Peer to Peer Magazine

P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | F A L L 2 0 1 9 57 Education First things first. Get a good education! Are you not really sure technolo is your passion? Start with a two-year accredited technical school. There are great technical schools in every state and, if they are accredited, you can transfer most, if not all, credits over to a four-year college/university. Is it absolutely necessary to have a four-year degree? No, but it is easier to spend two extra years at the beginning of your path to get a higher-level degree for a higher-level technolo position at the start of your career. Certifications Do certifications really help me? Yes. Certifications give you a leg up in job interviews in several ways. It shows not only your initiative but also your skill levels to the person interviewing you. My suggestion is that you make sure it is a well-known certification and can be carried with you across the country. There are a lot of companies out there offering certifications that may be very good representations of your skills but, if they are not well-known, most interviewers will not take the time to look them up to see what they include. Homework When you get the interview, do your homework and be prepared. Know the company. Look up the firm and find out what kind of practices they have there, who the attorneys are (look them up on the firm website and in other legal publications), are they well known for what they do, are they well known in legal technolo circles, etc.? Look up their CIO, their technolo managers or employees. Are they published? Are they well known in legal technolo circles? Do your mentors know them? Prepare good questions AND answers!! I can't stress how important this is!! Don't let your first question be how much vacation you get the first year and, if you are interviewing for Help Desk Analyst or a Technolo Coach, please make your answers more than just "yes" or "no". I am not kidding here! This is where you show what you know! A good interview goes a long way with hiring authorities. If you need it, get mentoring or training on how to do a good interview! You will never regret it. Initiative I know this, in some circles, is a dreaded word but volunteer. When you get that Level I position, you are going to get a lot of standard (no, I'm not going to say "trash" work) work. You know what I mean! So, when that opportunity to volunteer for a special project from your Manager to show off those skills from the education and certifications you worked so hard to get comes up – volunteer for it! Will it cost you extra work – yes – extra time – yes – is it worth it – absolutely! It will help you and your skills shine outside of your regular work duties. Of course, there are plenty of ways to show initiative, check with your mentors to see if they have ideas on how you can do so in your areas of technolo expertise. As I close this column today, I realize it may seem to some – Wow, this sure seems like a lot of work – and, indeed, it may seem that way, but a passion does take time and work and we must remember that anything worthwhile takes just that to reach out to our passion – time and work. If legal technolo or, for that matter, any type of technolo, is fascinating to you, intrigues you, I would encourage you to start your journey because it is worth it and, what is really great with all of the new things I see coming down the road, that journey never ends. It may be a long and winding road but what a wonderful roller coaster ride it has been for me and will be for you with every step of the way, every fork in the road and every uphill climb! I can't wait to hear from you about all the wonderful journeys you take! We've talked about a lot of things this year and are coming to our last column. I hope you have been able to glean some helpful information from some of my experiences and things I've learned over the years I've been in technolo I've shared in these columns and will enjoy the next one where we explore how… We Make a Life by What we Give… ILTA

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