In this blog I will analyze steps I will attempt to follow in order to become a T shaped person. To begin with I will mention my current T in the professional landscape and that is in the information technology sector. I am currently beginning to dive deeper in the area of network engineering. However in order to become a T shaped professional I will need to be knowledgeable in the security, cloud or software areas. Some of the skills that I hope to develop that fall within the vertical stroke of my T (my deep specialized skills) are network architecture, network security and cloud integrations. I anticipate that this semester’s experiential learning activities will help and contribute to my development as a T-shaped employee in various ways. One way is by allowing me to research the features in the devices that are used in order to connect a network (APs, switches and firewalls). Another way is by allowing me to become more involved with the endpoints and switches that are important parts of the network that are all connected in order to allow us to communicate digitally between each other. One good resource that would definitely help me develop in the area of network security is https://networklessons.com/tag/security. This website has dozens of lessons regarding various technologies, techniques and configurations needed to become an extremely knowledgeable network security engineer. Of course this is information that will be learned along my career in the workplace as I began tackling cybersecurity concerns and projects that call for heightened security and implement a zero trust policy. A resource such as this one paired with consistent reading and troubleshooting of network devices will almost inevitably result in a very solid network security knowledge that would be valuable to hundreds of companies in the country that would like to harden their current security posture. As far as network architecture goes, a great resource to continue developing that skill is https://www.liberty.edu/online/courses/csis651/ which is a college course. Resources such as this will greatly benefit me in growing my architecture skills. There are other resources as well such as official Cisco training and books that will help me in further development in this area. However, no amount or specific resources is “the best”, it all comes down to dedication, so staying consistent in some type of learning will always be the great strategy in this journey. Last but not least, as far as cloud integration goes, there are many resources available to learn more regarding this topic. One of my favorite resources is comptia’s official training guide and videos. Another important resources that cannot be ignored is AWS's own cloud course that can be found here https://aws.amazon.com/training/. These courses are very through and will allow me to become an experienced and knowledgeable engineer in the cloud sector ready to tackle any project in the workspace.
Additionally, to become a T-shape person I need to also be knowledgeable in other areas that somehow connect to my vertical stroke. Three skills that I hope to develop that fall within my horizontal stroke are software, scripting and linux. For linux, one of the best resources to advance my skills in this area is https://www.comptia.org/certifications/linux. This is comptia’s official course and is normally very thorough and clear to understand. For scripting, this udemy course https://www.udemy.com/course/scripting-for-beginner/?srsltid=AfmBOopMG5BfBm04vFuSiH_DbwJauDexNUW2HQ3Nw9sNiZ1ooRGydJ40&couponCode=LEARNNOWPLANS would be a great resource that can help a beginner like me become more familiarized with the basics of how to use python and other scripting languages. For software, a course that would be through in the area of software defined networking is this below https://www.udemy.com/topic/vmware-nsx/?srsltid=AfmBOooJgNKoiXWXJ6m6JOx5d5mXxSi_BtBQvUN640ehSelcUxiLZSBy. This course would be a wise addition in a world that is quickly evolving and where engineers are looking for tools such as VMware NSX to become more efficient in their daily tasks.
In conclusion, becoming a T-shaped person is definitely not an easy task and involves consistency and knowing which resources to use to become knowledgeable in the areas that matter for our specific industry. However, each skill plays a crucial role, because it allows for us to be prepared for many scenarios that could arise. Another skill that is needed to become a T-shaped person is to be able to collaborate well with anyone. This means communicating effectively with everyone around us at all times. This communication keeps everyone up to date on what is going on with the project, tasks, or goal to be completed. Being able to collaborate also means helping others. This can be done by pointing them to the right resources to complete a specific task or teaching them how to complete it. It may also mean to learn alongside that person in scenarios where both don’t know how to complete a project or tasks. Learning how to work together and collaborate is definitely needed in order to become a successful, and excelling T-shaped person in the current workplace of 2025.
