Takeaway of the week is a tumultuous, industry-altering year for IT comes to a close with positive predictions and high expectations for the coming year. IT job seekers don't have time to catch a breath because from all appearances, the industry remains on the rise in expansion and prominence with no signs of slowing down.
To-Do List to Shake Up IT Career
Whether you're an active job seeker in the ever-changing IT industry or an entrenched veteran in need of new challenges, your New Year's resolutions are ready-made.
A clear takeaway from the recent article in CIO.com offering career resolutions is all IT pros need to evolve along with the industry. As organizations gear up to add staff in an IT job market expected to hit the ground running in the year to come, your organized competitors for those jobs are already doing much of the following:
- Expand your sphere of influence to understand the big-picture business side of the industry you target
- Chart out a career map which includes a skills analysis, plan to bridge skills gaps and network of peers and mentors
- Build a current, dynamic personal website to market your "brand"
- Keep on top of your social profile by searching for yourself to see what comes up, much like your prospective hiring manager would
- Proper interview follow-up can pay under-appreciated dividends
- Get out of the comfort zone with new classes, seminars and industry introductions
One Thing's For Sure, More Firms Want IT Secure
IT job seekers focused on the security sector are in the right place at the right time, according to new findings from IBM.
In a recent post on ITBusinessEdge, an executive in the computing giant's security systems division noted that about half the company's customers have brought on IT security chiefs just within the past year in response to trends including cloud computing, mobility and cross-sector data sharing.
According to Steve Robinson, a VP in the newly formed division within IBM, a number of strategic security initiatives are likely to take place in 2013 and beyond. Among those are increased security for mobile devices and laptops, a continued high demand for data scientists and more routine use of cloud computing.
All of those predictions will require added staff, equipment and investment in IT resources in some form or another.
As Robinson notes, IBM itself is investing heavily in security intelligence software with the assumption that more IT organizations will increasingly rely on managed services to respond to complex security management issues.
IT Jobs Among Top Careers in New Year
Revenge of the nerds?!
A report ranking the best jobs in 2013 is chock full of IT roles, with database administrator, systems analyst, software developer and Web developer achieving rare air.
According to the recent U.S. News and World Report findings, reported on recently in InfoWorld, those positions took up nearly half the "top ten" spots on the list. Computer programmer, IT manager and systems administrator roles cracked the top 25.
The ranking of 100 jobs was based on the hiring demand using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics findings and scored out through salary, job prospects, growth potential and other factors.
Though these factors don't universally grade out at the high end for each and every IT job on the list (for example, IT manager roles rank high for stress level, but also top out on potential with a projected 18 percent employment growth rate in the next decade), the "in-your-face" presence of so many IT roles among the upper echelon of this list signals that, indeed, techies are in high demand these days.
