With so many tech concerns heading off to sunnier, low-labour-cost economies, times have probably never been tougher for the home grown IT professional. But it’s not all doom and gloom. With technology’s position at the very heart of business more secure than ever it is still possible to establish yourself as the “go to” guy. Be warned; the encyclopaedic knowledge of UNIX, the in-joke t-shirt and the computer science degree may no longer be enough to even get your foot in the door
1. Talk the Talk
French, German and Spanish are still popular and widely sought after languages, but if you happen to have a smattering of Mandarin, a touch of Portuguese or a dash of Russian, your cachet will be much higher.
The BRICs (Brazil, Russian, India and China) are growing faster than Western Europe or North America combined, and the role of international IT systems is rapidly increasing. Although English is still the most widely used business and IT-related language, having a rapport with developers, suppliers and partners on a basic linguistic level could separate you from the pack.
2. Get Connected
While social networking is still sniffed at in some quarters, surely 500 million users can’t be wrong. Neither are they all angst-ridden teenagers. Resources like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are increasingly useful and mainstream tools for leveraging business and social relationships and helping to create and grow brand “you”. Other more specialist utilities are emerging all the time. IT-focused Spiceworks, for example: A free systems management community that helps members solve problems and gauge particular market mindsets through tools such as crowd-sourcing.
3. Nasa Pen or Pravda Pencil?
The modern fable of NASA spending $millions designing a pen that would work in space while the Russian Space Agency just used a pencil, remains a splendid example of lateral thinking. Many businesses place increasing value on the IT professional able tackle problems more than one way via a range of possible solutions.
Understanding how to conduct a proper CBA (Cost-Benefit Analysis) of a technology can be as critical as a thorough knowledge of the technology itself for instance. Signing your organisation up for that $million pencil could mean consigning your career to the doldrums.
4. A picture is worth
... a thousand words. It’s also invaluable in helping manage another key requirement for tomorrow’s IT professional – the ability to clearly communicate a technology’s business benefits to a non-tech
audience. Whether securing budget or convincing rebellious end users to get on board with a major project, blinding ‘em with science is no longer an option and banging on about “throughput” or “mean time before failure” won’t cut much ice.
Even a basic proficiency in simple visual tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Visio, on the other hand, can move mountains. The web is crammed with (often free) images, graphics and video with which, providing you don’t pass them off as your own, you can make the mundane much more palatable.
5. Jack of all trades or master of none?
Ask Gates, Ellison, or MacNealy, say, which antivirus software you should opt for, and the result is likely to be a blank stare and a swift exit from the premises under the close supervision of burly security bloke. All three are highly technical business people, but they don’t know everything about IT and they aren’t expected to.
Neither is tomorrow’s IT professional. It’s important to keep tabs on emerging trends of course, but try not to bluff. Sometimes it’s OK to admit you don’t know something that’s outside your area of expertise. Instead it’s a good idea to build a close network of trusted advisors to whom you can turn for advice and guidance.
6. Letter of the Law
The growth of outsourcing, managed services, and web application means that – IT Crowd stereotypes notwithstanding – a knowledge of contracts and agreements can be worth as much as knowing your way around Microsoft’s latest OS or the dark arts of IBM mainframe maintenance. The SLA (Service Level Agreement) and reporting cycle is essential for successful IT delivery and being able to contribute to the creation and distraction of an SLA is a valued skill.
7. Visionary Vs. Revolutionary
Given that successful IT can, almost overnight, change a business’s prospects for growth and profitability, a good understanding of ‘the bigger picture’; of how your partners and rivals are leveraging their IT infrastructures, can be a powerful ally.
Also vital is the, often subtle, distinction that what works for one business might not necessarily work for another. Technology that might be revolutionary in a distribution context, for example, might prove devolutionary in a financial services setting. The successful IT strategy – and therefore the successful IT professional – is increasingly about the fine balance between what does and doesn’t work versus the risk an organisation is willing to take.
8. Information Overload?
As Microsoft’s Bing “Decision Engine” campaign so irritatingly suggests, it’s all too easy to get bogged down by information overload these days and, with our ever more wanton desire for the latest, greatest devices and comms technologies, IT professionals are more susceptible than most. Managing the mobility mishmash is fast becoming a key skill on both a business and personal level. The ability to design policies and schemas that allow organisations to harness the power of mobility is already a big bargaining chip. Be your own guinea pig and look to replicate successful ploys in your professional role.
9. The Right Candidate for Tomorrow’s Job
Remember, recruitment can be as much a minefield for employer as employee. Track record, academic achievement, reputation, current company kudos and other “traditional” metrics are still important, but so is the direction in which a prospective employer may be looking to take its IT strategy. For instance, if they’re thinking of outsourcing a large chunk of their IT, or having it delivered via third party clouds, someone with skilled process management experience will likely tick more boxes than a roll-up-the-sleeves coalface worker. Good communicators and mediators are also in increasing demand. Thinking two years ahead makes a lot of sense.
10. Crazily Qualified?
You don’t have to be certified to work in IT, but it still helps. Despite the ramping demand for wider business and soft skills, there’s still a strong requirement for certain, let’s face it, bits of paper. For example, while they certainly carry less kudos than they perhaps once did, the likes of Cisco’s Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Microsoft’s Certified System Engineer (MCSE) certifications still carry some weight, demonstrate a level of aptitude that a straight degree does not confer, and remain relatively easy to pick up.
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