I got my new eWeek in the mail today and was quite intrigued by the cover story so I picked it up and read it right away. It was entitled ‘The Designer IT Guy‘. eWeek interviewed CIO’s from all over the country looking for what they thought of to be the next generation of IT worker.
“Why the confusion? Technology and business are changing as they grapple with outsourcing and lick their wounds from the tech boom. IT jobs can easily be outsourced. The truth is that IT is just not valued that highly by the people in charge—rather, it’s still being viewed as a cost center by many companies that focus more on business.With all this structural change, the vision of what an IT professional is supposed to be should be following suit. “The old model of IT doesn’t work anymore,” said Steve Novak, CIO at Kirkland & Ellis, a Chicago-based law firm.
While that model is still being sorted out, Novak, along with other CIOs interviewed by eWEEK, is on the lookout for the holy grail—a designer IT person who can adapt and thrive in changing environments and still remain valuable. Meanwhile, it’s in the best interest of the IT worker to embody those traits that will woo the likes of Novak.”
Building the Perfect IT Person
In a nutshell, Deborah Rothberg finds five traits that CIO’s are looking for these days:
- Personality – interactive discussion, likeability, communication
- Experience – certifications don’t matter as much as they used to
- Global Perspective – how can you help your company in a global marketplace?
- Business Knowledge – it takes more than technical know-how these days
- Adaptation – can you be agile in an adaptive landscape?
I completely agree with her. But I still think these are essentially managerial qualities that potential IT managers must embrace. If you are the most amazing programmer in your area and you don’t like to communicate with the marketing team it does not matter if you get the job done.
On the other hand in an ever changing landscape of IT where outsourcing is a common fear all IT people should strive to achieve the above traits because they will ensure your survival. After all in business it is survival of the fittest. And there could be a time shortly where your programming skills do not matter because two people overseas can do the same job cheaper.
I’m glad I went to business school. Business knowledge and communication skills are essential in today’s market place. But you know that…
technorati tags:business, eweek, IT, globalization, outsourcing, technology
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