Gen Z has an IT Problem: How to Turn Unofficial Side-Work into Career Development

Discover how Gen Z can leverage their unofficial tech-support role as a stepping stone for career development 🚀

Photo by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Gen Z employees are presumed to be highly tech-savvy. As a result, they find themselves being treated like the resident IT person, even if IT work isn’t in their job description. As a result, non-tech-savvy colleagues are quick to ask a young person for help. They see it as a way to fix their problem in 5 minutes, whereas calling IT or figuring it out themselves could take an hour. So, it’s best for everyone to just ask you, right? Well, if you are a young person or recent graduate who is just starting to build their career, the answer is NO.

To advance through promotions, you need to do two things:

1. Excel at your own role. This means meeting or exceeding all of your job expectations and any KPIs you might have.
2. Take on “stretch projects.” These are projects or working groups that will help you gain the skills and experience required for the higher-level position you are aiming for.

That means that in any given week, you need to complete all your own work with enough time leftover to take on side projects. This is partly…