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Not Your Daddy's IT Force Anymore

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the relearning-the-new-skills dept.

Quill345 writes "The days of high-paying technology-based jobs right out of highschool are over. As writers for ACM report, the skill-sets required for jobs have grown over time. Academia has responded to the evolution with novel programs recruiting women and integrating IT into MBA programs. And as technology finds its way into every aspect of business life, the NSF is creating a grant program to fund service science, a blend of IT into other industries. Researchers at City University of NY are working on an NSF-funded project to infuse technology into Liberal Arts courses taken by students who are in primary tech-producer or tech-consumer majors. What are these crucial modern skills? Knowledge of laws like the DMCA? Interpersonal and group work skills? Experience with different technology platforms? The ability to discriminate between useful and useless information sources?"

5 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. I got a suggestion. by AltGrendel · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How about "Listening to the Engineers, they may actually know what they're talking about."

    That would be a great course to offer "potental" managers.

    --
    The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination

    - Douglas Adams

  2. Personel Skills by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While technical skills are important, the ability to work in groups, follow orders, and eventually lead groups are what will advance a career. Communications skills are a key component as well. Unless you want to stay a programmer / admin forever, and always be at risk for being replaced by a newer / cheaper model as your skills decay (or are perceived to no longer be up with the latest or simply too expensive); people skills are what will advance your career.

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
    1. Re:Personel Skills by bladesjester · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The life is over developer-wise at 30 mentality makes no sense to me. It's about that time that you *really* start to actually know what you're doing and stop making so many stupid mistakes.

      I just don't understand why so many places want to start back at square one every 9 years (if that long) and make themselves completely out of people that are fairly new to the game and make the same mistakes as the people who came in before them when they were their age. There really should be a mix of older and younger people on the team if you have much of a choice because there's a heck of a lot to be said about experience (and I don't just mean experience in a language, but rather in the industry as a whole - knowing what works, what doesn't, and how to get around it)

      --
      Everything I need to know I learned by killing smart people and eating their brains.
  3. Too mature of an indrustry. by jellomizer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The days of any hack with computer skills are welcomed to Fortune 500 is long gone, or at best is going away quite quickly.

    Companies don't want people who can get the work done, they want people who can get the work done professionally. Well Documented designed to work with their buisness needs, not change their buisness requirements to fit the computer. There are a lot of Highly skilled and well trained college educated Technical Professionals out there. There is little reason to really hire an out of Highschool Techy guy just because he know how to program the buzz words.

    A college degree at the very least shows a minum level of self control and professionalism. At least the person got up most every day to go to class and pass the exams. Vs. Out of High School who just went to school because they were required by law to go. Or a College drop out who just couldn't fit into an environment. Getting a Degree shows the company you are more then just what you want to do.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Too mature of an indrustry. by cavtroop · · Score: 5, Insightful
      A college degree at the very least shows a minum level of self control and professionalism. At least the person got up most every day to go to class and pass the exams. Vs. Out of High School who just went to school because they were required by law to go. Or a College drop out who just couldn't fit into an environment. Getting a Degree shows the company you are more then just what you want to do.

      I'm in a different boat - I have twelve years of sysadmin/networking/security experience, but I can't get large companies to bite as I don't have a degree. What I DO have is 8 years of military experience out of high school. By your logic, that should count, but according to the larger companies, it doesn't.

      If the military doesn't show 'a minimum of self control and professionalism' and required me to 'get up most every day to go', I don't know what does. :)