Closing the Knowledge Gap: Leveraging Vendor Expertise for IT Success

David van Heerden argues that software and service vendors are one of the most underrated resources for closing the IT skill gap, because their teams hold specialized, industry-specific knowledge and are motivated to see you succeed.

IT domains are broad and varied, so a network or software specialist in manufacturing does an entirely different job than one in software development or large-scale fleet management. That breadth keeps the skill gap and imposter syndrome a constant in the field.

Picking up the phone or emailing a vendor's support, engineering, or sales staff with a specific problem often unlocks advice that goes well beyond predefined courses. That includes asking what they've seen other customers in your industry do.

David shares a personal example. While standing up an on-premises point-of-sale system at a new Orlando resort with hundreds of hotel rooms and segmented networks gated off for compliance, he got a free, step-by-step SQL education from a vendor support rep. He used that skill for the rest of his career.

Automox University teaches you how to use the product, and the Automox Community forums let you post a problem to passionate practitioners who will help even when it falls outside the bounds of the product.