Prepare for IT's Next Wave -- Redmondmag.com

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Prepare for IT's Next Wave

Time to brush up on the skills that will get you paid.

By Jeffrey Schwartz
12/06/2016

Keeping your skills up-to-date and relevant is the most important thing any IT pro or developer can do. In an industry where technology is always changing that's not easy, but lately it has become more critical than ever.

Occasionally there are major new technologies that have a major impact on lifestyle and the way people work. It became clear earlier this year that the notion of "digital transformation" was emerging as one of those technology waves. Digital transformation didn't just come on the scene this year, but a confluence of advances in datacenter infrastructure, applications, cloud, mobility, and social have coalesced to a point where business and IT leaders are starting to look at how they can benefit from some of the low-hanging fruit that's available and plan for what's coming in the next year or two.

Whenever new business models and technology come together and appear on pace to gain critical mass, it can have a major impact on the IT skills required and the premiums companies are willing to pay for them. That's why we've devoted this issue of Redmond to offer a deep dive on how technology is enabling digital transformation and how it's impacting demand for IT skills. I've had extensive conversations about this with David Foote, one of the industry's leading experts on IT compensation. A specially revised version of his 2016 "IT Skills and Compensation Survey" for the period ended Sept. 30 looks at some of these trends with some data showing the rate at which organizations are paying premiums for a wide variety of IT skills. Foote will also share his insights at this month's Live! 360 Conference in Las Vegas, where' he'll give the opening keynote address.

Make sure you map your skills with where business and technology are headed.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

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