Experience Library

Happy New Year Bastion Readers!

In this edition of the Bastion Brief we will explore creating an experience library to boost your credibility and authority as an expert in your career space.?

The job market has really been tough lately for many professionals. You may have seen a sliding number of job postings and less remote openings in the past few months. In my circles, I have heard from recent graduates struggling to find positions due to lack of technical experience. An experience library to showcase your abilities that can be distributed across your job applications might just land you that interview. In the world of automation, standing out is essential.

Let's break down how to create this resource to promote your success as an individual. We are not talking about broad ideas like "learn to code" or "learn to manage projects", but more tangible advances within your professional journey. It might be something as simple as learning to use Microsoft Teams to send a message, share your screen, or control a device to connect to an end user.?

Set a simple goal, explore the process, and publish the result to a personal library (this could be a website, YouTube Channel, social media, or forum).?

Here's my example for cyber security:?

1. My goal is to learn to use nmap for network discovery.?
2. I would research the tool, maybe watch a video on YouTube, spin up a virtual machine and give it a go. I could examine my results and become confident in using it on a network.
3. I could then record my use of the tool in action to map three networks and publish my results to my experience library.?

For you, it might be exploring an industry standard tool or demonstrating a practical use for a new technology in the workplace. It does not need to be fancy or complicated, but help sell your expertise to a potential client or employer.?

Why is building something like this worth your time?

If you are exploring a new career item, you will be troubleshooting. You will make mistakes, attempt to correct them, maybe search answers, and eventually learn the proper path to your goal. Creating these learning pathways is essential for advancing your skills in your career. An expert learner remains an expert as the tools, resources, and technology advances in your industry. Taking the time to create your own opportunities for hands-on learning experience will improve your ability to learn. Demonstrate your ability to learn new systems, complete training modules, and understand results. If you land a role, you will be quick to meet operating standards.

Why would you publish content where you demonstrate a "basic" skill?

There are two reasons to publish "basic" achievements. Listen, you have done the work to set a goal, conducted the process, and achieved a result. Why would you just dump that out? First, publishing your basic results will serve as a foundation to propel your success toward advanced learning pathways. As time advances your library will grow to showcase your deep understanding of a subject. You will have the proven authority of a subject matter expert by building your library. Second, the "basic" skill you may demonstrate could be new for someone else. You may be impressive to an employer lacking the talent or expertise in your subject area. Many individuals downplay their level of expertise to industry outsiders. Can you take a skill or technology from your industry and apply it to a different one not using it? You have just become valuable.

Everyone is technically skilled in something, make sure you demonstrate the value that you have acquired over years of professional learning and investment in education.

Consider creating a learning list with small goals and building the platform for your experience library as we start this year. Publish your results to let me know what you accomplish. Remember to brush up on interview skills, even if you are comfortable in your position, and explore opportunities for growth.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing more tips soon!

-P.F.