Personal development planning is very important to an IT professional. As IT professionals we must develop our skills with the change of the modern world. Without changing our ways and styles we cannot move forward in our profession. We can get a lot of experiences when dealing with other IT professionals and with society. Using all these experiences we can start our Personal Development Planning. As IT professionals we can analyse about how we obtained our skills in the past and what we faced in the past that caused our successes and failures. With the help of that previous skills and experiences, we can plan our future goals and tasks in our lifeline. But after a long time passed experiences slowly become to fade in our memory so we must follow the important step in Personal Development Planning that called reflecting on the experience. As IT professionals it is a very important step that we must include to our lifestyles. With the use of the tool named SWOT analysis we can identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. So, with the help of that, we can see different aspects of our profession. We can improve our personal qualities and abilities to reach the maximum level in our profession. After finding the things that we must avoid with the help of SWOT analysis we can avoid them and manage our valuable time to do quality and special work. Sometimes as IT professionals we cannot identify our own weaknesses because of the busy schedule in our lifestyles but clients can identify them clearly. So, with the help of SWOT analysis, we can find them and build our weak points to provide quality output.
As
IT professionals we must identify the correct and incorrect things when doing a
project for a client or when building our own output for some plans. With the
help of foundation values, we can start our lifestyle in an easy and
short way. So, we can save our valuable lifetime for beautiful moments. Focus
values are very important when planning and doing important things for a
project or a special event. To move with the world, we must see the world from
a different angle and search only for the values they need to improve. When making
decisions that can cause very terrible outputs, we must be very careful. We
must make plans and find the important things that can predict the future. So
that we can ensure about our future values. As IT professionals we must identify
the real and correct values that are worth to follow and help to maximize our
efforts. It is important to know our values hidden in ourselves and use them to
increase the quality. We must also know about the beliefs of our clients to
create a user-friendly product. We can create our own beliefs that help to
think positively when we are in troubles. Attitudes are very important thing
that must maintain as IT professionals as they help others to identify the person.
So, we must develop our attitudes to gain maximum attraction to them and must
get rid from negative attitudes. Maintaining a good and trustworthy character
is a very important thing that IT professional must consider when they are in
the business field. So, we must start to maintain it from the beginning.
Working
with teams is a
very essential thing as IT professionals because we cannot do huge projects
individually. So, we must create groups and work with group members to develop
a project. To create a high-quality product group members must have good
understanding with each other. When creating groups, role is a very important
that we must consider. After understanding about each member, we must share
roles that matches to each member. We can use Belbin Team Role Theory to share our
roles. Sometimes there will be a Role Overload problem. That happens when there
is not proper and equal work sharing among group members. As IT professionals
that point must clearly identify when doing huge project. Without that leader
of the group cannot manage the maximum quality of the project as some group
members cannot give their maximum quality to their parts due to the huge works
in their parts. Role Conflict problem can happen in an IT professionals’ group
as they see the things with their own different aspects. IT professionals must
avoid from Abdication because it affects to the whole output in the project
that can cause many errors in the whole project. So that will cause a lot of
damage and sometimes that leads path to useless time-wasting works. Sometimes
there will be IT professionals that have not build their personal attitudes. So,
these kinds of members can cause problems to the team. Because of all these
problems handling the problems very important in a team. With the proper
understanding and respect among members we can make a good and powerful IT
professionals’ group to perform well in new projects and tasks.
Team
leader is a very
important role in IT field. IT professionals must learn about the leadership
qualities and have a good spirit in working with others. As IT professionals
first we must know about ourselves and start to communicate with other members
in a good manner. After doing a good communication we can slowly earn others
respect and trust. Some people are born with leadership qualities can easily
manage a group, but all IT professionals must learn to be a good leader as it
is a very essential thing in their profession. We must have a talent to handle
bad situations and face them with a huge courage. With Leadership Traits and Skills,
we can learn so many traits and skills that we should develop to enter our
professions. Leaders must develop a talent to work with others friendly and
calmly to release their stress in very stressful and hard situations. So as IT
professionals we must have that trait to build up our profession. We must also
build our skills as IT professionals to work as a leader in the IT field. IT
professionals must follow leadership theories to handle projects in a very
effective manner to become success. We should learn about the Key Team Leader
Responsibilities to manage teams, identify them, get an experience about teams
and to maximize the potential output in the team. As IT professionals we must
practice to become a good leader from the beginning in our learning. So that we
can work as a leader in the future without any hesitation.
Decision
making is very
important as IT professionals. When taking decisions, it is hard to take a
decision that affects to the profession. So, we must take decisions wisely when
we are doing projects in our profession. As IT professionals we can follow many
systematic processes when making decisions. When we are following these
processes, we must consider about the logical side and the practical side. IT
professionals cannot take decisions without checking some areas in the problem.
Before making decisions, we must look for the type and nature of the problem.
Then we can start to build a decision. We must try some example tests and
analyse the background of the problem. Choosing a coding language to build a
project is a very common problem that IT professionals have in their
professional field. When this kind of problem occurs test running system is
very helpful to IT professionals because it helps to identify the best way to
fix that problem. Then it is very easy to make decisions. When internal group
problem happened, we must consider about the equality and make a good decision
that matches to the relevant problem. When making decisions we must not hurry
and make wrong decisions. As IT professionals most of the time we have our
freedom and time to make decisions. So, we must get our given time to think
wisely and analyse the problem clearly. It is important to make decisions
correctly that cannot harm our bonds among members. As IT professionals we can
use tools that can help to make decisions easily and correctly.
Team
Diversity is an
important thing that IT professionals must consider when working with group
members to develop a project in the profession. There can be many kinds of
members in a group that are different from ideas and lifestyles. So, when
creating groups and working with groups we must consider about other members
differences. When working in Sri Lanka there are not so many people that came
from many countries but there are so many that came from different areas in the
country that have different kinds of traditional beliefs, religious beliefs and
the members who have different accents. Because of that as a group we must
respect to their beliefs and give them a time to understand the world. We can
use the team diversity for good opportunities. When there is a diversity in a
team there are lot of ideas that can see some problems in a different aspect.
That is very helpful to a team as it helps to cover all the different aspects
in the country, and it also covers the client’s different views. As IT
professionals we also can provide a better and effective service for the
clients via identifying their ideas. There can be many old people among team
members and there can be young ones like us in our team. So, it is important to
identify the importance of both kind of them as all members must need for to
complete a project. Old people have a lot of experiences about sector and about
projects because of that they can help other team members with their sharped
talents. It is help in time management and quality management. Young people can
help to speed up the process and give a lot of good and valuable ideas that
matches to the current updated situations. So, it is important to have team
diversity when building a new team to create a project.
Time
management is a
very valuable thing in IT field. As IT professionals we must learn about the
time management to save our valuable time and to export the project to the
client in the given time. In IT field all clients expect their project in time.
So as IT professionals we have a responsibility to complete the project in the
given time. If we are unable to complete the project in the given time client
will start to think about the untrustworthiness in our company. Because of that
we must create a schedule about the project works and let the client know about
the time we need to complete the project and request about client’s idea before
starting to build the project. Without managing and scheduling the time the
output product will not become success as all the members have to work with a
stress about completing the project in the given time and the client also not
become happy about the situation. Starting to create a plan about the project
is the main and first thing that an IT professional must do when working in the
field. There are so many time management planning systems that can help IT
professionals to get their works success. All of those principles and
strategies suggest to create and schedule a plan about the project and add the
extra time to that. Extra time can be calculated and add by discussing with the
group members about the client’s requirements and group member’s problems that
can cause when doing the project.
There
were different computer landscapes in the past that helped to the IT
professionals. As an IT professional it is important to update with the
computer landscapes. So, IT professionals must have the knowledge about
computer landscapes. We must know about the different landscapes that had in
the past generations. Without knowing that we cannot move forward with other IT
professionals that have a mature knowledge and experience. From the build of
first computer “ENIAC”, IT field has gained a rapid development until today. In
nowadays we have well optimized central processing units, Memory devices,
Output devices, Input devices and other special hardware. With the help of that
hardware there is also a rapid development in the software side. Because of
this evolution in computer landscapes IT professional can easily do their works.
All IT professionals in the world can connect easily with other IT
professionals via global communication networks and IT professionals have a
good chance to meet new and worthy clients via this communication networks.
Because of those many hidden talented IT professionals got their opportunity to
show their talents to the world. As IT professionals we must know the bad side
of the new computing landscapes because we must care about the client’s
security otherwise our projects will fail due to the ethical issues in the new
generation. There are so many cyber crimes in these days that can also affect
to our clients. So, IT professionals must work together to secure our clients
and secure our product.
As
IT professionals it is important to maintain professional responsibilities and
follow codes of ethics. All IT professionals have many responsibilities
when working in the IT field. As professionals if we failed in our tasks that
might affect some users or clients badly. For an example if there is a security
hole in a social media platform it will affect to someone’s privacy and
sometimes it might destroy their lives. So, IT professionals must work
carefully when building important things otherwise as IT professionals we must
take responsibility in those serious situations. We must follow our ethics and
try to do our best in the field. Without following the right things, we cannot
go a long journey as an IT professional and we have to stop in somewhere
without a reputation.
When
creating an invention related to the IT field, we can get a valid license to
our invention. It can be any kind of protection that help to protect our invention
from others. It is best to have a patent as our protection because it is valid
in many countries in the world and when some company needs to sell our product,
they must take our permission. Not like other huge products computer products
can easily be stolen with using the circuit plan. Because of patent we have
right to charge against them with the help of law in any country. When having a
protection like this we can find best companies to promote and sell our
products. In this part we need to deeply learn about the intellectual
property. It is a must to talk about our rights in front of law. Without
talking about our rights to the invention and claim our rights, there is no
point of working hard for an invention. As IT professionals we must consider
those facts to get a lot of experiences about intellectual property to protect
our creations. Also, we must not copy other’s products to create our new
products. If we did so we have to face a lot of troubles when releasing the
product. Likewise, most other IT professionals think about the rights of other
professionals.
There
are so many laws related to ICT internationally and locally. As IT
professionals it is important to know about ICT related laws to identify the
legal side of our output. There are different areas that cover by law in IT
sector. It covers all the information related to information technology. Communication
and communication technology also have cover from the laws in ICT. As IT
professionals we can have protection from law to solve our problems or to
protect from scammers. We need ICT related laws when someone stole our
invention, when someone create copy of our product or when someone tries to
hurt us by trying to destroy our product. In Sri Lanka also we have so many IT
related laws to protect IT professionals. They are very useful when working in
the IT industry. With the help of that laws, we can protect our codes from
local scammers and hackers. As IT professionals we can help other normal people
to avoid from scammers and hackers. Not only that but also, we can help them to
understand about the laws related to ICT and earn their trust as entrepreneurs.
There are so many common cyber attack types that can harm our clients.
Phishing, malware and MitM’s are the most famous attacks in the IT field. With
the help of those ways attackers can steal our data and programs. When some
problem happened like these, we can request for the lawyers to take a action
for these with the help of law.
Nowadays
most people that love to work in IT industry like to be an entrepreneur. We can
find lot of entrepreneurs in IT industry. To become an entrepreneur, we need to
learn about Entrepreneurship.
Without learning about the process that can create an entrepreneur as IT
professionals we cannot make our path to become a business owner in the IT
industry. Entrepreneurs must have a talent to take any type of risks. That is
why first we must be good leaders and develop our skills about taking risks and
other good qualities. Entrepreneurs can show their products to the world with a
different angle that can attract all the relevant audience that wish to buy
their products. Any IT professional can be an entrepreneur by developing their
skills when working and learning in the IT industry. We can take “Jack Ma” as
an example who build his own company about products via using the skills he
developed when working in an IT company.
Likewise, we can also take a risk when starting our own company as an
entrepreneur. After starting a company as IT professionals, we must consider
about the management side in our company. There are so many factors that we
must look as IT professionals when maintaining a company.
After
following all these steps we can be effective IT professionals in the future.