Every week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on lessons learned from working in IT, big data, and more. I hope you find them useful:

What we mean when we talk about cloud computing
The term “cloud computing” might just be one of the most overused buzzwords in recent history, but…do you really know what it means? This article gives a great overview of cloud computing, and even explains important terminology related to the cloud.

10 things I’ve learned from working in IT
If you work in IT, what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned? While the author of this article shares some good lessons, I’d like to add one more: If you work in IT, there will never be enough time/resources to complete every project you want to tackle. Here’s the most important point: Rather than use that as an excuse, the successful IT departments find ways (and tools) to become more productive with their current staff.

How big data became so big
Companies these days must figure out how to handle ever-increasing amounts of data. How did it get to this point? Why is there so much data? This article attempts to answer those questions.

5 lessons for using dashboard colors appropriately
While you may focus heavily on the data displayed on a business dashboard, have you ever stopped to consider how your choice of color affects its usefulness? This article explains why color is important and how you can use it to maximize your dashboard’s effectiveness.