The needed skills
According to an industry study, the current shortage of Information Technology (IT) workers may continue until 2025 as the demand for IT workers remain very high but supply is still low. The top demand is in computer programming as the number of graduates with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering and Information System Management is not increasing as fast as expected. Although overall demand remains high but there are certain skills that have a strongest demand such as Database Administrator, Computing security, Cloud computing supports, and Big data analytics. The study stated that overall job prospects for IT professionals are excellent in the next 10 years with 72% of companies expecting to hire more IT workers.
However technology skills are not the only thing that companies need, to ensure new workers will be effective, more companies also look at their soft-skills such as the ability to work in team and their communication skill, especially with business people. A manager explains: “I want our business people to understand how IT can help them be more efficient and get their job done, and that can happen only when IT workers can clearly explain how IT can be put to good use. You can implement the best IT systems in the world, but if business people do not understand what to do with them, they are useless. The most important skill is the ability to explain in common language used in business domains, such as marketing, sales and finance, and NOT use IT technical languages that business people do not understand and that is why graduates in Information System Management are more valuable than Computer Science because they have the knowledge of business in addition to technical skills.”
Today technical skills are NOT enough for career advancing as most companies are looking for people with different mix of skills and experience to promote into management or higher positions. Therefore technical students need to complement their technical skills with certain “soft skills” for potential advancement. Following are some important soft-skills that they need to develop:
- Communication skills: Ability to speak clearly as well as listening carefully. You may also need to learn at least one foreign language such as English.
- Teamwork skills: Ability to work well in teams. Be able to share information, be cooperative and take a leadership role when appropriate.
- Time Management skills: Ability to prioritize tasks and use the time on the job wisely to get things done.
- Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to solve problems when they arise, take responsibility to solve them accordingly and do not leave them for someone else.
- Open Mind skills: Ability to accept and learn from criticism and continue to grow as a professional
- Self-Confidence skills: Ability to have courage to do the job with a sense of calm and inspire confidence in others. Ability to work well under pressure.
- Adaptability skills: Ability to adapt to new situation and challenges, willing to accept changes and open to new ideas.
- Lifelong learning skills: Ability to continue to learn new things and read more and have overall knowledge of market trends.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
