This week’s podcast guest joins us from Spiceworks, a community of IT pros and platform that offers free tools to make the sysadmin’s life easier. Meet Peter Tsai, Spiceworks’ IT Content Guru who lends his experience in IT to unique technical content that IT pros can’t get enough of. Peter certainly knows the industry; he has a background that includes positions as a sysadmin, programmer, technical writer and server engineer, so the content he is creating (think webcasts, infographics, IT articles and reports) really engages the millions of community members he serves. Our last podcast featuring James Foster from ZeroFOX touched on the trends that we’re seeing in security and social media, so this week we wanted to keep the ‘trend’ ball rolling and see what Peter thinks will be big in IT in 2016.
It’s a decade-old community that produces free applications for IT pros to help them do their jobs better. The community fosters conversations about important IT trends and technical topics and encourages members to share knowledge and experiences with the group. Peter mentions that, unlike many other groups and social platforms, the users on Spiceworks have a common career thread and are genuinely interested in helping others solve problems.
Peter suggests considering the macro workplace conditions in IT: budgets probably aren’t going up, staffing probably won’t increase by much—but requests for things like BYOD and added security will. According to Spiceworks surveys, IT pros are placing malware and ransomware at the top of their concern lists. IT admins and the like will have to find solutions that save them time and accomplish the goals of the organization, all while maintaining the multitude of other tasks they’re responsible for. We believe that’s where simple, time-saving tools like Simplify Printing TX come into play.
Keep learning. You have chosen an industry that changes every day and not keeping up and adapting to new technologies will only hurt you in the long run. The more you learn, the more doors will open and opportunities you will find. Oh, and Internet trolls are inevitable. Spiceworks prides itself in having a friendly community of IT pros who are working to help each other, so check it out!
