Resources to Stay Up-to-Date on Advancements in the IT Field

In the world of Big Tech, you stay current or get passed by people that do. Every technologist in the field knows that it’s ever-changing.

Whether you’re a project manager or a programmer, a tester or a Cloud Engineer, most people know the only thing that you can count on is change. This means IT professionals at all levels understand the importance of staying on top of the latest trends, technology and tools. With so many resources at our fingertips, how can anyone decide what platform to use? We have some suggestions below:

How to Stay on Top of IT Trends?

IT stakeholders and service providers look favorably upon candidates that invest in their professional development, their community and their craft. We’ve outlined a few resources below, that will help you stay on top of IT trends without going down the rabbit hole and wasting too much time. Our recommendations and best practices are:

  1. Read something new in tech every week (or more). We know lots of IT workers that listen to podcasts regularly or try to read over their lunch break to stay on top of trends. Some of our favorites include:
    • ThoughtWorks Technology Radar is written in a technical vein that would lose the average reader but it’s perfect for IT nerds. The topics vary from service-oriented (the evolution of SaaS) to code-specific (adoption of GraphQL).
    • TechCrunch has great articles on trends happening in the industry, from cybersecurity to the ban of hate speech on social platforms, to serious nerd-driven articles on technical topics. These articles make fun lunchtime reads if you’re trying to brush up on industry news.
    • Check out the Wired YouTube channel for entertaining and informative videos on everything from the use of medieval weaponry in video gaming to the latest machine learning and virtual reality.
    • Regularly check out podcasts on Software Engineering Daily for the latest hot issues in the developer world. There’s also Software Engineering Radio to keep you current.
  2. Be sure to set up new feature alerts and announcements from cloud providers, Google, AWS, and Azure, so you know when the next iterations are released.
  3. Pay attention to the open-source community. Keep one eye on Trending Projects on GitHub to hear about what’s happening even before it makes the pages of Wired.
  4. Start or join a MeetUp group to help learn new skills, collaborate, or even divide and conquer all of the areas that are changing in your field. Having a group of like-minded people breaking up a topic into manageable chunks can help you master a field that is rapidly evolving.

We know how hard it is to stay on top of technology trends. So, set a goal for your learning this year. Break it out by quarter and track your progress. Would you like to learn a new language or break out into mobile development? Are you thinking about finding a mentor to help expand your knowledge? Maybe you want to self-publish or LinkedIn or want to improve your speaking skills by teaching at a virtual tech conference. Blackstone Talent Group believes in your ability to stay on top of technology by learning new things. Sometimes that learning requires you to start a new career path. We can help you by finding you a professional home where all your skills will be put to work and you’ll learn new ones every day. Start the conversation and watch your career evolve.

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