[2nd year infrastructure engineer] Looking back on my first year as a new graduate with no IT experience!

Nice to meet you!
I'm Kita, a second-year infrastructure engineer in the System Solutions Department, who graduated in 2023.

I joined the company as a new engineer with a liberal arts background and no prior experience in IT, and now I'm in my second year!
and felt in my one year as an infrastructure engineer, starting with no prior experience !

Things that people with no IT experience should do before joining the company

When I joined the company with no prior experience in IT, the best thing I could have done to study basic IT terminology !

As you study and receive training as an engineer after joining the company, basic IT-related terminology is naturally used in the explanations.
Therefore, if you don't understand basic IT terminology first, you won't understand what you're learning or what part of it you're talking about.
When I was undergoing training without having the basic terminology firmly in my head, it wasn't so much that I couldn't understand the explanations, but rather that I didn't know what the explanations were about.

I was anxious about becoming an engineer without any experience, and was keenly aware of the gap between me and those with experience, so I studied a lot of things in a hurry and looked into things with only a vague understanding, but I realized that it is important
to grasp the basics and gradually expand your knowledge I learned that in order to study technology in depth, it is important to first master basic terminology and knowledge.

What is necessary to be an engineer?

I have been working as an infrastructure engineer for about a year, with no prior IT experience, and I feel every day that the most important element for an engineer is communication skills

When asked, "What makes a great engineer?" or "What are the elements necessary to grow as an engineer?", I think many people would think of "technical ability." (I thought the same.) Of course
, technical ability is important as an engineer, but I feel every day that
communication skills Before I became an infrastructure engineer, I had the image of an engineer as someone who worked silently alone in front of a computer.

Also, even before joining the company, I had heard from senior employees that communication skills are important for infrastructure engineers, but I wondered, "Why? Don't engineers just work silently on their computers?" and "When do communication skills become important?"

Now that I've actually worked as an infrastructure engineer, I understand why communication skills are so important for an infrastructure engineer!
In my daily work as an infrastructure engineer, in addition to responding to server operation and maintenance alerts, I also handle many daily customer inquiries, so I have more opportunities to interact with customers than I imagined. As
I interact with customers on a daily basis, I often feel like I need to improve my communication skills.
Specifically , there are many different ways to
communication skills Personally, I believe that among the communication skills needed by an engineer, " linguistic ability " and " considering the other person's feelings " are crucial.
When you put yourself in a customer's shoes, you need to understand what they want in a given situation, and you need the linguistic ability to effectively communicate your intentions in order to align your understanding!

summary

The above is a summary of my experience as a new graduate looking back on my first year at work with no prior IT experience

One of the tasks of an infrastructure engineer is to respond to alerts for server operation and maintenance, and there are many situations where teamwork is important, so I feel it is important to actively communicate with other members to understand and share the situation.
Here too, I think language ability is important in order to communicate the situation smoothly and accurately.

Recently, in order to improve my language skills, I have started to read books during my commute or in my spare time before going to bed!
In order to grow as an engineer, I will continue to hone both my technical skills " and " communication skills