Great Tech Pros with Wylie Blanchard

Traci Cox, President of Temple & Associates, met with us to explore the value of business partnerships, managing partnership challenges and how partnerships enhance business opportunities. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Traci answers: [2:50] What does Business Partnerships mean to you and how is it related to trust? [3:24] Can you share an experience where you had to create a partnership to meet an objective? [4:30] What would be the next step with that partner after working together to help a client meet their objective? [5:36] Are there best practices that you recommend when forming a formal business partnership?  [6:54] Is there a difference between how you handle partnering with individuals vs business entities? [9:26] How do you select service vendors, like software vendors, that you work with to service your customers? [12:21] How do you handle challenges that can arise with partners? [14:38] If a partner cannot fulfill a service agreement for a client how do you address it? [15:58] An introduction to Temple & Associates and the services they offer clients today. [18:30] What type of expertise, education and/or knowledge do you look for in your partners? [24:41] Should a non-compete clause be built into a partnership agreement? (Audience Member Question) [26:41] In a partnership, in which one partner contributes technology and the other partner contributes the distribution, marketing and customer-base, how does the distribution partner guard against the technology partner leveraging their customer base for a new and non-shared product? (Audience Member Question) [28:24] How does the distribution partner ensure that the technology partner is responsive to technical issues with the product, and continues to improve the product? (Audience Member Question) [32:00] What organizational image should be presented in customer-facing applications? (Audience Member Question) [36:50] How does the technology partner guard against the distribution partner replicating their product - using their familiarity with the product and developing a modified version of the product themselves - and then underselling the technology partner? (Audience Member Question) [42:04] BONUS: Traci shares post-discussion thoughts. Connect with Traci: You can connect with Traci on Linkedin and by visiting Temple-IT.com. Stock Media provided by ikoliks / Pond5 Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Jason Patel, the Chief Technology Officer for Ensighten, met with us to discuss moving from being an individual contributor to overseeing, leading and guiding the work of others, new challenges that one faces and what he's learned over his career. Highlights: Defining a win as a business leader vs individual contributor.Motivations to move from a large firm to a startup company.Preparing your team to succeed when you are not available. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Jason answers: [2:21] Jason shares his background experience and how he arrived at his current role as CTO at Ensighten. [6:50] What is different from when you were an engineer (individual contributor) to now leading a larger team as a business leader? [10:35] How do you define a win now as a business leader to when you were an individual contributor? [14:25] What challenges did you face when you moved into tech management? [21:03] How do you prepare your team to succeed when you are not available? [25:45] How to approach discussing moving into leadership with your boss? (Audience Member Question) [30:55] What motivates you to move from a large firm to a startup company? (Audience Member Question) [33:05] What are your thoughts on employee management - micromanagement vs leadership-coaching style? (Audience Member Question) [33:53] What is the most important characteristic of a CTO? (Audience Member Question) [28:20] At what stage or time-frame do you recommend that a professional start exploring career advancement options at a new company? (Audience Member Question) [44:38] What does it mean to ask for help? (Audience Member Question) [55:05] How to leverage experience gained in a different company with its unique market?  (Audience Member Question) You can connect with Jason on Linkedin, Facebook and Github. Stock Media provided by ikoliks / Pond5 Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Eric Livergood, Chief Technology Officer for LeafLogix Technologies, met with us to explore how smart technology is guiding Leaflogix, a 5 year technology solutions startup servicing the cannabis industry, its industry and its business technology. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Eric Answers: [2:02] What does smart technology road mapping mean to you?[2:44] Current/past projects that you've worked on.[5:06] How are you currently applying Smart Technology?[6:33] What led you to a career working with Cannabis Technology?[9:30] How has your Product Road Map changed in the last year?[11:02] What's on your current Road Map?[13:46] How has your day-to-day changed from when you were an engineering individual contributor to a company leader?[15:05] How are you addressing current customer pain points and challenges?[16:15] How vast is the current B2C consumer product width/mix in the cannabis industry?[17:36] How do you interact with your customer when making plans for your products? [19:24] What is rarely discussed about the cannabis industry that professionals should think about?[22:19] What's the impact on the cannabis industry due to the different laws for managing cannabis between each state? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [23:40] What is the key to enabling smart technology that has help you address needs/challenges due to Covid-19? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [25:14] Are your solutions Business-to-Consumer (B2C) or Business to Business (B2B)? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [26:40] How is cash-management handled in the cannabis industry and between each state? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [30:53] What training do you advise for those who want to move from individual contributor to a leadership role? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [32:50] What are the entry barriers for vertical farming? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [34:35] Do you utilize crowdsourcing to improve your software products and how does it impact your industry? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [35:40] What are the levels of automation that you currently utilize/implement? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) Useful Links: You can connect with Eric on Linkedin.Cannabis industry history in the United States. Stock Media provided by ikoliks / Pond5 Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Sean T. O’Kelly, Chief Technology Officer for Meetings & Events International (MEI), met with us to explore how business leaders can utilize technology as a tool to drive customer and revenue growth. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts.LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Sean Answers [1:15] Do organizations treat technology as a cost/expense or revenue generator? [3:10] How does technology fit within the regulatory compliance space? [5:50] An example of adding features and functions into a product for the purpose of creating value? [12:56] How does driving revenue with open integration and while being secure apply to today's digital environment. [18:31] How do you approach the topic of content protection while driving revenue with customers? [24:00] How are customers using their data and content to drive revenue? [27:30] What's your background and how did you become Chief Technology Officer at your current organization? [33:15] RECAP. [35:08] What level of digital events will you see being adopted over in-person events going forward? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [41:05] How can we help people/organizations embrace Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [45:43] Challenge of improving the modernization of organizational processes? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [50:14] What challenges have you experienced in the government vs the private sector? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [51:46] What did you learn while pursuing the Executive MBA program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) Useful Links: You can connect with Sean on Linkedin. Regulatory Compliance in the United States. Stock Media provided by ikoliks / Pond5 Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Teneika Askew, Head of People Analytics at Mozilla, met with us to explore how to utilize data for effective visualization and creating data stories that enable decision-makers to take action. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Teneika answers: [1:50] What has changed in Business Analytics? [3:14] What is your approach to creating data visualizations? [5:38] Free/Low cost data visualization tools for small businesses. [7:36] What type of data visualization recommendations do you offer to larger businesses that do not have tool/platform preferences? [10:31] What were you doing with CDC? [17:01] What drove you to Data Visualization as a career? [18:41] Booze Allen - How I made an impression. [22:05] College Student Opportunities: Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) & INROADS internships. [25:07] What advice do you have for those making a career change into Data Visualization? [28:08] What training do you advise for those who are new to data and data visualization? [34:52] What is your approach to handling quantitative data? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [37:24] How embracing is machine learning and data analytics in relation to using them for data visualization? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [41:45] What additional advise do you have for those pivoting their career toward data and/or data visualization? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [48:55] How can one mange and automate data that is bad and/or challenging to work with? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [52:10] How much does programming languages play into your work and which programming languages are your clients requesting the most for data visualization projects? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) Useful Links: You can connect with Teneika on her website, Twitter and Linkedin. Tools include PowerQuery, PowerBI, Tableau, Google Data Studio and SAP Tools.Though it is important to implement a new platform/solution, it is equally as important to inform and educate end-users on how to utilize the new platform or solution. Every career/job has a data component - Do make an effort to learn how to utilize data as a skill. Doing so will enhance your skill-set and help you enhance your career. College students should look into scholarship, internship and other opportunities offered by their university like the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) and INROADS internships.For those who are new to data visualizations, start with Microsoft Excel, work to graduate from a beginner Excel user to an advanced Excel user, then learn Microsoft Power BI and Tableau. Microsoft currently offers free Power BI training, Tableau Prep & Tableau Desktop are not free unless you are a student, freeCodeCamp and SimpliLearn. Stock Media provided by ikoliks / Pond5 Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Sanford Hess, IT Director for the City of Urbana, met with us to discuss Government Information Technology Management, change within government IT, enhancing the relationship between people and government, career opportunities and more. WATCH Watch Part 2 of Government Information Technology Management and Change with Sanford Hess.Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Sanford Answers: [1:11] An interesting fact about Sanford. [4:13] What does Tectonic Speed of Government mean to you? [8:20] Being in a university town how do you interact with the University of Illinois? [13:20] How does someone get a role working in technology and working with government? [15:56] How did you arrive to a career in technology and government? [19:33] What skill-sets and levels of education are you looking for in new employees? [22:04] Can you share an example of a city project that uses technology? [25:04] As a civic technologist how are you enhancing relationships between people and government? [28:31] How are you using the data that you gather? [34:22] How are you impacted by new rules for data management and transparency like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)? [36:18] What are you hoping to learn from data? [38:08] Any advice on how someone can transition into a career in technology and government? [43:11] What training or certifications are relevant for technology generalists? [47:50] What challenges have you faced, or are facing, such as the infrastructure setup, networks, internet speed and so on, when the government employees are working from home? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [50:42] How are the software vendors, that you work with, adapting to cloud computing? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [53:38] Is there a technology education-awareness gap in government as it pertains to adopting new technology? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [55:42] How do you address complacency in government?(AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [56:12] Would an organization performance framework help with the challenges that information technology departments face? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [58:09] How does your work as a technology professional intersect with the sales? [1:03:28] Do the challenges around innovations and resources make it difficult to recruit for government tech positions? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) Useful Links: You can connect with Sanford on his website and Linkedin. The Tectonic Speed of Government is the website where Sanford shares his thoughts on Government, IT, Change, Government IT Change … and Movies. Sanford recommends that aspiring technology professional consider Google IT Support Professional Certificate. Stock Media provided by ikoliks / Pond5 Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Susanne Tedrick, the award-winning author of Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators, met with us to discuss how women of color can jump-start, transition to or further evolve their career in technology. In addition, Susanne shares how tech professionals can stay relevant in today's rapidly evolving job market. In this conversation Susanne shares: Current challenges impacting women of color in technology roles. What is allyship and how individuals in technology roles can ally with women of color. In demand technology fields, skills and education options. Why you deserve to be paid what you are worth. Networking opportunities for introverts. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Susanne answers: [1:28] An interesting fact about Susanne. [2:34] What prompted writing a book about Women of Color in Technology? [4:30] What challenges do women of color face today? [7:49] How can women of color enter a market dominated by a different demographic? [10:49] What advice do you have for men working in technology to help create inclusion opportunities for women of color? [12:52] What advice would you give those interested in a tech career but are new to the topic? [15:10] What are the career options in today's market? [18:27] What is a Cloud Technical Specialist? [19:30] What is the difference between a coach, mentor and sponsor? [23:09] Which technical trainings, certifications and experiences should people pursue to help close skill gaps? [27:30] How can people negotiate their salary when starting a new role? [34:23] How can introverts prepare to interact with larger groups or clients? [37:15] How/where to get Susanne's book, Women of Color in Tech? [39:06] How can we stay abreast with current and emerging tech to stay relevant? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [41:07] How can an individual, with extensive experience in a non-tech field, leverage their current expertise to be valuable when transitioning to a tech field? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [43:12] What skills should a person learn if they are interested in moving into a data analytics field? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [45:12] Are there specific certifications or degrees that are recommended for moving into a technology field? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [51:08] How can we introduce technology to children, of under-represented demographics, to help them become interested in technology careers? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [54:06] How should introverts approach networking and where should they network when they don't have access to technology professionals? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) Useful Links: You can connect with Susanne on her website, Twitter and Linkedin. You can get Susanne's new book, Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators, by visiting WeBelongInTech.com. Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Chris Hyde, Data Analytics professional, met with us to share his experience with Data Analytics, Business Intelligence and Data Science. In this discussion Chris shares: Data can make a difference in people's lives. Increased use of statistics in data science. Programming languages used to query and manipulate data. The importance of a network and building relationships. WATCH Subscribe to Great Tech Pros video on YouTube, Facebook and Apple Podcasts. LISTEN Subscribe to Great Tech Pros podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Questions that Chris answers: [01:33] What does a business intelligence, data analytics and database administration professional do? [03:40] What is the difference between business intelligence and data science? [06:22] How did you start your data career? [08:09] What interesting thing have you learned from data? [10:45] How can people move into a field related to business intelligence or data science? [12:23] What are the top programming/querying languages that you are using? [15:11] How can a full-time employee make the transition to working as an independent consultant? [20:17] What tools/resources have you found helpful in your career? [21:43] What events/conferences do you use to build your network? [23:38] What courses and books do you recommend for new data professionals? [25:09] Where can people find Chris Hyde? [26:14] What kind of projects do you work on? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [29:25] How do you give a customer something that they can manage on their own? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [30:36] Additional recommendations for groups and events to begin building your network in data analytics. (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [32:29] How difficult is your job? Useful Links: The best way to connect with Chris Hyde is on Twitter. He can also be found on Linkedin. Chris Recommends the following books: Learning R by Richard Cotton. R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data by Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund. Think Stats: Exploratory Data Analysis by Allen Downey. Special thanks to the students, alumni and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the College of DuPage for their help in making this episode a success.

Eric Schmuttenmaer, Associate Vice President of Digital, Technology and Innovation at AMITA Health, met with us to share why it is important for technical professionals to build their executive presence. In this discussion Eric shares: The value of being trustworthy. Listening with complete attention and without distraction. Being able to clearly communicate your message so that your stakeholders can receive it. Aligning your goals with the company’s bottom-line goals. Your circle of colleagues can help identify your successes. Questions that Eric answers: [07:38] How is presenting to a leadership team related to building trust? [12:56] What do you looking for in new team members as it relates to their professional presence? [18:24] What can introverts do to have better executive presence? [25:08] How does having executive presence align with an organization’s bottom line goals? [28:41] What tips do you have for the individual trying to build their executive presence? [34:48] How did you transition from being a programmer to a leadership role? [47:55] How did you overcome pain points related to moving from a technical role to a managerial role? [58:32] How do I present myself as a strong candidate? Excerpt from the Interview: Wylie Blanchard: What tips do you have for individuals who are new in their career, transitioning in their career or just interested in building their executive presence?  What tips do you have on how they can build their personal branding and their executive presence? Eric Schmuttenmaer: The first one that comes to me is listening… It is a combination of listening and learning. So if you're coming new into something,.. find the people that are in the area that you want to be in or that you want to improve upon and get notes on them. Find out where they have succeeded and replicate those in your world or, work to replicate those in the world and find out, more importantly, where they failed and why they failed… Learn where those common pitfalls are for where you want to be from individuals who are already there and then avoid those as much as you can. It's not gonna be a hundred percent but do your best to do that. It takes a level of listening and slowly learning. You're not going to boil the ocean but take those little key moments, those little tiny moments, of takeaways from other people's lives. Useful Links: Connect with Eric Schmuttenmaer on Linkedin. Learn more about AMITA Health. Follow on Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Special thanks to the students, alumni and faculty from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for their help in making this episode a success.

Don Alava, Digital Marketing expert and VP of Marketing Analytics & Technology at Universal Technical Institute, met with us to share his expertise in integrating digital and traditional marketing. In this discussion Don shares: Technology is something that you must keep pace with. Natural curiosity is a valuable trait when hiring a marketing analytics professional. Valuable technical skills are ideal when hiring new marketing analytics professionals. Recommendations for those working to get into digital marketing, traditional marketing or marketing analytics. Questions that Don answers: [02:33] What does a successful marketing campaign look like? [04:19] What is Cost-Per-Metric? [05:39] How has analytics changed how content is marketed? [07:49] What are the ah-ha moments that throughout your career? [12:55] Where do traditional advertisements fit in our current digital environment? [18:21] How do you advise that marketers ask analytical questions in a way where the desired answer is not driving the results? [20:17] What do you look for when hiring new marketing analytics professionals? [24:07] What key technical skills do you look for when hiring new marketing analytics professionals? [26:09] What insights should one hope to gain from analytics? [27:07] Deeper dive into what it means to combine CRM data and Digital Marketing data? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [29:57] Should business owners understand digital marketing? [32:34] What are the areas of traditional and digital marketing techniques that traditional small businesses should follow to minimize cost and increase ROI? (AUDIENCE MEMBER QUESTION) [39:20] How valuable is bootstrapping/guerilla marketing tactics? [44:20] The challenge of creating marketing personalization. [52:18] Recommendations for those working to get into digital marketing, traditional marketing or marketing analytics? Excerpt from the Interview: Wylie Blanchard: So, let's talk about analytics for a second. How has analytics changed how we market content to people? Don Alava: It's interesting. When I first started out - well the names have changed over time - there was database marketing, there was targeted marketing, now it's big data science. When you look at it, it's going back to what is the objective of your marketing campaign and what's the best way to measure it. What's nice about analytics and technology is that you have more data available. When I was on the ad agency business I got into direct marketing and we were measuring things based on responses to numbers or how many mail coupons people submitted and returned to us. So we could count it that way but now with the internet, with mobile devices, you're getting that data almost instantaneously. So whereas in a direct mail campaign you waited for a couple of weeks to measure the campaign. Now when you're in the digital/mobile space you can get that information right away and that's where analytics comes in... Humans - while we can do a lot of analytics - when you bring in data science and machine learning they can keep up with the pace of the data that's coming in to give you an edge over your competitors. It all starts with what's the goal of your business and how should you best measure that. Then use the data to help get you that information and get the competitive edge over your competition who may not have quite figured out how to use their data to inform their marketing campaigns, as well as, their follow-up campaigns to those who eventually become customers. Useful Links: Connect with Don Alava on Linkedin and Twitter. Learn more about Universal Technical Institute. Follow on Linkedin. Special thanks to the students, alumni and faculty from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for their help in making this episode a success.

Edwin Ukpaby, Healthcare I T Professional and CEO of Medix Systems Consultants, met with us to discuss how technology in the healthcare industry has evolved with healthcare business processes. In this discussion Edwin shares: The evolution of patient-person centered healthcare. Why usability and interoperability are key factors in the future of process technology in healthcare. Differentiating yourself from the competition and more.

In this episode, Ed Fisher, System Engineer and CEO of Ed Fishers and Associates, sits down with us to share what he has learned over his 30+ year career as a technology professional. Excerpt from the Interview: Wylie Blanchard: What key certifications and/or degrees are prominent for networking and system engineering - I T careers? Ed Fisher: If it were my choice everyone would get their Bachelor Degree. Nothing substitutes a good, solid and core education like a bachelor degree. Then you move into the areas of specialization which are dictated by you as an individual. When I first started with computers we had to take a test to determine whether our future was with hardware or software. That's when I learned that a software person worked puzzles and sat down. They worked things out with their mind but mainly they sat down, which is what turned me off from being a software engineer. I didn't want to sit down so I chose to be a hardware engineer (system engineer). Now/today, the two (software and hardware) are merged together during your training. It's hard for me to say what someone should do. That's an individual decision for them because there are core questions that must be answered. For instance, what are some of the things that you like to do that are aligned with the career path that your planning to go into? If you like to sit down and if you like to work puzzles then I could recommend software engineering, like a java developer. If you're the kind of person who likes to be outside and get his/her hands dirty then I would recommend that you go into a field engineering (hardware engineering) - a technical area that is expands exponentially in terms of what you can do. Overall, it's based on an individual preference of what you want to do for the rest of your life...

Dan Rey, Solution Architect of Microsoft, sat down with us to share what he has learned over his career as a technology professional. In this discussion we touch on: How technology has shifted over time. Dan’s path to a career in technology. Gaining experience and expertise. Books, certifications, user groups and more. Excerpt from the Interview: Wylie Blanchard: What have you seen in your twenty plus years or what interesting has changed in the 20 plus years that you've been an I T professional? Dan Rey: One thing that I've noticed in the 20 plus years is that a lot of the technology is shifting almost like a pendulum. So when I started in computers Windows 95 was just coming out. We were using the operating systems and the capabilities before Windows 95 and many things kind of shifted to a server or a client server focus from a development perspective and a use case perspective in large corporations and then things shifted back to kind of powering you on the device that you're using whether it's your phone whether it's your laptop or your desktop and then the internet started up and things shifted back to server based computing whether those servers were on premise or in the cloud didn't really matter. It was still kinda that pendulum swinging back to something that's not on your device locally. Seeing some of these shifts that kind of seem to just going back and forth with either empowering on the devices that you're using locally or empowering on something that you use remotely. Wylie Blanchard: Are there any books, literature or educational material that you highly recommend? Dan Rey: That's a great question. Being in this for more than 20 years some of my early memories were picking up books when the next version of Windows comes out. You look for the technical books that explain, kind of, behind the use case or explain just how to use the operating  system. You can go through and read about the tip and tricks and the things that you wouldn't just learn by using the operating system. You really need somebody kind of guiding you to those areas because they're not easy to discover on your own - or they might be too technical. Once discovered you need guidance on what to do once you get there. Today, a lot of that has moved back to automation and command line capabilities. So books on PowerShell would be a recommendation for somebody getting into I T....