Trainability and Adaptability

In the ultra-fast evolving world of IT, being adaptable and trainable is essential for survival. How fast you can learn and adapt to new technologies is oftentimes more important than your current set of skills. You may excel in what you do now, but if you cannot adjust to the changes, you will be left behind.

This is also what the IT companies are looking for in their search for prospective IT engineers. It is a common observation in the IT industry that there is a big mismatch with regards to the skills required by the IT companies and the skills learned/developed in school. Your academic and scholastic performance is valuable and will help you get their attention, but in the early days of employment, people who show trainability and commitment to learning new skills are the ones who will stand out.

As illustrated below, employee X initially entered the company with a more impressive skill set than employee Y. But after only 3 months, employee Y has surpassed the skills of employee X. There might be a lot of factors why this happened, but assuming all factors (training, projects, location, etc.) are the same for both employees, employee Y seems to be more adaptive and trainable and is showing the greater potential.

Using conventional recruitment methods (resume, entrance exams, interviews, etc.) it is very hard to measure a person’s trainability. Experienced managers and HR personnel might be able to identify these during their recruitment process, but it would be advantageous for the applicant if he/she can narrate past instances wherein he/she showed an ability to quickly learn and adapt, specially in relation to technical skills.

During your career as an IT professional, trainings will play a big part of your growth. But as valuable as the company initiated and company provided trainings, self-study and personally initiated trainings and research will be a big factor to how fast your growth and promotion will be.