IT Skills: The Year in Review
Posted January 15th, 2013
New year, new you – right? Well, before you go charging into 2013, consider the words of renowned philosopher Saint Augustine: “The higher your structure, the deeper must be its foundation.” Right now is the perfect time to reflect on the IT skills that were in demand in 2012, and see how you measured up in acquiring them. After all, before you build your career by focusing on the new skills forecasted to be hot in 2013, you want to be sure you’ve laid a strong-enough foundation to support your new growth. To see if you’re ready to move on, or whether you need to do some more foundation-building, check out the eight skills below – deemed most in-demand last year by IT executives in a Computerworld survey:
1) Programming and Application Development: With the explosion of the mobile and tablet markets, application development skills were key. Other areas covered include website development and working with internal systems.
2) Project Management: It’s no wonder IT employees who hold the coveted Project Management Professional (PMP) certification can command an extra $16,000 or more in salary. That’s because project management skills evolved beyond overseeing projects, extending to identifying user needs and helping IT staffers figure out how to meet them.
3) Help Desk/Tech Support: A rapid increase in Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) meant that many different systems must “play nicely” together. When they didn’t, someone needed to have the skills to resolve issues.
4) Networking: Cloud computing shifted the skills needed in this area. VMware and Citrix experience became essential in the increasingly virtual environment.
5) Business Intelligence: Big data drove the demand for professionals skilled not only in interpreting information, but using the insights gleaned from it to make smart business decisions.
6) Data Center: Before the analysts could use Big Data, someone had to develop and run the infrastructure for gathering and storing it.
7) Web 2.0: 2012’s surge in social media means that skills in .Net, Java, HTML, CSS and Flash were essential.
8) Security: Dramatic headlines revolving around the activities of hacking groups such as Anonymous mean that security skills became a top draw for worried management.
The good news is that you can help your career this year by brushing up on the hot skills from last year. That’s because nearly all of the skills listed here have once again made Computerworld’s 2013 “hot skills” hiring list. So even if you fell short on keeping up in 2012, resolve to make 2013 the year to acquire new talents!
To find a great IT job using these skills – or to find top-notch professionals who have them – turn to the technology staffing experts at Bayside Solutions. Contact us today to make 2013 your best year yet, whether you’re looking for a job, or job candidates!
