Shownotes
In Episode 6 of our series, we explore the exciting journey of seasoned professionals transitioning into the rapidly evolving world of IT and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This episode is packed with insights, strategies, and actionable advice for those looking to bridge the experience gap and leverage their traditional skills in the tech domain.
Key Takeaways:
- Understanding the synergy between traditional roles and IT/AI
- Strategies for upskilling, networking, and real-world application
- Inspiration and encouragement to forge a path in the IT/AI landscape
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Transcripts
I had a long podcast today and it started out with a really good question.
Marc:It's turned into a 14 page document.
Marc:And I figured that's not really going to work for a podcast.
Marc:So the question was.
Marc:For someone who is seasoned.
Marc:More than 10 years experience in management, HR, insurance,
Marc:adult education, et cetera.
Marc:How can this person break into the IT AI world?
Marc:Everybody wants experience in that field.
Marc:Any direction?
Marc:And so I decided that this particular podcast would be titled
Marc:bridging the experience gap.
Marc:Because you're seeing a lot of exponential growth within
Marc:the it and the AI industries.
Marc:But there's a lot of people who are in different industries who
Marc:would like to break into that.
Marc:And they're coming up with this.
Marc:This age, old job paradox.
Marc:You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to gain experience.
Marc:And that's when the thing took a turn and just started turning
Marc:into some 14 page synopsis.
Marc:What I really want to do is break it down.
Marc:As quickly and concisely as I can.
Marc:I did myself just to put in a side note here.
Marc:I did go from the windows active directory it world over into cyber security.
Marc:And I will be honest.
Marc:It was a lateral transfer.
Marc:It was very difficult to do because I ran into the same thing.
Marc:They'd look at you.
Marc:You got it, you know, computers, but you really don't have
Marc:any cybersecurity experience.
Marc:So I ran into that too.
Marc:It was a little easier for me.
Marc:And then I was still in technology.
Marc:And I did have years of experience.
Marc:And I was able to make those transitions and those changes in order to get myself
Marc:to where I needed to be, which is in a cybersecurity job, which is exactly
Marc:where the exponential growth was going.
Marc:So how can we do this for you?
Marc:How can we talk about this?
Marc:There's the value in transferable skills.
Marc:So everything that you've talked about, and I'm assuming here, Is it you've
Marc:worked in these different departments.
Marc:You've gone to board meetings, you've dealt with project management.
Marc:You've dealt with people.
Marc:You've done all these things before.
Marc:Just like I did.
Marc:And those soft skills.
Marc:Are also extremely transferable.
Marc:So you can't just discount them as well.
Marc:I have to know it, or I've got to know artificial intelligence arm out.
Marc:That's not true.
Marc:If you don't understand artificial intelligence at all.
Marc:But you're able to create an account.
Marc:And look at a text box and ask a question.
Marc:That's how you learn.
Marc:And how would you do that?
Marc:If you've had a lot of years of writing or being clear in your direction, or
Marc:this is what I want the outcome to be.
Marc:You're already a basic prompt engineer right there.
Marc:And with a lot of trial and error, you're actually going to get pretty good.
Marc:So it, isn't something you just have to have people gain those
Marc:skills from their soft skills.
Marc:So you need to take advantage of those skills.
Marc:And understanding that.
Marc:The job description is going to talk about the things that your
Marc:employer wants you to be able to do.
Marc:But you have to come along and show them with these other skills that you're able
Marc:to do them and learn them on the job.
Marc:That's just part of it.
Marc:A lot of times we're going to pushing ourselves to new levels.
Marc:We're not doing things that we've done before.
Marc:That's the whole point.
Marc:So there's a huge value in transferable skills.
Marc:And.
Marc:Your strategic thinking aligns with tactical projects for business
Marc:goals, your collaboration, your team dynamics, and the role that you've had.
Marc:With all your professionals over the years, that does
Marc:transfer into it projects.
Marc:If you don't understand a particular piece of technology.
Marc:You can learn it.
Marc:You can watch YouTube videos.
Marc:You can understand it.
Marc:You can ask the questions, but it is really hard to learn project management.
Marc:That's a skill in itself.
Marc:So if that's something that you've already had.
Marc:And now you're just worried about transferring that to it.
Marc:Make sure to sell those transferable soft skills.
Marc:I don't think they get enough play.
Marc:You see them on job descriptions, but they're relatively weak.
Marc:Meaning.
Marc:Team player able to learn and adapt quickly and move to the, hit the ground
Marc:running and just a bunch of mumbo jumbo.
Marc:But those skills do matter.
Marc:And you need to be able to put those into a resume.
Marc:And make them stand out in a way that doesn't sound like jargon, right?
Marc:So that's where you come in with AI and all these other tools.
Marc:How do I make it sound like my project manager experiences?
Marc:Not jargon because it's not.
Marc:Segment two.
Marc:I had a, quite a few pages on upskilling in the digital age.
Marc:And basically what that means is.
Marc:When I started transferring.
Marc:From windows into cybersecurity.
Marc:I just started studying for those certifications.
Marc:Even if I wasn't going to take the certification or take the test.
Marc:It really gave me some insight into understanding.
Marc:Sort of what the technical jargon was, what are the things I needed to
Marc:understand in order to go into this field?
Marc:And so when I would go into interviews, I started to actually.
Marc:Speak that way.
Marc:And I think that makes a massive difference.
Marc:I started studying for my comp Tia security plus, and I passed it, but in
Marc:studying for it, I started to realize what I needed to learn, what other concepts
Marc:I needed to learn, how I needed to talk.
Marc:And when I started studying from ICI SSP.
Marc:Which was a recommendation from a friend.
Marc:He said, even if you're not going to take this test fit,
Marc:if you're not going to do it.
Marc:Just study the book, start reading it because when you go to interviews,
Marc:when recruiters are talking to you and doing this stuff, these are the things
Marc:they're going to be talking about.
Marc:And you want to use that language.
Marc:And so this upskilling or learning.
Marc:So Coursera.
Marc:Any type of you like you to me.
Marc:YouTube start learning.
Marc:All right.
Marc:Just start getting out there, branching out and learning and doing these things
Marc:because what you're doing in your initial question, and even mine was.
Marc:I'm here.
Marc:I don't know how to get there.
Marc:I guess there's nothing I can do.
Marc:Not true.
Marc:What you can do is start getting into that world and start taking courses
Marc:for free and looking at them and start studying for certifications
Marc:or testing in that area or whatever.
Marc:And you start getting yourself into that mindset.
Marc:And next thing, you're talking to recruiters, you're
Marc:talking to hiring managers.
Marc:And it's making a lot more sense to you than it initially did before.
Marc:And there's a lot of workshops.
Marc:And bootcamps that you can do.
Marc:And some of those are online.
Marc:And that will also get you some experience.
Marc:Now there is the real-world applications and that's.
Marc:Applying through personal projects, collaboration
Marc:emphasizing hands-on experience.
Marc:So I had an interesting.
Marc:Conversation.
Marc:With somebody.
Marc:Who basically wanted to do a similar thing.
Marc:They got a degree over here, but they want to do this over there.
Marc:And.
Marc:How are they supposed to get to this?
Marc:How are they supposed to get to the.
Marc:This next level.
Marc:And so when it came down to was, you're not making stuff up.
Marc:But if you are doing personal projects for a bootcamp or you're deciding,
Marc:Hey, I'm going to help out with.
Marc:Some type of cybersecurity initiatives or I'm going to help people.
Marc:Make their computers more secure and you go volunteer
Marc:for an organization to do that.
Marc:Sure.
Marc:You're not getting paid at.
Marc:Job, but you are doing personal projects.
Marc:You are getting that hands on experience and that does get to go on your resume.
Marc:And you are not lying about that experience now.
Marc:Should you do that?
Marc:Yeah, because you need to have some that gets you a little bit around that I
Marc:can't get a job without the experience.
Marc:And I cannot get experienced with that job.
Marc:Not necessarily true if you're doing it for a pro bono or some
Marc:of the type of work or you're designing something like a website.
Marc:So if I designed my own website, Just for me.
Marc:And I do all the work in the background.
Marc:You're saying that can't go on my resume because I didn't do that because
Marc:someone didn't pay me from a third.
Marc:Second party, third party organization.
Marc:That's not true.
Marc:I can absolutely put that on my resume that I built a website for X
Marc:company and that company can be mine.
Marc:You're not lying.
Marc:It's what you did.
Marc:And it's a real world application and it does give you experience.
Marc:So in essence, in some little way, you're creating a job for
Marc:yourself to get your own experience.
Marc:And if that's what you have to do in order to get.
Marc:That type of experience to show that you can do these types of things.
Marc:And while you're studying for certifications.
Marc:You're creating your own path.
Marc:So what people usually do is a.
Marc:I want to transition to something else and you wait for someone
Marc:else to create that path for you.
Marc:And that is very hard to do.
Marc:So now you are creating your own path.
Marc:And it does work in a limited capacity, but it does work.
Marc:And I would give some serious thought to that.
Marc:Then what are you going to talk about networking?
Marc:So what about networking in this world?
Marc:The role of networking.
Marc:I did not reach out to recruiters personally, or try to connect with hiring
Marc:managers and do that whole rigamarole.
Marc:It's so different now with so many people applying and everything being online.
Marc:And sales and all the stuff.
Marc:It is very difficult to get yourself out there.
Marc:In fact, Even with this podcast.
Marc:If I had done this podcast,
Marc:This one back in 2009 and just somehow got it out there.
Marc:Cause it was technically hard to get podcasts out there and paid for, to
Marc:subscribe and all this, but they did.
Marc:You're a superstar.
Marc:Because there's not a lot of competition.
Marc:You do it now.
Marc:And now I'm using descript to record this and it's it transcribes
Marc:everything for me when I'm done.
Marc:And the audio just goes into captivate and boom, it's put out there.
Marc:It is so easy to do this now.
Marc:Which means it's really easy for everyone to do it.
Marc:Which means everybody could do.
Marc:Easy apply on LinkedIn.
Marc:Everyone could have podcasts.
Marc:It's much harder to get your voice out there because you don't stand out
Marc:as much because it's just easy to do.
Marc:So that role of networking.
Marc:A slightly changed platform and events.
Marc:So going to things right, going to events that are potentially
Marc:free in your area is really good.
Marc:I went to.
Marc:The RSA conference and that's in my world of it.
Marc:And it was very cheap just to get a ticket to walk around on the floor.
Marc:But, you know what.
Marc:Walking around the floor.
Marc:Talking with people in that industry really got me motivated to continue
Marc:to the pursuit of interviewing and getting engaged in that industry, asking
Marc:the questions, seeing the products and technologies that were out there.
Marc:And it really helps to be part of that.
Marc:So if there are industry events that you can go to.
Marc:For this.
Marc:Whatever role that you want to do.
Marc:Do it.
Marc:It could be a meetup.
Marc:It could just be an event where it's a cheap pass to go walk an expo show floor.
Marc:Not all of them are that way, but some of them are do it.
Marc:And if it isn't just to hear people, it's the, hear the topics it's to hear.
Marc:Briefings it's to go around to booze and see what's out there and
Marc:get yourself engaged in that world.
Marc:You're engaging yourself.
Marc:You're creating that path.
Marc:And so you can then start to step into informational interviews.
Marc:So what are those.
Marc:Back in the day, you used to try to do a interview with a friend.
Marc:Hey, ask me this questions or we're going to practice coaching now.
Marc:There's a whole like job coach.
Marc:Dot interview and all these things online where you can practice
Marc:those questions to go out there.
Marc:I always felt like.
Marc:Just getting.
Marc:My resume out there and applying to as many jobs that I could.
Marc:That were in my field to talk to recruiters.
Marc:Was an interview in itself, an informational interview.
Marc:And it helped me practice that skill that I was lacking previously
Marc:because I didn't spend the time.
Marc:To do it.
Marc:And I think that's like really important.
Marc:To do.
Marc:As to be able to interview and be able to talk to people along those lines.
Marc:I think we could take those 14 pages.
Marc:And we can really.
Marc:Tone it down a bit so that this is a little bit more understandable.
Marc:For you, and that is.
Marc:Taking those soft skills and those transferable skills and realizing
Marc:that makes a heck of a lot of difference moving into a new career.
Marc:So while it doesn't look like it's a one for one, and it may not be.
Marc:It doesn't get played as much, but you really should play it up.
Marc:Because it matters.
Marc:I would much rather have in my career.
Marc:Let's say I was going to take on.
Marc:An intern.
Marc:To work where I'm at right now.
Marc:I would rather someone have a lot of really soft skills than understand
Marc:everything about cybersecurity and security and all these things.
Marc:If they have the ability to self-start.
Marc:To take direction to learn, to teach themselves.
Marc:And they can show me that is something that they can do.
Marc:I would want that because I know that learning about how to, turn on to a Fe for
Marc:Okta or how to set up a password manager.
Marc:You can learn that by watching.
Marc:YouTube.
Marc:You can learn that by going to the vendors, you can learn that
Marc:by watching product documentation or doing it yourself, that's
Marc:not really the hard part, right?
Marc:We're not talking about large language model production or things
Marc:where it takes a PhD to do that.
Marc:I'm talking about just general it and AI industry and things like that.
Marc:But those soft skills matter.
Marc:But they're hard.
Marc:So you get people that understand, especially when you're showing them
Marc:a resume, because they have a job description that has things that
Marc:they want you to do and soft skills.
Marc:Don't transfer one-to-one.
Marc:So it is a little bit of a stretch to do that, which is why I go back to.
Marc:You've got to get around that.
Marc:How do I get experience if I can't get a job and I can't get a
Marc:job, if I don't have experience.
Marc:You've got to create your own path.
Marc:And I don't think a lot of people.
Marc:Do that a hundred percent, right?
Marc:You're going to have to brand yourself and market yourself and give yourself
Marc:the experience that you need in some capacity, in order to start fleshing
Marc:out a resume to show that not only do I have the soft skills, but I also
Marc:have started these things on my own.
Marc:I've learned these things on my own, and guess what?
Marc:They translate to the things that you want at your particular place to employment.
Marc:And what kind of jobs you take, whether you want to start out it maybe.
Marc:Maybe you take a little bit of a step backwards.
Marc:In order to take a giant step forward.
Marc:That is something that I did in my own particular instance.
Marc:I felt like I had a ton of it.
Marc:Career experience.
Marc:It was extremely valid.
Marc:And those are the things I needed to make sure that I did.
Marc:But I also sorta wanted to.
Marc:How do I transfer that over?
Marc:I really wanted to cyber security, but I can't prove like I'm a senior engineer.
Marc:I haven't done that.
Marc:So I took a little bit of a step back and now I've taken a giant leap forward.
Marc:Some people don't want to do that.
Marc:It depends on your particular situation, but that's something to consider.
Marc:And by step back, I don't mean going from 20 years of professional experience.
Marc:To installing printer carbon cartridges or doing something
Marc:like really low level help desk.
Marc:But you do need to think about where do you fit into this world?
Marc:And how are the jobs that you're going to take?
Marc:How are they going to fit into your next career?
Marc:So hopefully this podcast is a little bit.
Marc:A little bit shorter.
Marc:Then 14 pages, but I think.
Marc:I think you should be able to understand.
Marc:What we're doing, what you're doing now, how you can get that experience,
Marc:how the skills that you've had in your previous job do matter.
Marc:And a little bit of, you can start to make your own pathway by.
Marc:Creating, if it's a website or creating a piece of technology or
Marc:learning or studying for a test, start creating your own experience.
Marc:That goes in the bullet points of that resume.
Marc:One thing you could always do start your own company.
Marc:Yeah, you can be a sole entrepreneur who does not make
Marc:$10 million and get VC funding.
Marc:Still start your own company.
Marc:Go out and help.
Marc:People companies, rotary, whatever you volunteering to do
Marc:that under your company name.
Marc:Guess what you're going to get.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You're going to get experience doing that and guess where that's going to go.
Marc:That's going to go into your resume.
Marc:Under your own company that you worked for?
Marc:It does count.
Marc:You may have to make a little bit of a transition.
Marc:But it counts.
Marc:And that's what you have to understand.
Marc:You're not making things up.
Marc:You're not lying about your experience.
Marc:It doesn't matter if you're any good at what you did, you're trying to do
Marc:it, but it is experience and you did it and you did it under your own company.
Marc:And those are the things that you're going to have to do in order to create
Marc:your own pathway to bridge that gap.
Marc:Now you may be lucky and you may find someone who's just willing to take you on
Marc:and they love who you are, or you network yourself in and like you as a person.
Marc:And you get that job.
Marc:And that is awesome.
Marc:That was not my experience.
Marc:That is some people's experience.
Marc:But for everybody out there.
Marc:He's trying to do something a little bit different.
Marc:You have to take some of the things I've mentioned in this to bridge that gap
Marc:in order to go where you want to go.
Marc:And increase your career and move into something that you want to do.
Marc:So kudos to you for asking that question.
Marc:It's a tough one.
Marc:It is not an easy, oh, just do this.
Marc:And you're in, it's a lot of work.
Marc:You're working on yourself.
Marc:And you, in essence, you're reinventing and recreating yourself.
Marc:Which is a huge deal.
Marc:But it's very rewarding in the end, so I wish you the best of luck.
Marc:And I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast and hopefully got
Marc:at least one tiny tip out of it.
