Peter Saflund, a technology workforce researcher and a special advisor to the Na
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Peter Saflund, a technology workforce researcher and a special advisor to the National Skills Standards Board (NSSB) on Information Technology, was the keynote speaker at the 2007 "Think Forward" conference in Las Vegas. In his address, Saflund warned educators that today's college graduates will switch jobs nine times befoer the age of 40. Thus, IT project, security, and database management skills that transfer from one industry to the another may be more marketable than easily outsources programming skills. In addition, Saflund points to the necessity of honing in on skills outside of IT. Many colleges and universities have already reacted by offering students certificate programs that encompass IT management generalist skills, as students pursue a mastery of another discipline in their academic major. With rapid advances in technology enabling managers to implement smart changes, Saflund warns that technology education at the post secondary level is still a priority.
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Computerworld's survey uncovered these 11 must-have skills. 1. Programming and Application Development About 47% of the survey respondents who said they plan to hire IT professionals in the next year will be looking for people with programming or application development skills. Moreover, Monster.com reports that three quarters of 245 HR managers and recruiters it surveyed in May plan to hire IT staffers with applications expertise by the end of this year. "Those skills are separate from enterprise business applications," says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer at Foote Partners LLC in Vero Beach, Fla. In this volatile market, companies need to quickly reposition, as well as use IT to grow the business through new products and innovation. So "RAD, rapid programming and agile programming seem to be coming back. Companies are starting to increase some of their pay [in these areas], which means they're looking for more capabilities in their companies," he says. 2. Project Management Kathleen Kay has put project managers at the top of her 2011 hiring list at Comerica Bank. With some 140 IT projects on the schedule, she will need people to oversee Web and mobile initiatives, a treasury management product rollout and a legacy applications refresh, among other efforts. The Dallas-based bank will fill those needs by hiring new people and retraining existing employees. " We are very passionate about investing in our people and making sure they stay up to speed on skills with emerging technologies," says Kay, senior vice president of business technology services. People with project management skills will be sought by 43% of Computerworld's survey respondents who plan to make new hires, and by more than half of those polled by Monster.com. 3. Help Desk/Technical Support Only 20% of Microsoft customers had converted to Windows 7 as of July 2010, according to Microsoft. "That leaves 80%. They have to move over. It's not a matter of choice," Willmer says. That may be one reason why help desk and technical support skills will be high-priority in 2011 for 42% of survey-takers who are hiring. What's more, major conversions like those in the health care arena, driven by the EHR mandate, require a lot of help desk support for users. "These aren't just people doing password resets. They're probably technically savvy as well as having that health care background," Willmer adds. 4. Networking Networking skills are in demand among 38% of Computerworld survey respondents who said they're hiring. And those jobs were identified as the most challenging to fill in a Robert Half Technology survey of 1,400 CIOs. "Networking is closely tied to virtualization," says Willmer. "Finding somebody with that virtualization experience and the ability to convert nonvirtual environments into virtual environments probably is the biggest reason" some networking skills are hard to find. 5. Security "Security is the only area of certified IT skills that has never had a negative quarter throughout this entire recession," Foote says. "We've never had a three-month period with a loss or decline in premiums for these people." Demand is being driven by regulatory compliance needs and by customer demand for tools with built-in security features. Valuable security skills include expertise in identity and access management, threat and vulnerability assessment, encryption, data loss prevention, incident analysis, governance, compliance and auditing, biometrics, Web content filtering, safeguards for voice-over-IP systems and e-discovery support for litigation. 6. Data Center Of the Computerworld survey respondents who will be hiring in the next year, some 21% said that data center skills, including storage experience, will be in top demand. "Storage is becoming more important as we go to network-attached storage [and storage-area networks]," says Suzanne Gordon, CIO at SAS Institute Inc. in Cary, N.C. Finding people with expertise in particular storage areas is important, she says, "but they should also be able to step back and look at it strategically: Are we putting the right things in the right places, and spending the right amount of money for safety and backup of the different types of data?" IT embraces its new leaner lifestyle Cloud computing promises savings, delivers speed Help desks prep for consumer device blitz 11 hot skills for 2011 Opinion: Your marching orders for the next decade 7. Web 2.0 IT workers with next-generation Web skills will also be sought-after in 2011, according to 17% of Computerworld's respondents who plan to add new staffers in the next year. Hot Web 2.0 skills include expertise in Adobe Flex, JavaScript, Adobe Flash, AJAX and JavaScript Object Notation. In the financial services industry, for example, "Web and mobile products are huge," says Comerica's Kay. "We have several projects ongoing that are geared around proving further Web and mobile functionality." 8. Telecommunications At Palmetto Health in Columbia, S.C., Michelle Edwards wants to hire staff with skills in unified communications. The health care provider is seeking people who can design an infrastructure and integrate various communications tools, including instant messaging, IP phones and remote access. "In a hospital, you have urgent needs for patient care, on-call needs and remote needs. We want to make sure we understand all those needs," as well as the security issues around those communications devices, says Edwards, senior vice president and CIO. Some 16% of Computerworld's survey-takers who plan to hire will be looking for telecommunications skills into 2011. 9. Business Intelligence As data proliferates and IT departments look for ways to contribute to the company's profitability, business intelligence skills will be highly sought-after in 2011, according to 13% of survey respondents. Palmetto Health is using an EHR system and staffers have been "very good about putting information in, but we haven't done as well taking that data and making it usable," Edwards says. "We're being forced to do a better job with presenting the information that we're capturing" and sharing it through statewide health information exchange networks, she adds. 10. Collaboration Architecture Collaboration architecture expertise is high on Campbell Soup Co.'s list of hot skills, says Donna Braunschweig, senior director of IT, enterprise portfolio and strategy. The company constantly looks at "how we can help the end-user experience be better by understanding how things like portals, Web and audio can integrate, and what does that need to look like to be able to have better collaboration across the company?" she says. While most of Campbell's collaboration tools are hosted offerings from service providers, Braunschweig says she still needs employees who can manage those vendors and understand the technology. 11. Business Acumen and Communication Skills You won't find this in any IT job titles, but most companies in 2011 will seek IT employees who understand the business and can communicate technical concepts to business units and customers. Campbell requires IT employees to have four types of competencies: business and financial acumen, functional depth, leadership skills and a global mind-set. "Sometimes people think of IT as just technical skills, and it's not," Braunschweig says. At HealthAlliance, Thompson recruits IT staffers who can communicate well both orally and in writing. "I also want to have a reference of someone who knows how you speak about IT issues to people who are not computer-savvy," she adds. Overall, the outlook for 2011 remains volatile, and IT groups will need workers whose skills can help them adapt to rapidly changing market conditions. But as IT units move from a support role to a profitability model, "now they are able to move more quickly," Foote says. "I don't think the [IT] world is ever going to return to what it was in 2008, but it's a very positive thing." The most sought-after corporate IT workers in 2010 may be those with no deep-seated technical skills at all. The nuts-and-bolts programming and easy-to-document support jobs will have all gone to third-party providers in the U.S. or abroad. Instead, IT departments will be populated with "versatilists" -- those with a technology background who also know the business sector inside and out, can architect and carry out IT plans that will add business value, and can cultivate relationships both inside and outside the company. That's the general consensus of three research groups that have studied the IT workforce landscape for 2010 -- the year that marks the culmination of the decade of the versatile workforce. What's driving these changes? Several culprits include changes in consumer behavior, an increase in corporate mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, the proliferation of mobile devices and growth in stored data. What's more, the skills required to land these future technical roles will be honed outside of IT. Some of these skills will come from artistic talents, math excellence or even a knack for public speaking -- producing a combination of skills not commonly seen in the IT realm. On the edges of this new world, expertise in areas such as financial engineering, technology and mathematics will come together to form the next round of imaginative tools and technologies. Google Inc., eBay Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are already hiring math, financial analysis, engineering and technology gurus who will devise imaginative algorithms to fulfill users' online needs. And the National Academy of Sciences has identified a budding area of expertise that combines technology capabilities with artistic and creative skills, such as those found in computer gaming. Closer to home, "the most effective workforce will be outward-focused, business-driven competency centers," says Diane Morello, an analyst at Gartner Inc. and author of the report "IT Professional Outlook." "They might be competency centers formed around mergers and acquisitions," she explains. "People in IT might be involved in information integration and systems integration, customer service or some really smart ways where companies can leverage scarce and high-value talent that tend to get dismantled at the end of every project. People will be geographically distributed -- so [they'd] better be adaptable and [able to] work with people on teams that [they] don't know." Project management and application development skills -- "whether for service providers, software developers or IT organizations -- are characteristics that will be absolute" in 2010, Morello adds. Also, projects will be multisourced. "You'll be working with people from different types of channels," Morello says. "That will raise opportunities in relationships and sourcing management" and require IT workers to think about process design and management. By 2010, six out of 10 people affiliated with IT will assume business-facing roles, according to Gartner. What's more, IT organizations in midsize and large companies will be at least 30% smaller than they were in 2005. Gartner also predicts that by 2010, 10% to 15% of IT professionals will leave their IT occupations as a result of the automation of tasks or because of a lack of interest in the sector. "For my money, the hot jobs in 2010 will be these enabler jobs: business enterprise architects, business technologists, systems analysts and project managers," says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of Foote Partners LLC, an IT management consultancy and workforce research firm in New Caanan, Conn. "If I were in IT, I would be in one of these jobs in the next five years. A lot of people can't because they're pure technologists. But there are some pretty safe bets for them both inside and outside of the service industry.""There is much more emphasis on the business domain and on project management skills than on the technical skills," says Kate Kaiser, an associate professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee. In September 2005, Kaiser led a Society for Information Management (SIM) study of 104 CIOs to determine their skills needs through 2008. She expects the top 10 skills identified to remain in the top 12 by 2010. "It's not that you don't need technical skills, but there's much more of a need for the business skills, the more rounded skills," she notes. IT professionals who will survive and perhaps thrive in 2010 will expand their knowledge base and stretch beyond their comfort zones. Those who don't will find job opportunities in niche areas. With that in mind, Morello, Foote and Kaiser offer some advice. Home>> Articles>> >> Hot Skills, Cold Skills The IT worker of 2010 won't be a technology guru but rather a 'versatilist.' July 17, 2006 (Computerworld) -- The most sought-after corporate IT workers in 2010 may be those with no deep-seated technical skills at all. The nuts-and-bolts programming and easy-to-document support jobs will have all gone to third-party providers in the U.S. or abroad. Instead, IT departments will be populated with "versatilists" -- those with a technology background who also know the business sector inside and out, can architect and carry out IT plans that will add business value, and can cultivate relationships both inside and outside the company. That's the general consensus of three research groups that have studied the IT workforce landscape for 2010 -- the year that marks the culmination of the decade of the versatile workforce. What's driving these changes? Several culprits include changes in consumer behavior, an increase in corporate mergers and acquisitions, outsourcing, the proliferation of mobile devices and growth in stored data. What's more, the skills required to land these future technical roles will be honed outside of IT. Some of these skills will come from artistic talents, math excellence or even a knack for public speaking -- producing a combination of skills not commonly seen in the IT realm. On the edges of this new world, expertise in areas such as financial engineering, technology and mathematics will come together to form the next round of imaginative tools and technologies. Google Inc., eBay Inc. and Yahoo Inc. are already hiring math, financial analysis, engineering and technology gurus who will devise imaginative algorithms to fulfill users' online needs. And the National Academy of Sciences has identified a budding area of expertise that combines technology capabilities with artistic and creative skills, such as those found in computer gaming. Closer to home, "the most effective workforce will be outward-focused, business-driven competency centers," says Diane Morello, an analyst at Gartner Inc. and author of the report "IT Professional Outlook." "They might be competency centers formed around mergers and acquisitions," she explains. "People in IT might be involved in information integration and systems integration, customer service or some really smart ways where companies can leverage scarce and high-value talent that tend to get dismantled at the end of every project. People will be geographically distributed -- so [they'd] better be adaptable and [able to] work with people on teams that [they] don't know." Project management and application development skills -- "whether for service providers, software developers or IT organizations -- are characteristics that will be absolute" in 2010, Morello adds. Also, projects will be multisourced. "You'll be working with people from different types of channels," Morello says. "That will raise opportunities in relationships and sourcing management" and require IT workers to think about process design and management. By 2010, six out of 10 people affiliated with IT will assume business-facing roles, according to Gartner. What's more, IT organizations in midsize and large companies will be at least 30% smaller than they were in 2005. Gartner also predicts that by 2010, 10% to 15% of IT professionals will leave their IT occupations as a result of the automation of tasks or because of a lack of interest in the sector. "For my money, the hot jobs in 2010 will be these enabler jobs: business enterprise architects, business technologists, systems analysts and project managers," says David Foote, CEO and chief research officer of Foote Partners LLC, an IT management consultancy and workforce research firm in New Caanan, Conn. "If I were in IT, I would be in one of these jobs in the next five years. A lot of people can't because they're pure technologists. But there are some pretty safe bets for them both inside and outside of the service industry.""There is much more emphasis on the business domain and on project management skills than on the technical skills," says Kate Kaiser, an associate professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee. In September 2005, Kaiser led a Society for Information Management (SIM) study of 104 CIOs to determine their skills needs through 2008. She expects the top 10 skills identified to remain in the top 12 by 2010. "It's not that you don't need technical skills, but there's much more of a need for the business skills, the more rounded skills," she notes. IT professionals who will survive and perhaps thrive in 2010 will expand their knowledge base and stretch beyond their comfort zones. Those who don't will find job opportunities in niche areas. With that in mind, Morello, Foote and Kaiser offer some advice. Business Domain HOT Enterprise architecture Project leadership Business process re-engineering Project planning, budgeting and scheduling Third-party provider managers Big corporations are getting even bigger through mergers and acquisitions. But merging two companies requires more than just technical and systems integration. While many enterprises have shown that they can successfully integrate systems, "they're lousy at integrating cultures," Foote says. Enterprise architects in the areas of technology, security and data will play key roles in 2010. Companies like Microsoft Corp. and IBM already know the gargantuan architecture tasks awaiting them in 2010 and are hiring expert- and guru-level enterprise architects. "They're saying, 'There's a level of architecture that if we don't have it, we're [sunk],'" Foote adds. Gartner asked hundreds of CIOs and symposium attendees which domains they believe will experience the greatest growth and decline between now and 2010. "Unanimously, the areas of greatest growth were in both process and relationships," Morello says. Outsourcing plays an important role in the growth of skills in the business domain. If companies rely on third-party providers, they must invest in staffers who can manage those relationships. Technology Infrastructure and Services HOT Systems analysis Systems design Network design Systems auditing COLD Programming Routine coding Systems testing Support and help desk Operations -- server hosting, telecommunications, operating systems According to respondents to the Gartner survey, the skills that will have the steepest decline in 2010 will be in technology infrastructure and service jobs -- such as programming and operations work. Those roles will go overseas or more likely be automated. "The more that [a task] can get codified or changed into explicit instructions or documentation, the more likely it can get transferred. The more likely it can be transferred, the more likely someone will come along and will develop tools to reduce even further the number of people required to do the job," Morello says. Kaiser says that in the SIM study, keeping systems design and analysis skills in-house in the next five years were considered critical, yet those tasks are frequently outsourced. The reason respondents gave for outsourcing these skills included meeting project needs and enabling flexible staffing. Systems auditors will grow in importance because "compliance isn't going away -- it's getting more intense," Foote says. Security HOT IT security planning and management COLD Continuity and recovery As news of data security breaches at high-profile companies keeps coming, so too does the need for security planning and management skills. IT security is one of the top 10 skills that will become "newly important" to companies in the next five years, according to Kaiser. Companies employ 1.4 million IT security professionals worldwide, according to a January study by IDC on security workforce trends. By 2010, that number will reach 2 million, an increase of almost 30%, the researcher said. U.S. companies will also increase spending on information security training by 16.4% annually through 2009. Meanwhile, skills associated with data continuity and recovery will be relegated to third-party providers.
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