Want to Build a Technical Career? You’ll Need These Key Skills
Do you dream of landing a role in the technical field? Here are the skills you’ll need to develop to set yourself up for success.
While work experience can seem like the key to landing your dream job, what that experience represents can be even more important.
Every job you’ve done, subject you’ve studied, and project you’ve completed shows off one thing to employers - your skill set.
Working in jobs in the STEM (science, maths, technology, and engineering) field requires a certain skill set that’s particular to jobs in this field.
If you’re considering a career in these industries and wondering how to get started, consider cultivating these key sought-after skills and watch your application success rate soar.
Problem-solving
Problem-solving is probably the skill you’ll use the most in your role. If you’ve ever spent hours working out a complex maths problem or grappling with a tricky line of code, you’ll know just how valuable this talent can be.
Technical roles require you to work quickly to make sense of the problems you’re presented with and come up with the most straightforward solution.
The best technical candidates can work through problems logically and quickly, using their initiative.
Attention to detail
When your job involves manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs or designing a structurally sound building, there’s not much room for error. Accuracy is a must in many technical roles, which rely on precise measurements and conditions for the desired result.
With this in mind, a rigorous approach to every task you undertake will stand you in good stead when it comes to securing roles in your technical field of choice.
Communication skills
Remember the Greek philosophers who would stand around the centre of Athens discussing abstract concepts with the public? Your future job has more in common with them than you think.
Just like the ancient Greeks, your role will involve a significant amount of time spent explaining complex issues to people in non-technical roles.
You’ll need to be able to translate technical concepts into layman’s terms to help engage all the stakeholders in a given project, no matter their background.
Creativity
While creativity is typically more likely to be associated with humanities subjects, even the most scientific of minds need a dose of innovation for the best chance of success.
Roles in the STEM fields are full of problem-solving opportunities, many of which require a level of creativity. You won’t always be able to find a solution in the data that already exists - you’ll sometimes be required to use your initiative and creativity to come up with something new.
Critical thinking
Taking data at face value isn’t enough to be successful in a technical role. Jobs in industries like engineering and science require a certain level of critical thinking. You’ll need to be able to evaluate whether data or information is reliable and test concepts or ideas based on their logic.
After all, the history of science has involved great minds questioning what was perceived to be the consensus, rather than accepting it without challenge.
If developing skills for a technical career is a priority, gaining some work experience or studying in the field is a great place to start. Search for online courses, internships, or apprenticeships, or chat with a recruiter in the sector for expert advice and industry insight.
Interested in learning more about more routes into STEM fields of work? Click here.