My first experience on a computer was on an Apple IIe in the 1980’s. My brother and I learned to program on that thing and wrote in Basic to impress our friends and family. Thirty years later I’m still in IT, and over that time I’ve seen a lot of very successful and adaptable IT companies, and they all have the same two things in common:

  1. First, their IT leadership has built a network of resources around themselves to increase their own knowledge and expertise.

  2. And second, they don’t fear new things—they explore new technologies and ideas and rigorously test solutions to find the benefit for their organizations.

These two things are critically important because every three to five years the IT industry completely changes. New products, new methodologies, and new business needs require IT professionals to constantly be learning and growing.

In this shifting landscape, the role of the IT professional is evolving. Certainly, [tweetable]part of being an expert is realizing that whether you know the answer is less important than knowing where to find the answer[/tweetable]. And it is practically impossible for one IT person to be all things to all people.

After more than 30 years in technology, I’ve come to realize that there are really three kinds of IT professionals—each of whom offers unique value to the business. What kind of IT professional are you?

Are you a generalist?

Is your value the ability to quickly absorb, understand, and apply new products?

Are you a specialist?

Is your value to be the most technically educated about a particular product?

Or are you a consultant?

Is your value an astute familiarity with your organization, an understanding of the needs of each department and location, and the ability to find solutions?

Not one of these is more valuable than another, but it is very difficult to be all of these at once. That’s why it’s so important to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses to determine how you can lend the most value to your company and your customers—and where you could use some outside help.

At Zumasys, we have a wide range of IT talent, from engineers to project managers, professional services experts, and customer service specialists, working together with the goal of helping our customers solve their toughest IT problems. Combined, our engineers hold more than 94 certifications from some of the industry’s leading vendors. We have more certified project managers than any other private organization—only the US government has more.

Our bread and butter is acting as an extension of the IT department—partnering with customers to free up IT professionals to leverage their strengths and add the most value to the business. We play a critical role in helping IT leadership build their network of resources and quickly explore and test new technologies so that they can be more successful.

So, which type of IT professional are you? And how can you leverage IT consultants like Zumasys to round out your team?

Now share this

[tweetable alt=”Did you know that @Zumasys has 4 certified #ProjectManagers? http://zum.as/1m5NKVV”]Did you know that @Zumasys has 4 certified #ProjectManagers?[/tweetable]

[tweetable alt=”New products, methodologies & business needs require IT pros to constantly learn & grow says @cploessel http://zum.as/1m5NKVV”]New products, methodologies & business needs require IT pros to constantly learn & grow says @cploessel [/tweetable]

Learn how you can leverage our IT consultants.