As the IT industry has evolved, so has the demands for technical resources. In other words, technical personnel need to possess more than just “hard skills,” (specific core competencies). A marriage of “hard skills,” and “soft skills” (people skills) will continue to increase in demand.
Generally speaking, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, an IT organization was a large entity that resided centrally within an organization. However, as technology and business transformations began to occur, IT sectors became smaller, more nimble and further involved in the business processes.
As these progressions continued to widen, so did the necessity for technical workers to mirror these transformations. In other words, “hard skills,” became just one part of the equation; an increased need for customer-interfacing skills, enhanced business acumen and an ability to translate complex technical requirements to non-technical users and customers have become a significant value proposition for the new breed of technical workforce.
Is there an understanding and sensitivity of the business impacts, to technological integrations or upgrades?
Can you have a complex technical discussion with a CIO, then pivot and translate those same objectives to someone who understands very little about technology, and the business impacts (or value propositions) of that technology?
The demands and expectations of a technical workforce to possess rich soft skills/people skills will continue to soar. Continue to expand your core proficiencies, but also develop your business knowledge, people skills and patience for those who may not share the same understanding or perspectives about the impacts of technology on an enterprise.
~ Don W. Gee
I couldn’t agree more, Don. I think the general public’s understanding of IT has increased over the years (“the internet is a series of tubes.” Remember that?), and that facilitates communication to some degree. Still, is is incumbent upon the IT profession to be able to, as you say, pivot and translate to a non-IT audience. Certainly not the other way around, as has been the norm in the past and in many business environments.
Love the blog. I’ll be back.