Mentoring the Next Generation of IT Professionals

Overview

During my tenure in my previous role as Store/IT Manager, I observed a skill gap among junior technicians and among the work place students: many could troubleshoot hardware but lacked depth in network security and cloud architecture. This created bottlenecks for higher value client projects. I aimed to create a mentorship framework that would upskill the team, reduce knowledge silos, and accelerate project delivery times.

Action

• Mentorship Program Design – Established a 6 week rotation where junior staff paired with senior engineers on live client incidents.

• Curriculum Development – Crafted modules covering Windows Server administration, Azure fundamentals, firewall rule sets, and incident response playbooks.

• Hands On Labs – Set up virtual labs (Hyper V + VMs) to let trainees experiment with network segmentation and vulnerability scanning.

• Performance Metrics – Introduced a “Skill Score” system that tracked knowledge acquisition and applied proficiency; used it for quarterly performance reviews.

Outcome

• Average incident resolution time dropped by 35 % as juniors became more autonomous.

• 80 % of the cohort progressed to senior roles in various companies.

• The program received internal recognition and was adopted by the company.

Key Takeaway

Investing in people is the most sustainable way to build an MSP that can handle diverse client needs with agility and expertise.