Whether IT is your passion or not, don’t let the norms hinder you from pursuing your career goals just because you’re still a student. Who says you can’t build your career while you’re earning your degree or diploma? With the right amount of perseverance, dedication, and patience, your efforts will be rewarded before you even know it.
Pursuing an IT career while studying is sure going to be a challenging path, but it’s a rewarding choice in the long run. With that, heed these tips to start your IT journey!
Take advantage of your university’s or college’s career services.
If you want to test the waters, why not ask your school if they have available IT career opportunities and advanced resources for you? Of course, they’d be glad to assist you in preparing for your career.
These career services may range from job search mentoring, resume writing, portfolio building, industry placement interviews, or even connecting you to IT field leaders or recruiters for potential employment. Hence, get in touch with your school’s respective personnel to get started and help you plan your next steps ahead.
Enrich your experiences and portfolio through internships and volunteer work.
What better way to get hands-on experience than taking internships or even volunteering?
Also, your university may give you internship opportunities as part of their student services. Again, reach out to them so that you can start building your IT career even while you’re studying.
Build your skillset and knowledge base.
While you’re studying, take the initiative to self-study to continuously improve your skills. Technology is rapidly evolving, so keep yourself abreast of relevant tech trends.
To complement your learning efforts, choose a reliable mentor who can also serve as your accountability partner. Juggling work and school can be overwhelming, so it’s good to have someone who can teach you and help you get back on track as well.
Work on personal projects to build your portfolio.
To build your IT career while studying, you can also choose to apply your learnings to your personal works. Even if you’re not working with clients or companies yet, your projects can be a great addition to your portfolio. This can be handy when you’re pitching to prospective clients or employers in the future, being able to show tangible proof of what you can do as an IT aspirant.
Don’t be afraid to network.
Another way you can get access to more IT career opportunities is to build more meaningful connections and relationships with industry experts, colleagues, or even those who are in the same position you want in the future.
To know more, here’s why you should start networking if you still haven’t.
Lastly, you can also level up your networking by connecting with more recruiters, employers, and headhunters for future opportunities. Who knows, they might be looking for interns or IT aspirants as well.
You may also check out these best entry level IT jobs you can consider while mapping out your career goals. To further help you prepare for your IT career, head on to Bossjob’s career advice, personal growth hacks, job search tips, and more blogs!
