals’ data, there’s a non-negotiable need for this to be protected from any leaks or nefarious access.

We expect that the roles within this space will continue to multiply across New Zealand, making anyone with a good working knowledge and application of data and security highly sought after.

And this is a practice that will still be important in 10-20 years time, regardless of the way we’re living our lives digitally – so if you’ve got an interest in this space, there’s no better time than now to start upskilling.

Business Analytical skills

Because a BA does a range of tasks outside of the development of a solution itself, the role is largely agnostic of certain platforms or languages. Instead a BA needs to expertly assess a project or organisation and their ability to deliver an outcome. This requires critical thinking, problem solving and excellent communication skills. We’ve worked with many tech professionals with a background in hands-on development who’ve moved into BA work as they broaden their focus out to helping businesses deliver tech solutions from a requirements, budget and process perspective.

You can learn more about becoming a BA in our dedicated page here.

Core tech skills

There’s going to be elements to coding and development that are bound to stick around. The building blocks of the discipline are used in many new languages, with syntax and function carrying through to new frameworks. If you’re a tech professional in the development space, there’s always going to be a useful application for skills in Javascript, HTML, CSS, Server-side, Client-side, APIs and other core skills. We know that many of you reading this will already have experience in some of maybe even all of these areas. But we can’t stress enough how valuable these are to not only gain but continue refining. The tech world is still largely powered off these things.

Agile methodology

There’s no 100% guarantee that a new methodology for organising IT projects and workflows won’t come and replace Agile. But if the last decade is anything to go by, the principles of Agile are well-proven and likely here to stay in some form or another. Having a good understanding of how an agile team works is a good idea for anyone looking to end up in a leadership role. Working in an agile team builds on other peripheral skills like the ability to focus on smaller parts of a project over a smaller period of time and becoming comfortable with multiple iterations.

Ability to present ideas

Presenting ideas and thoughts isn’t just a skill reserved for management. When certain functionality or solutions are put forth to a stakeholder, you as an IT professional may be responsible at least in part for presenting the case as to the benefits of such an approach. This is a real art that takes practice to get right – go too technical and you may struggle to effectively convey your ideas. Regardless of where tech goes in the 5, 10, 15 years, there will always be a place for effective communicators within any IT-based project team.

Critical thinking

Mastering the skill of analysing and reviewing information is a valuable addition to any IT professional’s toolkit. In our field, it’s not just a matter of using critical thinking skills to solve a challenge within your project, it’s the ability to understand how evolving and emerging technologies fit into the future stack of a project or organisation. The amount of variables at play in the tech sector simply demands an ability to assess situations and facts to make the right move forward.

Wondering about the best way to develop critical thinking abilities? Put yourself in situations that demand this. Over time you’ll build up experience that refines your ability to evaluate and act.

Empathy and emotional intelligence

While this isn’t unique to the tech sector, it’s no less important. These qualities are most apparent when they are absent. Empathy and emotional intelligence manifests in a number of positive ways professionally, including:

the ability to see and understand other’s viewpoints
knowing how to communicate with others in a team
a care for the workplace culture, and not just the work
building a solution that suits the user first, and
being able to lift others around you.

Building more awareness of the people element to projects is a trait natural to some and less so for others. And that’s okay – much like other soft skills, you can nurture and grow these with mindfulness and practical application in your day to day work life.

Want to harness your transferable skills into a new IT opportunity?

Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can help you prepare you for the next stage of your IT career. We help our candidates with CVs, cover letters, interview skills and a lot more to give you the best shot at landing that next role.

IT Job Interviews Via A Recruiter vs. Going Direct

8 min read

As you apply for jobs and start having interviews, it’s easy to lump recruiters and hiring managers all as the same thing. In reality, going through a recruiter is quite a different process. There are many advantages to involving a recruiter in your job hunting and application process. We think that many Kiwis aren’t given the full picture about what it means to find work through a recruitment agency. With our new candidates, we often get feedback that doing it through Absolute IT has made life much easier and our processes has managed to prepare them better for interviews.

In this article, we’re going to talk about interviews and the process around this. So, how does an interview with a recruiter differ from those with the employer directly?

Recruiters can help give you extra context about a role

First, let’s talk about one of the biggest advantage of working with a recruiter prior to jumping into an interview with an employer. Employers hire recruitment companies to find good candidates for specific roles they need filling. Absolute IT’s job is to connect talented IT professionals with businesses who need their skills.

Employers that reach out to us are often long-term clients. Our consultants and candidate managers learn about these businesses through the process of hiring for roles and meeting with employers frequently to understand the wider business goals. Because of this, we are in a unique position – we’re external to our client’s business but have a great understanding of their hiring process, company culture, and opportunities. When candidates work with Absolute IT, we’re able to provide them with background information on the employer ahead of the actual interview. This includes:

Detail about the role beyond what the job ad says.
Who the personnel involved are – hiring manager etc.
More information about the team.
Background about the company and what they do.
Information about the specific project the role is being recruited for (if applicable).
Insights into workplace culture.
Career development opportunities.
Attributes, skills and experiences that are most valued by the employer.

Having extra information going into that first interview can put your mind at ease as the discussion won’t require nearly as much fact finding vs. going in cold.

Prepare for the employer interview with your recruiter

On top of all the information about the employer you can get from a good recruitment company, you’ll also be able to get help preparing for the interview itself – the types of questions that might be asked is just one example.

Our team at Absolute IT are interview experts. We can run you through how to prepare, stay relaxed and make a good impression. If it’s been a while between interviews, we can even provide you with resources on the process. If there’s a particular area of expertise the role needs, a recruiter can work with you on how this is surfaced in the interview itself – as well as in your CV.

Recruiters are an advocate for you as a candidate

You must remember that a recruiter isn’t simply an extension of the employer’s hiring function – they are a valuable tool for job seekers. Much like a broker will connect the consumer with financial services, recruiters know that by helping the workforce get better at finding great roles, we’re also servicing our clients (the employer). It’s in our best interest to give you as much help as we’re able to.

Recruitment occurs at all levels of experience. Depending on the level and field you’re in, a recruitment company’s candidate manager can provide assistance where it’s needed the most. For someone senior who has left a long term role elsewhere, they may well need some refreshers on the interview process. We see this commonly with people who have been made redundant – a recruiter is your advocate to help present your best version out to the tech market.

Remain professional in meetings with either recruiter or employer

Let’s get back to the topic at hand – the interview. Or broadly, in person ‘meetings’. While it’s true that the environment of a recruiter discussing opportunities with a job seeker will be less intense than the interviews themselves, it’s important to remember the recruiter does ultimately work for the employers and their main objective is to find the right person for the job. If you display signs of tardiness, poor presentation, lack of motivation or any other concerning traits to the recruitment company, it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself in the dream job.

Here are some common mistakes job seekers can make at the recruiter stage:

Being too casual – dressing untidily or turning up late.
Not providing a full picture of skills and experience.
Poor communication – verbally, eye contact and via body language.

Approach your recruitment meetings with a friendly, open but professional manner. This will help us get the best sense of who you are, and what sort of employee you might be to our client.

In the interview itself, all the same rules apply. Just make sure that your communications are tailored to the task at hand – you will have limited time in the interview so use it wisely! If you’re concerned about your ability to answer questions succinctly, get your recruitment manager to guide you through this ahead of time.

Being shortlisted by a recruiter can help speed up the process towards getting an interview

Recruiters will work hard to distil down a range of candidates to those that are best suited for a job. As specialists in this area, and not a hiring manager who will have many non-hiring related jobs also on their plate, we’re typically able to expedite this process. After we meet with you and ascertain your level of experience, we can determine if you’re a good potential candidate and can line up that first interview ASAP.

Anyone who has contacted a business about a role directly and not heard back for weeks can attest to how challenging the ‘waiting game’ can feel. We’ll make sure you aren’t left wondering for too long about whether a job vacancy is promising or not.

Soft Skills – how these differ between employer and recruiter

The demand on soft skills has grown exponentially in the 21st century. Businesses and recruiters are placing non-technical skills at the top of their criteria list for hiring. This comes along with the data and empirical evidence around how cohesive teams of good people produce better outcomes than ‘brilliant jerks’.

A recruiter will be building a picture of your soft skills from the first time you meet. They’ll ask questions about experience and your goals which outside of the job fit, help to understand your listening, communication, motivation, critical thinking, positivity and other personality traits that can translate into a good or bad hire.

The thing to remember about soft skills is that they are even harder than technical skills to fabricate, especially to recruitment experts. The best rule of thumb is to be yourself – honesty and transparency is your best bet at conveying who you are to a recruiter. If you think you’re lacking in certain soft skills, that’s a good thing to highlight. Simply identifying your work on areas is a skill in itself.

The hiring manager will be looking for certain soft skills more than others depending on the business’ culture and ideal fit for the position. For example a highly technical role that doesn’t have any direct reports will likely require excellent problem solving skills above leadership skills. A recruiter may be able to guide you on this so you can go into the interview well-prepared to demonstrate your relevant soft skills.

Hard Skills – how these differ between employer and recruiter

As we’ve covered, recruiters are there to distil down the wave of candidates into a shortlist. Part of this process will be reviewing the technical skills you bring to the table. This starts with the CV, then continues with a phone interview and in person. While both the recruiter and employer will be asking you about your experience and relevant skills, you can expect the recruiter to be asking broadly about experience, and an employer to be connecting your background to the needs of the team or project in question.

By going through the conduit of a recruiter, you can fine tune your experience and how you talk about this based on what the recruitment manager indicates will be relevant. This means you can reference specialised knowledge of a platform, language or methodology that you know could be relevant to their needs. A business will be attracted to a candidate who they can see making a positive impact from day one.

A recruiter will follow up after interviews

This is something that really separates out most employers and recruiters. Because we have a foot in both camps (you and the employer), we will ensure that both you and the employer are followed up with soon after the interview for a debrief. Typically, we’ll start by giving the job applicant a call to find out how it went, how they felt about the interview, what sort of questions were asked, whether there was anything unexpected or challenging (such as left-field situational questions) and of course, if you want to continue with the application process.

Once we know where the candidate stands, we’ll go and do much the same with our client – how did they feel the interview went and are they keen to progress to the next stage.

If there are lingering questions on either side, the recruitment consultant can help answer these. This is the phase at which valuable feedback is provided in both directions – especially if the job seeker is unsuccessful and wants to know why. As recruiters, we take this responsibility very seriously as it can help you hone in your skills for next time, or advise our client on how they can better run the interview going forward.

Want to learn more about job interviews via a recruitment company?

Chat with our team about the process, where we’ll help you prepare for interviews with employers. See our dedicated resources for more job interview advice.