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IT Careers in 2010 - Learn a business
feminazi writes "Business knowledge and domain specific skills are becoming more important to IT workers, according to Computerworld's special report on IT careers in 2010. The most sought-after corporate IT workers in 2010 may not have deep-seated technical skills at all. Traci A. Logan, vice president of information technology and vice provost for academic affairs at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. says, 'That [business skill set] is going to be more important than the straight technical skills they know, because you're going to see a closer marriage between the business and IT.'"
The businessmen with a technical background, thats who.
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Anyone who's worked with offshore resources knows this is exaclty true. A couple of years ago I was contracted at a large 401k company when they brought in massive amounts of Indian labor. They were bright, spoke English well, and did passable work...but they didn't know a thing about retirement accounts or any other American financial practices. I was far, far more valuable working with them as a business analyst then I was as a coder. Yeah, those of us Americans who are left in IT in 2010 are going to have to know the businesses very well.
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There was a time when IT was a part of R&D and it's gone. A natural cycle of every technology kicks in. During emerging stages a technology is a research. After a technology comes out of the woodwork and mass-adoption starts, a technology becomes a production.
There is no magic in computer development any more. Adoption and demand are so high, people literally code for food. Take a look at your ten year old coding his website and think how many people could do that fifteen years ago.
The fact that there are so many companies nowadays in 3rd world counties (no offence meant) who act as major players in outsourcing means we are far beyond research and development stage in IT.
We did not need business people to manage IT when it was R&D simply because any R&D requires tremendous dedication and you can't do both research and business.
A production can and has to be managed. Business skills mean more than research capabilities in production. Why approach the problem with your mind if you can approach it with your pocket book and do not pay an arm and a lag?
I'm not worried a single bit about IT researchers. They are very bright, hard working and will be able to adapt. One year in an MBA programs is all they need.
The person writing the article is clearly seeing this from a managerial point of view, and not as someone who actually understands the technical side of IT. What I read between the lines was that the expectation is that FTE's will be more business and vendor/project management oriented while the pure IT skills will be contractors or PS engagements with vendors.
As someone who's seen this first hand, I don't think the author has hit the mark at all. Instead of shifting high level responsibility on day to day IT folk, they would be better to invest in key architects and engineers who can bring all of the existing reponsibilities together. These positions require leadership and long term planning/project management. These types of folks will replace the VP of IT types that write these articles, not the specialized IT skillsets that we have today.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
You are exactly right, except I would say that
it is business that fails to see that the reason
for the IT department is to support the needs
of the business. My admittedly anecdotal view
is that most "business" types just expect IT
to keep the machines running, and dont come to
IT and say "we want to do 'X'" or "can we do
'Y' more efficiently", or "what can we do next
to improve how IT can support the business".
In fact, advice from IT seems to be rejected
with a "it will cost too much".
emt 377 emt 4
Ok, I'll bite.
I'll looking for a job right now. I've got a great skill set, and over 10 years experience. I'm a senior position on the staff, worked on many projects over $100,000. I have a technical background that includes Windows Desktop and Server, Routers (WAN and Layer 3), hardware including cabling, ability to interface with vendors and deal with complex issues and get them resolved in short order. I have primarily worked with the Operations department so I've got a good business background and understanding. Senior Managment has supported me (even over my direct Manager). I've had my resume reviewed by managers, and CEOs of small companies I know (outside of work) and they say it's good.
In 6 months I've had 2 phone interviews. The second of which was the closest, and two days later came the call.... "we found someone else". I've been applying to about 2-3 positions a week. The only thing I can figure is that I don't have a "Certification", although I've been previously certified in several diverse subjects.
If "Being Technical" and "Knowing Business" are the key then _where are the jobs_? Seems all the jobs and recruiters are looking for are temporary "consultants" to solve a "temporary" problem (or fit a round hole in a square peg).
I've never understood why business people, management, basically any non-technical position is considered the top part of the totem pole. Put 4 engineers together and they are going to make something really interesting that just may better this planet. Put 4 businessmen together and they'll probably come up with a new cover sheet for a 3 letter report.
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
I have a technical background that includes Windows Desktop and Server, Routers (WAN and Layer 3), hardware including cabling, ability to interface with vendors and deal with complex issues and get them resolved in short order.
." well, hell, everybody claims those sorts of abilities. I'd even throw in "ability to communicate effectively," too. Oh, and don't forget to put in, "works well in both group and independent situations as the need arises."
You and everybody else.
The first half of this sentence includes facts. The second half includes valuations. Pretty much any admin has experience with MS-Windows (desktop and server), and most have dealt with their share of routers and L3 switches. I'd wager most of those have also had to run their share of cable. Most of us know which end of the bit to use in a punch-down tool.
The rest of it, the ability to "deal with complex issues. .
A good resume hasn't worked well since the collapse a few years ago. Nowadays, you need a great resume. One printed on 60# bond paper using four-color dye-sublimation printing process. With MS Comic Sans, 16-point bold italic underline.
Senior Managment has supported me (even over my direct Manager).
Ah. So there's the problem. Nobody is going to hire a troublemaker, someone who will go over their head. You want to appear to be a team player, especially in your resume. You want to appear to be eager but seasoned, a team player that will sacrifice home and family for work. I mean, literally sacrifice. Some of those folks are devil worshipers, you know, and a little blood sacrifice goes a long way.
Anyway, tighten up that resume, friend. It's worth the US$20 to go to a professional resume-writer. Steal a sample resume while you are in their office, and use that instead of your own.
Good luck, Tiger. Now go out and knock 'em dead! That works well, too. If they don't hire you, I mean.
Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
I've worked for over 15 years in IT. I've seen in more and more cases that programmers are being put futher and further from the business side of anything. Most jobs I've worked introduced the concept of a busness analyst.
The problem with the business analysts I've encountered is that they know neither the business nor technical aspects of IT. They're hired because of people skills which doesn't help get the request from the customer to the programmer. Too often they lack even simple logic skills.
This puts the programmer in a position of knowing their system and being removed from the busniess.
Why would I want to spend time learning a business only to be placed in an area where that knowledge will likely go stale? If I were in the finance dept., why move to IT especially when it's viewed as a cost center in most companies and thus worthy of budget cuts and outsourcing.
I guess business people are tired of the responsibility of knowing their business and having to actually think through the business rules they want IT to implement.
I agree you with, and grandparent, except with one caveat; learning advertising helped me in my previous job of writing advertising delivery and reporting software. (No, it wasn't straight spamming, it was legit.)
I'm still left wondering if that was worth it because I feel so dirty to be able to make marketing employees and managers drool when I 'talk the talk'. Probably an easier croud to please than most, but I do agree with you; learning what customers were looking for when they ran campaigns and contracts with us was really valuable to my career when you're called to talk to the client on the phone to explain 'technical' things.
I'm working in the games industry now, and recently we had a client who was upset that our game didn't run on some integrated videocards they really wanted to support. One of the newer programmers in the room told the client, basically, that those videocards were shitty and underpowered. Which was true, but thats not what the client wants to hear. Thats the lesson you learn from 'knowing' the industry you work in; you don't talk to a client like you'd talk to your boss.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Hear Hear!
I'm the IT manager for a small advertising company. I was hired as the company was just starting, and built a small network of Macs and PCs. As I was being hired, we also got an outsourced IT company. I'm a person that tends to do things himself, and then ask for help only after I have given it my best shot... otherwise, how the fuck do I learn anything?
However, we are a company of managers, and I find that I get praised for doing a good job when I call the outsourced company to deal with an issue than if I did it myself. Their time is about 8 times as expensive as mine, and referring to them can cost a small fortune, but the Powers the Be are more happy to see me managing others than doing something myself...