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12 skills that employers can't say no to

The technology skills shortage is real, and so are the opportunities that come with it

By Mary Brandel, Computerworld, 07/11/07

Page 2 of 4

3) Wireless networking

With the proliferation of de facto wireless standards such as Wi-Fi, WiMax and Bluetooth, securing wireless transmissions is top-of-mind for employers seeking technology talent, says Neill Hopkins, vice president of skills development for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). "There's lots of wireless technologies taking hold, and companies are concerned about how do these all fit together, and what are the security risks, which are much bigger than on wired networks," he says.

"If I were to hire a wireless specialist, I'd also want them to understand the security implications of that and build in controls from the front end," agrees Howard Schmidt, president of the Information Systems Security Association and former chief information security officer and chief security strategist at eBay Inc.

But don't venture into the marketplace with only a wireless certification, Hopkins warns. "No one gets hired as a wireless technician -- you have to be a network administrator with a specialization in wireless so you know how wireless plays with the network," he says.

4) Human-computer interface

Another area that will see growing demand is human-computer interaction or user interface design, Scott says, which is the design of user interfaces for the Web or desktop applications. "There's been more recognition over time that it's not OK for an engineer to throw together a crappy interface," he says. Thanks to companies like Apple Inc., he continues, "consumers are increasingly seeing well-designed products, so why shouldn't they demand that in every piece of software they use?"

5) Project management

Project managers have always been in high demand, but with growing intolerance for over-budget or failed projects, the ones who can prove that they know what they're doing are very much in demand, says Grant Gordon, managing director at Kansas City-based staffing firm Intronic Solutions Group. "Job reqs are coming in for 'true project managers,' not just people who have that denotation on their title," Gordon says. "Employers want people who can ride herd, make sense of the project life cycle and truly project-manage."

That's a big change from a year ago, he says, when it was easy to fill project management slots. But now, with employers demanding in-the-trenches experience, "the interview process has become much tougher," Gordon says. "The right candidates are fewer and farther between, and those that are there can be more picky on salaries and perks."

The way Gordon screens candidates is by having on-staff subject-matter experts conduct interviews that glean how the candidate has handled various situations in the past, such as conflicting team responsibilities or problem resolution. "It's easy to regurgitate what you heard from PMBOK [the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge], but when it comes to things like conflict management, you start seeing whether they know what they're doing."

In one case, Gordon asked a candidate to describe how he'd go about designing a golf ball that goes farther by changing the dimples on the ball. "No one has the answer to questions like that, but it shows how they think on their feet and how they can break down a problem that's pretty ambiguous into smaller segments," he says.

For more enterprise computing news, visit Computerworld. Story copyright Computerworld, Inc.

 

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