Working on the Internet or in new technology industries (which in many cases go hand in hand) requires a lot of effort and knowledge. In general, when we say ‘Internet’ we actually need to specify the exact subcategory we are talking about: website creation and development, website design, social media, e-commerce…
If your career is tied to the Web or the IT company, you need to be aware of everything that happens around your company, even if it doesn’t impact it directly. All topics are related to each other on the web. And success in a job is always equal to your knowledge and experience.
While experience comes with time, you have to work on your knowledge for yourself.
Even if you work at a company with a specific product, for example a website that sells mobile phones online, you need to know a lot more that is not directly related to your product and work, such as:
• how to get ranked by search engines to appear on the first page of results;
• how to promote your website on the social media website;
• What new trends are there in the tablet market? Almost a rival to mobile phones;
• how to develop an application for iPhone, Android and Microsoft Mobile for your online store;
• which electronic payment system to choose and why;
• etc…
On top of that, the industry itself is evolving so fast that sometimes we can’t keep up with it.
Main topics covered by Internet and technology magazines
To get an idea of what you need to know to succeed in your career in the IT world, let’s take a look at the main topics covered by Techcrunch or Mashable – the largest website on the Internet and technology:
• Social networks: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube
• Mobile phones and mobile applications: App Store, Google Play; Microsoft Store
• Gadgets and innovations
• Inauguration
• Electronic commerce: Amazon, eBay,
• Payment systems: PayPal, Square, Amazon Wallet, Google Wallet
• Development and design: HTML5, user experience, etc.
• Blogging and Entrepreneurship
• Software
• Storage
• Security
This list could continue to add more and more new information and new topics once innovative products are released, as they often change the whole understanding of how we use the web.
What Search Engines Can Tell Us About the Web and High Tech
It’s also interesting to see that all of these themes are very popular, some more, some less, over time. Here are Google Trends statistics for some search queries from 2004 to the present:
Another interesting finding is related to Google AdWords. After entering just 3 search queries: ‘web’, ‘internet’ and ‘new technology’, you can get the following keyword suggestions:
• gadget
• Web design
• website
• information technology
• computer technology
• innovative technology
• internet games
• Mobile Internet
• web hosting
• new tendencies
• IT news
It clearly shows how broad this topic is. Way to go so that we learn to obtain all the necessary information about the Internet and new technologies.
Additional areas of expertise
In addition to the topics highlighted above, you should be aware of other important skills to have for your IT and Internet career, such as:
• Content management. This area of expertise is related to website development, but also to social media and public relations.
• Project management. The ability to manage projects and motivate teams is essential in the Internet and IT industry, since all products that are released are, in fact, new projects within an organization. The hardest part is usually that the teams are spread all over the world.
• Marketing. This is almost the same as social media these days: product promotion over the internet. This area is related to understanding your Customers and Users, the ability to attract and keep them.
How new trends in web and technology can affect your work
You can’t just specify in a narrow area if you want to be successful and advance your career. You should always be aware of what is happening in the market, what new products are being released, and how it can all affect your work.
Let’s see how the mobile revolution affects our work. As a content manager, I have been faced with the need to learn more about mobile development as it directly impacted my work. Who would know in the first place? I had to develop skills in accordance with this new global change: going mobile. It meant I had to fit my regular content to small screens, think in shorter timeframes, be able to send a clear message in just a few lines.
As a designer, you’ll need to be able to squeeze the page depending on the device used and make sure it looks nice and professional. As a developer, you will need to find ways to reduce page load time.
In case of social media development as a customer service agent, you need to know about new channels that users can use to contact you and be proactive on those channels, like Facebook page.
To be successful, we must be proactive and react quickly to the changes that the Internet and new technologies prepare for us. But because of the speed with which these changes are implemented, it can be especially difficult to anticipate them.
It’s not that you need to know any specific information about any specific product. You just need to know how the web world is developing. For example, how Wikipedia was created, or who is Anonymous and what is he doing. These types of ‘businesses’ can even affect some institutions that are not online, such as government affairs. They can also give you some ideas about how certain things can be done: for example, the fact that the largest encyclopedia has been created by people themselves without any material motivator, such as salary or world recognition.
And our success in the Internet and technology area depends on our knowledge of this market.
It can be compared to financial analysts: any event in the world at large can massively affect stock prices.
Generation of new experts.
That being said, once we enter the world of the Internet and High Technology, we must be prepared and alarmed about what is happening in the industry. It can help us not only to keep up with the news, but also to outperform our competitors by following innovations first and creating new products ourselves by combining our knowledge in different areas.