IT Profiles: can do attitude ?

Today most technological companies are faced wihth the same problem : the explosion of technologies.

In the past there were maybe only 2 or 3 possible technologies for solving a specific problem. Today you have 10.

For example, in the 80s most of programmers in large companies would work on the IBM Mainframe. Today, there are several populations : J2EE, Oracle, Microsoft, open source, Web... You only have to look at the agenda of next week's devoxx conference to get an idea of some recent technologies which didn't exist 10 years from now.

As a result of this explosion, IT skills have to evolve. IT people have to deal with going out of their comfort zone. Here is what I identify as key skills for the future IT professionals:

• Capable of Abstraction : You should be able to design a solution even if you don't know about all the details. For example, If you don't exactly how does the Spring Framework works you still know what it does and where it fits because it's a "Model View Controller" System.

• Fast Learner - If you don't know at all what it is, than Google and Wikipedia are your friends. You can find out, learn, use new things very fast.

• Critic : a technology might be the best on the short term but never become a market standard on the mid to long term. Learn to find out what will stay and what will disappear. It's not about technology... IT Profiles must now be aware of the pro and cons of the new technology that is constantly proposed.

• Strong Communicator : Solutions become complex and being paid for implementing them requires to give trust to your customer that it will indeed work as designed. To receive and give trust, communication skills are essential.

• Customer Orientation : Don't use technology because it is cool (or just do it for yourself like me ;-)), use technology because it solves your customer's pain.
  

• Can Do Attitude : Finally, to get competitive advantage, you'll need to dare to innovate, to make new assemblies, to make new combination of the technology. The specialization of businesses makes that the designing a new solution or the winning of a new customer is a matter of pushing the limits further. Too often I see IT Professionals going back to their comfort zone and saying 'This is not a problem for me'. I believe they are wrong because IT comfort zones will tend to disappear : they can be automated (ex: DB Administration) or outsourced at a lower cost (ex: Off Shore Software Factories).