Learning opportunities for IT pros can address credentials issues

Be cool, stay in school—or if you’re an IT pro, be cool and try to find educational opportunities to help you manage an evolving credentials space.

IT pros want more learning opportunities, according to a recent survey from certification provider CompTIA, but they feel they’re not getting those chances. Career growth opportunities often work best with support from employers.

So, why do workers in the tech industry feel underserved?

Amy Carrado, senior director of research and market intelligence at CompTIA, told IT Brew the study found that IT pros are happy, and expect to go further in their careers.

“Their job satisfaction ratings were running significantly higher compared to those not working in IT,” Carrado said. “At the same time, they’re looking for more and want more support for professional development and learning. Being in IT, that’s part of the job.”

Provided for. Still, there’s a disconnect between what IT pros want so far as learning and credentials,and the training their employers provide. Visier Principal of Research and Customer Value Andrea Verler told IT Brew that this can lead to uncertainty.

“There are not enough training opportunities offered by organizations, there’s not enough clarity, they don’t have enough time to actually catch up,” Verler said. “There’s not just one reason [but] a variety of reasons that place together and makes them feel burned out and excited at the same time.”

According to CompTIA’s survey, 57% of IT pros report that learning on the job is the most effective way to master correct use of AI tools.

Changing needs. The labor shortage requires creativity from organizations to fill positions, Carrado said.

Four-year degrees should be less vital than a candidate’s potential, she added.:

“Those types of requirements could be relaxed a little bit, and as far as degrees and years of experience, ideally you can look to your internal employees anyway to help fill roles,” Carrado said.

People entering the industry who are naturally adept at using the technology may still need formal opportunities to succeed in specialized roles. Derler noted that there are a number of open engineering roles across the industry that require credentials. Employees are enthusiastic about the opportunity to become educated, she said, as long as employers can do the work to identify the right resources and need.

“Dig deeply into your job domain,” Derler said. “From that, if you identify gaps, offer some training and learning opportunities. But you have to really deeply understand what the business needs.”