Whats the biggest challenge working with Information Technology?

Great question. I actually see the biggest challenge in working in Information Technology the biggest opportunity. Technology is always changing which means there are always opportunities to learn a new technology. If you are a person that wants to continue to learn and grow then Information Technology is the place for you. It is exciting to be in a job where you have the opportunity to always learn new technology and increase your skills and work on new opportunities using your new skills.

I would say it is the ever growing technologies. What I meant by that is, there is always something new in the market and you have to level up to that technology to make your way in the corporate. Why it is a challenge is because sometimes it takes more than a year to learn something and then the very next year some new technology comes which is more sophisticated and more secure than the one you learnt and then you have to start all over again. That is challenging as well as thrilling.

IT is very broad so work in the field is very different depending on the specifics of the type of role and type of IT - software development, vs. managing a data center, vs. data analytics can vary greatly. Some fields like Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence and IoT (Internet of things) (connected anything) are so new and growing quickly that your career experiences will be drastically different than some IT fields and roles that are more about maintaining infrastructure vs. innovation and transformation!

This is a great question because it will garner a lot of different perspectives and naturally there is no one right answer :)

For me, and to add to the answers that give a good overview already, I think a challenge in IT is to find something to specialize in, like a specific technology or discipline within IT (and keep up to date with it), but also being able to broadly know your industry, the business or org you work for (in terms of how all the functions you work with like sales, customer services, marketing, and HR etc..), and your customers too!

What I am referring to is typically referred to as someone having t-shaped skills (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shaped_skills) - you are a subject matter expert in something but also appreciate how everything fits together in your industry and the business you work in; I think this can help you accelerate your learning, but also make you stand out!

Why do I think it is a challenge? Well, I think it can be hard to get real exposure to that broad experience of your industry or your business and without this it could hold you back long-term or even mean you miss out on your next move to a new job. Personally I feel most employers, but especially in IT, are looking for evidence of t-shaped skills from their candidates and personally, from doing many interview in my time, it is hard to find people with this mix of skills. Those who intentionally shape their career, especially in the early days, to get this experience really stand out.

2 tips for addressing this challenge :

1. If you have a job, intentionally try to get exposure to how thing work at a high-level outside of your team, keep inquisitive and really look to understand the other teams in your company, learn about the processes your company uses, and research industry trends etc..
2. Ideally you could aim to work for a consulting company (e.g., Accenture) or an outsourcing company (e.g., Capgemini) because these companies can expose you to many different customers and many different industries in a very short amount of time and therefore accelerate your learning and help with this challenge!