Most sought-after IT skills for 2012

With information technology being an essential part of any business, there are a number of skills that companies will be looking out for in 2012. Computerworld conducted an IT survey, and asked 353 IT executives in the United States to list the skills that will be most sough-after in 2012.

IT managers want new recruits to have an understanding of basic business functions (image: stock.xchng)

The results indicated that software developers, project managers and networking specialists will be among the skills in demand.

The sought-after skills for 2012 from Computerworld’s survey:

Programming and Application Development – 61% of IT executives indicated that they plan to hire programming and app developers in the next twelve months.

Project Management – There is a need for project managers who oversee and monitor projects, with the added skill of identifying users’ needs and translating them for the IT staffers – the increasingly popular business analysts.

Help Desk/Technical Support – According to the survey, mobile operating systems (hence Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Symbian, etc.) have added a new dimension to help desk and tech support.

Networking – Networking specialists with skills in virtualization and cloud computing projects are in high demand. VMware and Citrix experience will be particularly valuable.

Business Intelligence – Computerworld interprets this uptick to a focus shift in many companies, from cost savings to investing in technology. That will be nice if it pans out that way.

Data Center – Virtualization and cloud computing is driving the need for IT professionals with backgrounds in data centre operations and systems integration.

Web 2.0 – Technical social media skills will be in demand, with .Net, AJAX and PHP as key back-end skills, with HTML, XML, CSS, Flash and Javascript on the front end.

Security – Security remains a big concern to IT executives, and security experts remain in high demand.

Telecommunications – IP telephony skills are growing in popularity, specifically professionals with Cisco IPCC call centre system experience.

On the other side of the spectrum, IT managers where ask “what skills they wish their newest hires had picked up while they were still in college” in a separate survey. The result showed that the understanding of basic business functions and technology basics were desirable.

The results were as follows:

An understanding of basic business functions – While new computer science graduates can program, they did not understand underlying business functions like accounts receivables, logistics and operations or marketing plans.

Experience with enterprise systems integration – Students are not schooled in the IT processes that businesses use.

Knowledge of emerging enterprise technologies – Business intelligence (BI) and cloud computing are two the emerging tech trends that are high priorities to enterprise IT managers these days, but those topics haven’t trickled down into college curricula yet.

The tech basics – There is a decline in the ability of college graduates to handle simple tech tasks.

The ability to work as a team – There is a lack of skill when it comes to collaborative work.

Familiarity with legacy systems – Newly qualified workers don’t have a good knowledge of legacy systems nor an understanding of Cobol, Customer Information Control System (CICS) and other mainframe skills.

Real-world perspective – “New college graduates tend to think in a tunnel, concentrating on the best technology without considering what’s best for the company’s fiscal constraints or employee population”.

Charlie Fripp – Acting Online editor