10 IT skills employers need today

By: Nelly Yusupova
Posted: April 21, 2008
Topics: Education, Career, Business, Technology
Tags: career skills, career trends

		As a technology professional, I have to constantly learn new skills and keep up with technology trends to ensure that my technical expertise is up to date. According to NetworkWorld, “technology pros looking to find new work or secure their current jobs should get schooled on wireless, Web 2.0 and virtualization while also boning up on business basics” “IT professionals with the right technical skill set plus a foundational understanding of the business they work in will stand a much better chance in today’s market”. Below is a summary of all of the technology trends mentioned in the article and the required skill set for that trend. Wireless Because end users expect to be able to work from anywhere anytime, skills in wireless and mobility are being pushed to the top of many hiring managers’ must-have lists. Skills: 802.11 WiMAX Broadband Knowing devices end users might start using to tap the network

Virtualization

Virtualization technology is the main component behind data center consolidation and disaster recovery initiatives.

Skills:

• Storage
• Network
• Desktop virtualization

Security

A CompTIA skills survey released in February had security listed as the No. 1 skill among three-quarters of the 3,578 IT hiring managers polled.

Skills:

• Incorporating security savvy into network, wireless, application, operating system and other IT areas

Networking

Networking expertise, which fell out of favor after the dot-com bust, is now back in demand and second only to security in terms of needed skills among the IT managers surveyed by CompTIA.

Skills:

• Design and manage large-scale networking environments to support the growth of online transactions
• Experience with wide-area networking, particularly as it applies to traditional carrier networking technologies such as T-1, frame relay, ISDN and multiplexing
• Basic business analysis skills with an understanding of financial management
• Experience installing networks, including everything from assembling racks to installing fiber panels, cross connect fields, cable management, and various network chassis and equipment.
• Proficiency in cable and fiber termination and splicing as well as experience installing and configuring edge switches.
• Practical VoIP and IPv6 experience

Application delivery

Often as networks become more complex and sophisticated, they also get distributed over various remote locations and branch offices which is driving the need for expertise in the area of application delivery.

Skills:

• Cross storage, security, network and application development disciplines.
• Knowledge of application optimization techniques such as protocol offload, caching, application firewalls and others

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 technologies require updated application development skills because they provide a more interactive experience, which could cause bandwidth or performance issues if not executed properly.

Skills:

• AJAX
• .Net
• XML

IT business analysis

Being able to gauge the business relevance of technology decisions is critical for all high-tech hires, industry watchers and IT managers agree.

Skills:

• Managing IT with finance in mind
• IT managers need to be able to help align with the business, manage the financial portfolio and articulate the benefits in a language that the business can understand.

Database management

Robert Half Technology found database management to be considered an in-demand skill among 66% of 1,400 CIOs it polled. “It is cheaper now to store data so more companies are keeping more data on large-scale disk drives, because in the online world content is king”.

Skills:

• SQL
• MySQL
• Oracle

Business intelligence/data mining

“Customers have spent so much money on gathering their data and putting it in data warehouses that they are now looking for ways to generate revenue from the data or from the knowledge contained within it.”

Skills:

• Analyze the data stored
• Apply analysis in a way that is suitable to the business

The X factor

The trend is for IT professionals to emerge from being specialists in one technology area to being team members with broad knowledge of the environment. As networks and systems grow more sophisticated and intertwined with each other and the business, IT staff is expected to be well-versed in many areas and able to apply that know-how to the business at hand.

Skills:

• Understand how multiple systems interoperate, and when troubleshooting, have the ability to associate symptoms that surface in other areas back to the source.”