• Start at the Help desk, get some certifications, and work your way up into systems or network administration.
• Certifications are good, but a college degree (especially with some business courses or even an MBA) is better.
• Don’t pass up an opportunity to plunge ahead into unfamiliar technology areas. For example, if you’re working as an IT tech and your company is upgrading to a new version of Exchange Server, you’re forced to learn the new technology—and update your skills.
• Get involved in the IT community. Blog, participate in forums and newsgroups (even by lurking, you’ll learn something), join a user group, publish articles. If you’re especially motivated, start your own user group, as Exchange & Outlook author and regular forum contributor Nathan Winters did, by forming the Microsoft Messaging & Mobility User Group, oriented toward messaging professionals in the UK and Europe.
• Attend conferences, such as Tech Ed and Windows and Exchange Connections, “places where people and networking mix well,” says Exchange & Outlook Pro VIP author William Lefkovics.

Another important part of professional advancement in IT and messaging specifically is a willingness to try out different IT career areas, as well as finding a mentor, says Winters. "Professional development is a personal thing. I would suggest constant reading and experimenting as key to a successful career. Trainingwise, it depends. I have found conferences to be inspirational and a great place to meet the best in the industry. [And] trying to engineer things so you work with people you really respect and developing a mentor type relationship with someone can really help."

I’m especially interested in knowing what technology areas Exchange and Outlook professionals like you, our readers, should be familiar with, not only to help you do your day-to-day jobs as messaging pros but to help you advance in your careers. You might need to figure out why Exchange isn’t sending mail to a particular domain or restore a user’s lost email, but you also need to be keeping an eye on technologies that your company could adopt in the near future, such as unified messaging or collaboration (SharePoint), and preparing for your next migration—likely to Exchange Server 2007—by learning about new product features and upgrading your skills to work with the technology you're migrating to.

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."