“Versatilists” to replace technologists in IT job market by 2010
ComputerWorld predicts that it is important for technology workers to acquire skills that are not directly related to technology within the next 5 years. Due to the automation of most business processes, some 10% to 15% of technology workers will leave IT companies because there is nothing much else to do and work has become uninteresting. In this, IT analysts predict that the best jobs by 2010 will involve business interfacing, such as those catering to process and relationships.
Big IT companies will grow bigger through mergers, but the initial hurdle will only involve combination of technologies and processes. The trickier part will be that which involves merging of cultures;b this is where project managers and system-wide “business interfacing” leaders will play major roles. Also due to lower costs of outsourcing basic business processes, workers in more advanced economies will lose their coding, programming and testing jobs to emerging job markets.
“The more that [a task] can get codified or changed into explicit instructions or documentation, the more likely it can get transferred. The more likely it can be transferred, the more likely someone will come along and will develop tools to reduce even further the number of people required to do the job,” said Dianne Morello, a Gartner analyst.
IT workers must start learning the ins and outs of customer service through user-centric development. More than simply building things, developers should start focusing their energies on building technologies that will be easy for customers to use. Moreover, IT workers, specifically, developers and coders, are encouraged to learn from colleagues whose jobs involve customer service or communications with customers. It would still be better if developers themselves touch base with customers and end-users.
In a nutshell, versatility will dictate the success for both technology workers and IT companies.
