Study: You can lower the odds of being outsourced
Want job security? Learn business and management skills
March 30, 2006 (Computerworld) --
Which part of 22-year-old Rupak Shahs resume will most likely impress IT employers? Is it:
- A) His computer science degree from the prestigious University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign?
- B) The Chicago natives skills in languages such as Java and Perl and database programs such as SQL Server and MySQL?
- C) The e-commerce Web site he started last year, for which he negotiates prices for his products -- imported herbal supplements -- with overseas suppliers?
Shahs degree and technical skills might land him the interview. But his entrepreneurial skills and business savvy set him apart from the pack and bode best for his career, according to a new report released this week by the Society for Information Management (SIM).
Based on interviews with 96 SIM members, all of them IT managers at firms ranging from small companies to multinational enterprises, the study found that business skills accounted for five of the 10 attributes organizations want from their in-house staffers over the next three years. The other five most-requested skills by CIOs include a mix of project management and technical skills, though the latter are still client-facing.
This is a long-standing issue, said Kate Kaiser, an associate professor of IT at Marquette University in Milwaukee and the reports primary author. But its now more important than ever to have business skills. Companies are more aware than ever [about] what IT can do for them.
In contrast to the layoffs and hiring freezes that graduates faced at the start of the decade after the dot-com crash, the overall IT workforce is expected to remain stable until at least 2008, according to the report.
While some jobs, especially technical ones at larger organizations, continue to be outsourced, the IT jobs most likely to be retained and created in-house will emphasize business and management skills such as business process re-engineering or project planning, rather than purely technical skills, according to the report. That offers great opportunities to young IT workers with the right skills and mind-sets, said Kaiser. She pointed to two former students who were promoted from programming to project management jobs in just two years rather than the five or more years such a climb typically requires.
The time period one spends as a programmer is becoming compressed, she said.
The average age of CIOs I meet today is five years younger than it was a decade ago, said Stephen Pickett, president of SIM and the CIO of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based trucking company Penske Corp.
The trouble is that many young IT job seekers havent gotten the message. Many are less like Shah and more like Thomas Tanaka, a recent computer engineering graduate, also of the University of Illinois. Apart from some intro econ classes, the 26-year-old avoided taking business and management courses. My technical courses already took up most of my time, Tanaka said.
Continued...
1 |
2 |
NEXT

Users of Windows XP SP3 who try out IE8 Beta 2 won't be able to uninstall either one under certain circumstances.
Google has gone from innovative upstart to fat-and-happy industry leader in what seems like record time. Preston Gralla explains.
Microsoft's latest beta of IE8 includes better tab management, new services such as Web Slices and Accelerators, and the new 'porn mode.'
These leading-edge graduate schools are moving at the pace of the IT workplace, delivering coursework that's relevant to today's IT professionals.
Reviews, analyses, how-tos, visual tours, hot issues and predictions about Microsoft's new OS.
Four years from now, the IT field will be a vastly different place. Will you be ready?
|
 |
| Computerworld Technology Briefing: An open-source path to optimal virtualization Download this Technology Briefing now! (Source: Novell/IBM/Intel) Virtualization is about a lot more than just lowering total cost of ownership. In fact users that have taken an open source path to virtualization have realized the additional, mission-critical benefit of markedly reduced IT complexity, as well as a more flexible infrastructure that is easier to change to meet shifting, often unpredictable business requirements. Download this executive briefing |
|
| Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Long Tail Supplier Collaboration - What's In It For You? Download this webcast, free, compliments of Sterling Commerce Go to the webcast |
|
| Driving Business Success Through Workgroup Choice and Flexibility Download this white paper, free, compliments of Novell! (Source: Novell) The structure of your workgroup environment plays a vital role in enabling your knowledge workers to be productive and collaborate securely. And IT choice and flexibility can mean the difference between reactive spending and proactive investment. Boost your competitive advantage with a workgroup infrastructure that lets you deliver the tools and services that are right for you. Download this white paper to learn how Novell offers a variety of solutions that give you the flexibility to address critical business initiatives and workforce productivity. Download this white paper |
|
| White Papers Read up on the latest ideas and technologies from companies that sell hardware, software and services. | View more whitepapers |
|
|