Creating a Learning Plan for 2023
Congratulations! You made it through another year. This was not an easy year for the tech industry. Every day I read about more layoffs and re-organizations. Sadly, I’m sure there are plenty of other companies making similar moves that don’t make the news outside of their local market. In any event, the best thing you can do is to plan for the future. If you are in IT, this must include a learning plan.
It should come as no surprise that having an IT career today means continuous learning. That’s one of the reasons I started this newsletter. If you can’t learn new things, I think you will have a limited IT career. That’s not to say there aren’t IT professionals who are quite content with the status quo and have no interest or desire to learn anything new. I have met people like this, but if you are reading this, you are not in that category.
So let’s talk about what your learning plan for 2023 might look like.
Job Needs
At the top of your plan should be topics directly related to your current position and organization. What technology, product, or application is critical to your position or role? What are the knowledge gaps that are hindering your job performance? Or is there something missing that would help you stake the next step up the ladder?
If your company has a defined career track, what is next? Often there is a published set of skills and required knowledge for each role. What do you need to learn to get to that next level? That definitely goes in the learning plan.
Is your company adopting a new strategy or tool set? Maybe the company is migrating to the cloud. Naturally, you should learn everything you can to meet this new demand. Hopefully, your company is taking education into account, but if not, don’t be shy about speaking up.
As you are planning, be specific and outcome driven. Don’t just say, “I need to learn Azure Active Directory.” The plan should outline why and what.
Topic: Azure Active Directory
Why: The company is migrating all IT services to Azure.
I need to be able to migrate local AD users, groups, and computers to Azure AD.
I need to be able to manage AD users, groups, and computers in Azure AD.
I need to be able to create reports from Azure AD.
I need to be able to reset passwords in Azure AD.
I need to achieve my Azure AD tasks from PowerShell.
Certifications
Part of your learning plan may center on certification. This is often tied to job roles, and you may need one or more to get to that next level. Identify the certification you need and the exams it will require. Each exam will have a set of requirements. Use the list to identify gaps in your knowledge and experience. Add this to your plan. And don’t forget to include practical experience. It is practically impossible to pass any vendor certification exam, especially from Microsoft, with book knowledge alone. If you don’t have hands-on experience, the exam will be hard to pass.
How will you get that experience? Can you get it on the job? Do you need to set up a test lab for yourself to practice? Does the vendor offer any lab options? Document what practical experience you need and how you will achieve it.
Career Needs
Once you’ve addressed your immediate learning needs for your job, you then need to turn to your career. I’m sure you’ve heard me and others stress that your job is not your career. Sadly, given today’s market, your job could end tomorrow. Is your career ready? Or you hopefully have some long-term goals about the job you’d like to have or where you’d like to work. What do you need to learn to advance your career? This may coincide with what you need for your job, but it may not.
Maybe you are an end-user help desk technician, but you want to have a DevOps-related job. You might need to add topics like Ansible and Python to your learning plan.
And don’t forget soft skills. If your public speaking skills are weak, maybe you should add it to your learning plan. Maybe there are items in your last performance review that you can address in your learning plan.
I’d even go as far as to suggest identifying things you want to learn that will make you a happier person. What would feed your soul? Maybe you want to learn how to create a better barbecue or speak Italian. While these things probably won’t affect your job, they will make you a more interesting and happy person. These are the types of people that I think get hired more easily. I know these kinds of people are definitely more fun to work with.
What to Learn
If at this point, your learning plan is short or maybe you need some ideas, I would suggest these topics.
Cloud technologies such as Azure or AWS. These are broad topics, so I suggest narrowing them down to a sub-area, like security, that is related to your job or career plans.
Pester and test-driven development. Learn it and use it with all of your PowerShell projects.
SSH. PowerShell remoting is going to rely on this more and more. Most Windows-based IT pros seem to have limited experience with SSH.
Python. PowerShell is not the only automation language. If you have an eye on a DevOps career, I think Python is a must.
How to Learn
Once you’ve identified what you need to learn and why you should outline sources. For many of you, this will mean finding one or more books to read. I encourage you to identify subject-matter experts to follow and read their online content, including articles and blogs. Not sure who to follow? Ask on social media is a good place to start.
There will likely be no shortage of video training options from companies like Pluralsight and LinkedIn. For Microsoft-related technologies, your first stop should be https://learn.microsoft.com. I know you’ll find content on YouTube, but I urge you to take it with a critical eye. Is the content still current and relevant? Does the author have the necessary expertise or experience? Video training can be valuable, but you might have to make an investment of your own.
Are there traditional instructor-led courses on your topics? Some certification exams may suggest specific courses that you can take at a local training center. Or maybe you learn better in this type of setting. I know the training landscape has changed quite a bit since I was last a certified trainer. Even though there may not be an in-person option, there might be virtual instructor-led classes you can take.
Conferences and User Groups
One of the best ways to learn any new technology is to hear and see how it is being used today. User Groups are an ideal source of knowledge. While it is always nice to find a local user group focused on the technology you need to learn, more than likely, there are a few groups in the world that offer virtual meetings.
Take advantage of these groups. In my experience, it seems IT pros are always reluctant to attend user group meetings compared to their developer counterparts. I realize you may be burned out after a day of putting out fires, but I encourage you to find a way to muster the energy.
And if there isn’t a user group in your area, start one. Even better, start one with a friend or two. It is much easier to share the load. If you don’t know where to start, reach out to me, and I can put you in touch with someone who can guide you in the process.
Lastly, don’t forget conferences. An IT conference gives you the benefit of an in-person presentation and often an opportunity for you to ask questions of a subject-matter expert. Come with questions, and don’t be shy. As a long-time conference speaker, I love when attendees ask questions. Speakers want to share what they know, and answering questions is another avenue.
And after the sessions, don’t hide out in your hotel room. Many people will tell you the real value of a conference comes from the “hallway sessions”. The conversations and connections with other attendees are of tremendous value. Learn how others are solving the problems you face. Using these conference connections to build your professional network. You never know, but your next job could come through one of these connections.
I even have some recommendations. Unless your job involves long-term planning or needing to know what direction Microsoft is headed, I’d suggest skipping Ignite. I haven’t found anything truly educational at Ignite in years. Don’t confuse information with education.
If your day job or career plans involve PowerShell, then you should be attending the PowerShell+DevOps Global Summit or PSConfEU. These are the premier PowerShell conferences offering deep content provided by leading members and experts in the PowerShell community. Plus, these events are small, which makes it easy to connect with other attendees and speakers. You can find sessions from past events on YouTube.
Here are some other IT-related events that I think would be of interest to you. Some of these will be on my travel plans for 2023.
Techmentor has shows on the Microsoft campus in July and in Orlando in November. I typically present in Orlando.
Spiceworks has a great show in Austin, TX, called Spiceworld.
I have never been to The Midwest Management Summit, also known as MMS, but their agenda always looks terrific.
I encourage you to keep an eye out for one-day events like PowerShell Saturday. There might be one in your area or one with virtual sessions. Often these are free or minimal cost. The best way to discover them is to monitor social media. For many events, a mention or two on Twitter is the extent of their marketing.
Summary
I hope this got you thinking and excited about learning next year. Don’t make mental notes. Write it down. Make a formal plan laying out your objectives, your assessment steps, and how you hope to achieve the objectives. It wouldn’t hurt to give yourself deadlines; otherwise, December 2023 will roll around, and you’ll wonder where the year went. Instead, you want to be able to pull out your plan next December and celebrate your achievements.
If there is a topic or challenge you feel I can help with, please let me know.
Good luck and happy learning!