Some of the greatest opportunities imaginable for self-employment are dependent upon you being technically savvy. Before you let this overwhelm you, remember that you don’t have to be technically savvy in everything. If you’re older, you may still refer to people who work in technical fields as working in “computers”. In reality, the days when computers were a field of their own are long gone. Today, computers are used for just about everything and that means you can be very specialized and become technically savvy in a specific field rather than learning everything there is to know about computers.
An Example
Imagine that you wanted to get into day trading. For the purposes of example, we’ll assume that you have all of the knowledge of finances to work in this field already, so that really won’t be an issue for you. What you need to do is learn how to utilize day trading tools to buy and sell positions and you’ll need to learn how to choose the best day trading software for you. You’ll also need to learn a bit about computers, but only what really applies to what you intend to use them for.
First, you don’t need to learn to be a programmer or learn anything about computer languages. Day trading software is designed in a way that is very purpose specific. Because of this, you really only need to learn how to translate what you already know about finances into using a computer to accomplish whatever goals you have.
Your computer can be set up with whatever type of software you need. If you need commodity trading software, that can certainly be accommodated. If you need an online trading system that’s more oriented toward the stock market, which can be accommodated, as well. What’s important to realize is that the system you go with will be available for you and all you have to do is learn how to use it. You don’t have to learn how to take apart your computer, defrag your hard drive or do anything else along those lines, though you probably will want to learn how to do basic maintenance, eventually.
Get Help
Even if you have the best day trading software available installed on your computer, it’s not going to do you any good if you don’t know how to use it. There are plenty of resources you can use to learn how your existing knowledge of finance translates to the Information Age. From webinars to in person seminars to books and videos, you have any number of resources available to you. The thing to remember is not to get intimidated by day trading software. All it is doing is providing you with the same financial information you’ve been using for years in a constantly updated and very customizable form.
As you learn your day trading system, you’ll become more comfortable with your computer, in all likelihood. As far as your computer is concerned, make sure it has antivirus software installed on it, make sure you have a high-speed Internet connection and you’re pretty much good to go.
If you never really feel like you’re going to get comfortable handling your computer – even if you end up being very successful as a day trader – find a good tech in your area and have them come by to do maintenance on a monthly basis. That may seem like something of a high expense but, because you are using that computer for financial purposes, you want to make sure it’s always in tiptop condition.
As the last piece of advice, when you go out and buy that computer for day trading, think of it as a five-year investment. Computers don’t last forever, they do have issues from time to time but, provided you choose a good one, it will be more than reliable enough for you to run day trading software on it.
Adam Halperm offers tips and advice to help you learn day trading and day trading software.