77.

Stay on Top of Things

As you research and study to grow in your field, there are a number of areas you'll want to pursue:

• What are the most popular software programs? Be thoroughly proficient with all of them—beginning with MS Office (if you don't already know it). Look at what computer proficiencies companies need—and are paying for. Database programs? (If so, which ones?) Adobe Creative Suite? Skype? Photoshop? Google Apps? What do you know about cloud computing?
• What online publications/newsfeeds/alerts do you get and read regularly? Our world is changing constantly and instantaneously. Are you on top of things? Even better, can you spot where things are headed?
• Are you still reading offline publications? Books? Business magazines, newspapers, or trade journals? Yes, I know most of them have online editions. (I subscribe to and read The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly online.) And yes, I know companies use algorithms to feed you content they think you'll want to read. But what about the serendipity factor—i.e., when you're leafing through the print edition of a daily paper or a magazine and you find something of interest that you never would have looked for and maybe never even have thought about before, but is fascinating and maybe useful in your work and life? Make room for the unexpected.