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Guide: How to Learn About Technology and Market Trends in the Field

ITLab - Software Ltda

May 31, 2024 — 4 min read

The IT sector is constantly expanding and offers numerous job opportunities. According to Brasscom, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector grew by 8.8% compared to the same period in 2020, creating nearly 80,000 jobs by June 2021.

This surpasses the hiring balance of recent years, largely due to the acceleration caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought a huge leap forward in a short period and created a bottleneck due to the lack of professionals to meet the generated demand—a great opportunity for those looking to develop in the sector!

To stand out in the tech career, staying ahead of industry topics and trends is essential, and there’s only one way to do this: continuous learning! The good news is that many professionals in the field are self-taught.

Are you part of this group? Whether you are self-taught or not, we’ve prepared this guide to help you seek knowledge and learn about technology and the main market trends. Happy reading!

How to Learn About Technology

Learning about technology requires constant updating. The learning method and path depend greatly on your profile. Find out which one suits you best.

Define a Goal

First, you need to understand why you want to learn about new technologies. Whether it’s due to a demand from your current job or interest in a potential career transition, the truth is clear: when you have a goal, the results really happen.

Regardless of the reason, try to anticipate by planning the future you envision for your career.

Focus on What You Really Need to Learn

In a universe of information and options that the technology field offers, define exactly what you want to learn. Focus is a great ally for more effective learning.

For example, if you’re studying programming, don't move on to a new language until you’ve mastered the one you’re currently learning. Superficial knowledge can lead nowhere.

The Format of Study Material

Currently, there is a wealth of information available for those looking to learn new technologies: books, podcasts, forums, online courses, mentorships, YouTube channels, and many others, many of which are available for free. Just choose the format that best suits your profile.

It’s worth noting that courses are ideal for those who are not familiar with the tech world and are seeking a radical career change.

Follow Those Who Understand the Subject

Seek contact with people and companies that are references in the technologies you want to learn. Inspiration is a great motivator.

Stay Updated

Immerse yourself in the environment you want to learn about. Follow fan pages, Instagram profiles, join Facebook discussion groups, and start being part of this movement as soon as possible.

Test to Retain Knowledge

The best way to learn and improve in something, especially new technologies, is by doing! Start small projects or challenges, even if they’re not for the market, just for practice.

There you can test all your knowledge, identify possible mistakes and difficulties, and know where you need to dedicate more effort.

Now that you know how to learn technology, let’s talk a bit about a very promising field and what to learn to succeed in this area. Come with us!

Technologies to Learn

As we’ve seen, the range of different areas that the IT sector offers is vast. One of the most prominent areas is Programming, which promises to be one of the most promising careers in the coming years.

It’s noticeable that besides IT professionals being interested in programming languages, people from entirely different fields are drawn to the great opportunities the profession offers.

If this is your case, let’s understand where to start and what to learn in programming technology for a promising career start.

What’s the First Step?

When entering the IT field focusing on Programming, it’s common to have doubts about what the first step is, which language to learn first, etc.

The truth is, there’s no specific language to start the journey. What exists are essential concepts that will give you a foundation for others that will come. These are:

Programming Logic
Object-Oriented Logic
HTML5 and CSS
Back-end Languages
Databases

Top Trends of the Year

To help you on this journey of learning technology, we’ve prepared a list of some of the most used programming languages in 2021 to guide you in your study plan:

1 - Python
Created in 1991 as an open-source programming language, one of its major advantages is ease of learning.

2 - Java
Created in 1995 at Sun Microsystems, it is one of the most used programming languages in the corporate environment today.

3 - C++ (and C)
Sharing the spot with Java among the most used programming languages globally, C and C++ are usually learned in the first years of programming colleges.

4 - JavaScript
Despite the name similarity with Java, this technology is more modern and focuses on areas like web development, game creation, and mobile application development.

5 - Go
The Go language uniquely combines the best aspects of functional programming and object-oriented programming, offering a complete set of tools for application development.

6 - C#
Pronounced C-Sharp, it is an object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft and is part of the .NET platform. Although C# was created from scratch, it is based on C++ and has many elements of Pascal and Java.

See! There’s no one-size-fits-all recipe for learning technology. What we can conclude is that planning, dedicating to studies, and staying updated with industry trends can greatly help you on this journey.

If you enjoyed the content, stay tuned for our next posts. See you then!