A lifetime career in Information Technology requires skills previous generations of IT executives ignored or scorned. (People skills? What are those?) The present day IT executive should be a master of the technology he manages plus the company lines it supports. What follows would be the eight essential skills, supplied by tech pros themselves, which executives must demonstrate to advance within an IT career.
Technical savvy– There’s no navigating around the fact IT means “information technology.” Your experience must show an established background of leveraging technology to boost performance, productivity and competitive edge. But technical savvy is nothing without …
Business acumen– Hiring managers are looking for those who can integrate understanding of technology with understanding of business. Technology no more just supports business – it drives it. The decisions made around technology, and the capability to identify new products and services which will take an organization to another| level, are among the most crucial made at virtually all organizations.
Communications skills –Perhaps you have seen the “Saturday Night Live” skit where Jimmy Fallon plays Nick Burns, an IT help desk employee who revels {in making end-users feel just like idiots? It’s satire, needless to say, but there’s always a kernel of truth to satire. It can’t hurt to make sure that you’re by no means falling in to the “IT guy” stereotype, especially when you are looking to move up in the industry. Ask trusted colleagues among your organization for feedback on your own communications skills, and take their constructive criticism to heart.
The capability to speak multiple languages – Along the exact same lines as No. 3, it’s very important to be fluent in the languages (and different dialects) of technology, business, your organization’s industry and end-user concerns.
Project management skills – Hiring managers desire to see that you’ve succeeded at project management. It’s not enough to learn your stuff; you need to know about everyone else’s stuff and have the ability to manage the different technologies, business applications, skills and personalities associated with a project.
Certifications – While certifications aren’t at the top of the lists of the experts who spoke with TheLadders, if you choose to list your certifications, you have to also have the ability to articulate how you’ve applied them. “I’m not really a fan of certifications on their own,” companies sometimes utilize them as a filter, but they put much more weight on experience. I’ve seen way too many certificate holders that couldn’t apply that knowledge.”
A curious mind – Hiring managers are looking for those who are always considering how things work and steps to make them better. “I discovered a few of the greatest individuals have the attribute of frequently saying, ‘I wonder why it did that?’ and then learning why.
Flexibility and foresight – The rate of technological change is staggering, and employers require IT pros who cannot just adapt to that particular change but to be out in front of it.