1. Programming

Even if your job doesn't require software development, it's useful to understand how applications are built because everything we do - from following Twitter feeds to filling out expense forms - is enabled by software. IT professionals with an academic background in computer science will likely have done some programming as part of their education. For others, there are many ways of learning programming.

Martin Harvey, PMP, managing consultant at Coroware, says: "The language I'd recommend learning would be any C-based language. It's a fairly common language that can be found in Microsoft and Java platforms, but it's not trivial. At the other end of the spectrum there are more interpretive languages such as Visual Basic and Python. It's easy to mess around with Visual Basic and Excel macros on your PC. You'll learn about the fundamentals of programming and the logic of how data is stored."

2. Learning from the book The Mythical Man-Month

Publisher Addison-Wesley Professional describes the book The Mythical Man-Month as "influential and timeless." Originally published in 1975, author Fred Brooks shares his experiences as project manager for IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Brooks made several mistakes including adding more workers to a project falling behind schedule, and underestimating the time it would take to complete a project. The book was republished in 1995 with new thoughts and advice from Brooks. Harvey says: "It's like 100 things your mother told you. I still made some of the mistakes after reading it. But if you read the book, maybe you won't make the mistakes or you will recognize that you are making them and know when to duck."

3. Understanding the basics of networking

"The network is how everything connects and every IT pro should know how that happens," says George Morton, a dual CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert). Morton says IT pros should study and understand the following:

Who is Cisco, Juniper, etc., and what do they offer. "Knowing that Dell makes switches won't get you to the top of the game," says Morton.

• TCP/IP and IP addressing
• Network Address Translation and Port Address Translation
• IPv6. "It is coming, and the sooner you get on board the better for your career," Morton says.
• IP telephony: packet vs. switched
• What are routers, switches, and firewalls?

Basic Access-List configuration for Cisco

To be able to read a Cisco IOS running configuration; not so you administer the router but just understand what it is or isn't doing for you.

Be familiar with guidance from the National Security Agency's Information Assurance for securing your network.

Morton recommends several books:
Cisco Networking Simplified
        A first-class introduction to networking
Cisco IOS Cookbook, Second Edition
        This book should be on every IT manager's desk. I use it to build some of the world's most complex networks. Why? It's easy to read, creates standards for the client, and covers almost everything I need.
JUNOS Cookbook and ScreenOS Cookbook

4. Know security best practices within your IT discipline

Given that businesses are moving or have moved aggressively toward relying on online digital resources to conduct their day-to-day operations, it is critical that those resources stay highly available and secure. Jamey Heary, CCIE, a security consulting systems engineer at Cisco, explains: "Without exception, the IT discipline that you choose will have security risks associated with it. To be successful at your discipline you must be aware of what those risks are and what the best practices are to lower those risks. You must understand the risk/benefit trade-offs as well so you can make the right business decisions and apply the proper amount of security controls. Too much security is just as bad as too little. With too much security it is likely that your users will view your IT services as unusable. With too little security you open yourself up to attack and risk great damage to the company, customers, and the brand name you work for. Security is a balancing act that you need to understand (at least at a high level) for your specific job role.

"For network security you can implement security controls like firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), etc. For Windows Server security, you can implement controls like strong passwords, expiring passwords, disk encryption, antivirus, etc. For e-mail security, you can implement antispam, antivirus, antimalware engines that scrub the mail before delivery. Every IT discipline will have its own set of security best practices that should be adopted to decrease your risk of being compromised by a hacker."