How to stay relevant going into 2020

How to stay relevant and keep up to date with technology before those damn robots take over?

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I think all we can really do is take a look at the landscape and evolve with it. For me, that looks like the cloud and everything associated with it. That's learning some kubernetes, learning some python maybe, etc, etc. Could be all of those things in one but I think the largest focus for anyone in the near future will be the cloud if not already there. I work in the DoD and just look at these HUGE cloud contracts that are being awarded.

Johnhe0414

Honestly ... it would be Cybersecurity for me

balance

AWS

cyberguypr

Obligatory questions for those who selected "My job ain’t going anywhere". What is the plan?

JoJoCal19

I wasn’t sure if this poll was personal or what our general guidance would be. I selected “My job ain’t going anywhere” (sales engineer) but my general guidance is Cloud and Cloud Security. So that is why I’ve also been investing heavily in Cloud/CloudSec (CCSK, CCSP, CSAA).

Jon_Cisco

I think it is all of the above. For 2020 I am working on vmware.

I think what is important in IT is that you are always learning. We can't predict the next job loss but we can be ready for it.

Danielm7

cyberguypr said:

Obligatory questions for those who selected "My job ain’t going anywhere". What is the plan?

Not myself but I've talked to two coworkers who were in their younger 50s about this recently. Both of them are deep into networking, but zero interest in learning anything SDN / scripting / code / cloud / etc. They both said something along the lines of, "There are enough companies that will keep doing what I do for long enough that it won't matter, so I'm not going to bother to learn anything new"

Jon_Cisco

Danielm7 said:

cyberguypr said:

Obligatory questions for those who selected "My job ain’t going anywhere". What is the plan?

... "There are enough companies that will keep doing what I do for long enough that it won't matter, so I'm not going to bother to learn anything new"

I have a family member that falls into this category as well. Basic system admin work and he only needs 10-15 years of employment so he is willing to gamble.

Danielm7

Right, definitely have some people in our systems team like that. No interest in powershell or any type of automation. The business is OK with them doing things slower as long as they are done. That would scare the hell out of me to just keep gambling on someone letting me slip by until i have enough to retire just so I don't have to learn any new tech.

JoJoCal19

Those guys are playing with fire, even if as little as 10 years always from retirement. All it takes is one economical situation like 2009 and they could easily be laid off. And then what? They’ll be competing with other people who have been investing in themselves.

PC509

cyberguypr said:

Obligatory questions for those who selected "My job ain’t going anywhere". What is the plan?

My job isn't going anywhere due to the robots or mass automation. However, I will continue to focus on cloud technologies and information security. It always pays to invest in yourself. My job may not be going anywhere due to robots, but I could easily be replaced by someone else with more knowledge in the current and future technologies if I don't keep learning and evolving.

JDMurray

JoJoCal19 said:

Those guys are playing with fire, even if as little as 10 years always from retirement. All it takes is one economical situation like 2009 and they could easily be laid off. And then what? They’ll be competing with other people who have been investing in themselves.

This is a great point, but it doesn't happen very often. However, I can see how the financial markets will take a massive and prolonged tumble if a Socialist-democrat is elected as US president. Considering that's possible, the need to extend the working years for millions of people in their 50s and 60s, and for millions in their 60s and 70s to go back into the workforce, might be only two years away.

Geriatric cyber-force, UNITE!

leboratorical

I think the biggest challenge with this poll is that we're all assuming we are starting from the same place. I'm worried that I don't have at least half the things on this list. If someone has automation then they may worry about security. If someone is new to the 'tech field' then they may be concerned they don't have any networking... etc.

mikey88

leboratorical said:

I think the biggest challenge with this poll is that we're all assuming we are starting from the same place. I'm worried that I don't have at least half the things on this list. If someone has automation then they may worry about security. If someone is new to the 'tech field' then they may be concerned they don't have any networking... etc.

I see your point, but I think the goal of this poll is to get input from other IT professionals on where the industry is headed and hopefully motivate others to learn new skills. I'll be the first to admit I'm not an expert in half of these either.

leboratorical

mikey88 said:

leboratorical said:

I think the biggest challenge with this poll is that we're all assuming we are starting from the same place. I'm worried that I don't have at least half the things on this list. If someone has automation then they may worry about security. If someone is new to the 'tech field' then they may be concerned they don't have any networking... etc.

I see your point, but I think the goal of this poll is to get input from other IT professionals on where the industry is headed and hopefully motivate others to learn new skills. I'll be the first to admit I'm not an expert in half of these either.

It's funny you say that because I think I'm pretty much along the same lines as you in terms of career trajectory (MANY assumptions on that, and only based on the certs you hold) and your thinking on this.

LonerVamp

I've been a sysadmin/security admin for 17 years, and 100% security for the past 3 years.

If I were a sysadmin today, I'd be pursuing cloud and heavier devops skills. Even if I could get by with traditional sysadmin skills, I'd just keep getting further and further behind if I didn't look ahead. Be a friend to the development teams and their pipelines.

Since I'm in security (which has been my interest since day 1 in the industry), I feel like I have a fewer number of jobs open to me, but more ability to do whatever in them since the orgs still can't do the basics, and automation still has high costs to start playing. It also means that it's more important for me to decide what I *want* to do, rather than keep up (offense, defense, data, audit, web sec, etc). That said, cloud security is a big deal and getting bigger. And not just big players like AWS, Azure, Google, but also evaluating the SaaS providers that orgs consume. Automation is a big deal as tools get more powerful, which means being able to stitch together APIs, smaller tools. In other words: being code/script comfortable. Being able to do some minor scripting/coding keeps you as a go-to tool in the shed.

Also, overall, it helps to understand that the whole underlying point of IT from day 1 to day x is automation. If you're doing busywork or doing repetitive things that can be automated, figure out how to automate it and move on to the tasks that matter (I hesitate to say they matter, but this is a matter of perspective between those who want to just do the same thing over and over and those who want to move up; to move up, you have to be picky with your timespends and focus on visible things that provide new value, rather than things you can delegate to newer folks).

Lastly, mentor, guide, and work as a team. One person can't keep up with everything, but if your team allows for trusting, respectful experience/information exchange, then you can trade old dog tricks with the newer folks and learn some new tricks from them.

averageguy72

I see the first two options as highly interconnected.

NetworkingStudent

Jon_Cisco said:

I think it is all of the above. For 2020 I am working on vmware.

I think what is important in IT is that you are always learning. We can't predict the next job loss but we can be ready for it.

I'm currently on the job market. I totally agree that you never know if your job is on the line. Yes, you need to pick a specialization, but you also need to keep learning. Trump is starting a trade war with China, and a recession could be around the corner.

Cyberscum

I work alongside a Dev artificial intelligence group.....scary stuff for all human IT people.

They just developed and implimented an AI security scanner. I need to destroy it before it replaces me.