Does the IT field have an artificial ceiling?

What is your ceiling??

Status?

**Is it how you are seen by others or how you see yourself**

Job Satisfaction?

**Are you willing to something you don't enjoy**

Money?

**Does more money mean you are up the ladder further-- I know plumbers who make more money than Managing Directors**

**Remember the higher you go usually the more stress, responsibility and more working hours are required- the higher up you go the further you have to fall**

**We spend our health making money then we spend our money to restore our health**

**Aim high in your career but stay humble in your heart**

And of course most IT managers that I have seen have come from another field, not at all related to IT. I have seen Chemists, Engineers, Sales Reps, etc placed as IT manager.

I think that most IT people are seen as not able/willing to be in a position of corporate leadership. And since most of us would rather deal with a recursive program than an irate employee, this could be a good thing.

If you work in a building, then I would say your ceiling is artificial. The only way for an IT pro to not have an artificial ceiling is to work outdoors (there is no ceiling), or in a cave (the cave's ceiling is natural). I think very few IT professionals work outdoors or in caves.

my office cieling is suspended accoustic tile.

The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become insterested in it!

-SIR WILLIAM OSLER

I left my IT employer of 20 years because of burn out, totally overwhelmed by the little cog in a big wheel syndrome. I tried a smaller size
company and found it to be totally the opposite.
Now I'm self employed doing consulting and some
upgrade work for selected companies. I like this a lot better as I can choose who to work for
and for how long.

Many IT people I've worked with over the year have poor people skills and little, if any, business acumen.

You'll find that many people get up the business ladder because they have advanced degrees (i.e., MBA, are adept at ass-kissing, can communicate well and have a passion for their work).

Me: Bachelor's degree, I don't kiss ass, I stammer my way through PowerPoint presentations, and I could care less about computers once 5:00 PM rolls along. However I have fairly good people skills and I have a good knack for seeing things from a busienss perspective. But it's not enough to break through that proverbial glass ceiling. I'll be a lowly network admin for the rest of my life - and it's not a bad thing.

I've seen people make the jump to management only to come back to the rank-n-file because they didn't care for the extra responsibilities, loss of overtime pay, added stress and spending their day in endless meetings. Besides, the higher you climb up the ladder, the more exposed you are - especially when you have upper management turnover (especially here in the public sector).

After 20 years of more progressive positions and advanced learning, stagnation became apparent as I left the door into retirement. Even two years of intense updating of my skills failed to obviate rejections, even if they were "you are overqualified," and "you would be bored" with this position. Just another way to say, hey we don't discriminate at this company! It has nothing to do with your age!
I have found the rejection to be refreshing, after taking about six months to rest and almost...almost give up the working world. There are many professions where one may use IT skills to spring ahead of others who are established in "foreign" fields of work. Why do you have to be CEO or CIO? Go find a job where you may have FUN, be accepted, and make a good salary. Oh yes, you might have to learn some other skill, but chances are you will not. What a surprise to find that knowledge cross-transfers between professions.
Use your imagination, and your skills. Refresh your interpersonal talents and interviewing techniques. Find a resume mentor.

This may be true but unless one is earning a living then one is no longer working for charities but a recipient of one.

Everyone's idea of a fair earning is different, I would rather push myself to a level that I feel comfortable with to earn a little more to enable me to do those things that fufill me spiritualy.

1) What's wrong with starting your own company?

2) The vast majority of IT people I meet have no business anywhere near the executive suite, they simply don't have the skills. In fact, most don't have the skills to even be in IT -- the kind of IT I am writing about in my new paper "The Rise of Stupid IT".

3) Whether its from my paper or not, IT as it has become deserves to have its head chopped off. Starting with the CIO position.

QUESTION: 20 years ago, was there an executive position called "Chief Telephone Officer"? Of course not, because the old telephone system worked, 99.999999999% of the time. You pick up handset, dial a few digits, and you can talk to a person anywhere in the world. If it didn't work, one called "facilities" and the worst case scenerio was a new wire or handset.

What gives that IT has taken the telephone, the fax machine, the company library, the photo copier, and the typewriter...merged them into one device (PC) and connected them to an expensive bank of servers, and in the process managed to chew up huge billions of operational dollars, to equip, build, and maintain an ifrustructure, that is breaking all over the place? (Yes, e-mail virus and spam and instrusion is a break, not a "situation") The answer from IT people: We need more governence! Standards! And oh, a spot at the table in the Executive Suite (CIO).

This must be the first time in history, a Service Unit has levaraged massive, redundant, expensive, lengthy failure into a seat of power...well maybe not the first, I guess there is the CFO as well.

:(

I'm ashamed of the whole thing. Ashamed because the smartest young minds I know are doing desktop tech support, or living on the streets, or wasting away in university getting Comp.Sci. and MBA degrees. While a bunch of career-long white-haired pin-striped failures, are pulling down 6 digits to maintain a massive scam.

Shoot me now, cause I'm comin for you guys! The reason you have an incidental monopoly like Microsoft, is the glaring lack of competition. There is more now than before, but other than perhaps Apple Computer, most of it is decidedly no different or better -- and by better I mean the ability to press the power button, and have the machinery work 99.99999999% of the time.

Change Management, Project Management (PMI), ISO, ITIL, Governence -- these aren't sollutions to technical problems. They are patches to massive incompetence that has been bred into the corporate IT workplace, by a bunch of people that know if there were any real critical analysis of what they are doing, most of them would be fired. So you hire someone even more stupid than you, and blame everything but yourself when things break all over the place.

Yes to IT pro. with few exception. I am planning to start MBA course. Just feel it. A long story.

I started my own company to escape the ceiling and grow. I have grown in capability and ambition.

Savant is right on the money here. You have to be ready for the challange. Managing technology and managing people are significantly different. With technology you have a pretty well defined rule book. With people the variables involved are enormous and ever changing.

Own my own successful corporation is fantastic. I knew deep in my heart I could do this. I simply followed the model Savant described and grew my career. I improved my relationship building skills and honed my business process knowledge and skills.

What a difference.

Since it is a technical company I have to keep my technical edge too. I feel satisfied and challanged enough to no longer be bored with my work.

...exist only if you let them.

ANALYZE. Scope out your company structure and the working management relationships.

DECIDE if, based on this information, there is a management future with your company that you can reach within the timeframe you want. Think about your goals both short and long term. Set your clearly defined goals.

PLAN for reaching management. No one can start a successful company without a Business Plan, for instance. I realized that the management relationships that existed in my prior employer would prevent me from ever reaching management. I then started doing preparation work on my own company. I built resources and working relationships with vendors and financial resource (the latter is key to a start up).

ACT. I set up the parameters for when I would execute the plan I created and then moved forward. Guys (and Gals) this is not too unlike deploying new technology, with the primary difference being the variables that working with people bring into the picture. When your ducks are all lined up, then execute the plan. Ask others for help. Business people who are not competitors often network.

One thing that I have noticed over the years in my career is that people are often intimidated by IT people and more importantly IT people frequently don't navigate the political waters as well as others.

The main reason for the is the IT people are among some of the busiest people in a company, depending on the company putting out fires here and there and meeting impossible deadlines for rollouts, etc etc.

I think that to succeed in the workplace you have to walk a fine line of exhibiting knowledge and working the politics to your advantage.

Use your knowledge effectively but always try to make your boss look good instead of trying to impress on everyone that YOU are the expert of all things IT. If you make your boss look good he will either stab you in the back with it or recommend you for his slot when he moves on or move you up the ladder accordingly.

If you have a crappy boss that stabs you then you have to move on or wait til he either dies or he moves on.....

Serve your CIOs and CEOs well and make them look like masters of the universe and you will succeed and move up either in the company and if you don't move up you will at least command the money that you deserve for such work.

I don't know if we can talk about an artificial ceiling or not. I agree that it is probably difficult for a Tech Pro to land any of the posts you mentioned, but I think that is probably more of a practical issue. A CEO for example don't have time for what he/she might have done as a Tech Pro, he/she would be far to busy to run the company.

I think you probably have to look at it from two different angles. A Tech Pro needs to know Finance and Business communication in order to understand the buisness world and the company he is working for. The CEO might need some tech knowledge in order to understand what his company and employees are working with.

I would disagree except for those IT professionals who do not adopt and then advance management and leadership skills.

Moving into management and then into C-Level management would necesitate that someone who was once a programmer cease programming - as their profession.

Are they throwing years away? No. No more than the CPA who ceases to be a CPA on a day to day basis. Hopefully, and for the astute professional, you are adopting soft-skills (communication, leadership, strategic analytics, etc) as you progress in your IT career.

However, one challenge/fear that is particularly strong in the IT world is the fear of obsolescence. IT professionals often take their value and worth based on their understanding and application of the latest technologies. Moving into management requires a different skill-set and focus. This can be frightening. At some point you must let go of those older skills - the ones that have paid your bills for so many years - and venture into those newer skills needed for the role you desire.

I cover this in detail in a chapter titled, The Move To Management. It is a factor in stopping IT professionals from taking the plunge into management roles - effectively creating an artificial ceiling.

If you have ever done those rope courses, high in the trees, there is one where you are walking across a cable while holding onto ropes that dangle from above you. At some point, as you progress across the cable, the rope you are holding is stretched and you can't quite reach the next rope. You must let go of the rope to reach the next rope of stability. It is a picture of this phenomenon.

Or, more succinctly: You can't steal second base with your foot on first.

Matthew Moran
The IT Career Builder's Toolkit
http://www.cbtoolkit.com

Career Advice With Attitude:
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/career/

Saddly, it is the culture to think that a bean counter or laywer or production manager would make a better corner office person. Most companies see IT as overhead and not something that contibutes to the overall success of the company, or at least until something crashes hard and takes down production. An IT pro usually does not get invited to those areas where running the business is discussed. The IT pro would need to venture outside his realm in order to get the needed exposure to the paths to CEOship.

In 24+ Years of experience as a IT Tech, I have found it difficult for an IT Technician to move up any career ladder without changing careers.

Many of my friends moved up because they got out of IT and went into other areas of business in order to move up into management positions.

Yes, college degrees allowed some of those to advance, while those without are still trying to move up. I believe we as a nation, have placed too much emphasis on how valuable a degree or certification is in the past few years.

The IT field has been clouded by attempts to replace college degree's with IT certifications. I am sorry to say that I don't concurr with the assertion that they should count the same. By the same token, how can an IT Professional move up a career ladder ? Most IT Pro's end up starting up their own small businesses in order to compete in the ladder chain. I did.

The problem with that now days is that you have people who pay $3k-$5k for certifications (filling the pockets of Microsoft and for what reason ?) or having no certs at all and starting a business out of their home and not paying the business overhead costs or taxation. The latter is the unfair competition I am up against in my small town.

I guess my main complaint about Cert's is that they prove nothing. Yes they look nice on an IT Resume, but if you can't do the work, they are meaningless, and many who hold Cert's can't do the work.

As far as career advancement, if you work in a large organization, the best an IT Pro can hope for is mid-level management. You'll get further ahead starting your own business and being your own boss, rather than working for peanuts for some other brown noser who's only interested in themselves rather than helping you develop a career path for yourself (I've worked for a few of those in the past 24 years).

I will answer by asking a question... Would you hire a programmer to work on incredibly complex and vital projects if his programming skills were 'above average'? I would hope your answer is NO I need the best avaiable talent.

Sitting infront of a a screen debugging issues, generating tons of code or creating complex infrastructure diagrams does nothing to foster the skills required to be a CIO, CEO, CFO etc.
Working the business part of the business does create foster and hone the required skills.

A hard core elbows deep techie probably does not have those skills and probably sees the world in a very black and white way. Business decision are almost always GRAY.

Also there are studies that suggest people who work hands-on technology develop very high levels of frustration when they do not get the immediate response and/or gratification from people that computers provide.

So the answer is if you want to run the business you have to do things that teach you how to run the business.. Just as a whiz kid techie fresh out of college needs to get some 'real world' ex[perience under their belt to apply thier talents to the real world, the budding executive/manager has to get that GRAY world decision making, negotiating and presentation making experience under their belt.

So if you want to go into management you have to ween yourself from the safety and security of the black and white world of technology and learn the gray areas of business.

I have managed to climb the ladder from PC Tech to Dir. of IT for a small private orginization with 140 employees and over 400 workstations and 10 servers in 6 years. I have also succesfully grown a small business on the side that will generate a significant amount of income this year. I have no formal training and left university in 1998 after being discouraged by the curriculum. Although I may not be the "norm," I am a good example against a few arguments out there. I don't believe in the ceiling. I have read many of the posts and believe that no paticular position in any given company is responisble for the advancement of the employee. The individuals state of mind, personality, appearance and work ethic are more directly responsible for their over all achievement. Your state of mind rules your conscience, which in turn helps you make choices that lead you towards you ultimate goal.
BELIEVE
from Baltimore
;)

Firstly, yes, I can think of many examples of IT guys making it to
CEO.

However, it is important to recognise that the shift from the top
of a profession (IT, HR, Accounting, Law) is not a move vertically
upwards, but a long way sideways at an angle. At the top of a
profession, all you have to worry about is delivering
professionally and technically. In generally management you
have to deliver the optimum solution for the business taking all
professions and other stakeholders into account. It is the
difference between hitting home runs and making sure the
stadium makes a profit. Where IT professionals fail in general
management it is because they cling to the values that rightfully
took them to the top of their profession, but are no longer
appropriate in thier new role.

At the ripe ?old? age of 50? I have been on both sides of the spectrum.

My IT career didn?t even start in IT. I was involved in marketing? (now called customer service) I ate, slept & drank marketing, marketing management, profit/loss? then this neat little thing called a ?PC? was dropped on my desk! Again? learning? applying learned people/management previous skills and applied it to ?technology?? I then turned an 8 month suicide mission called ?Annual Budget? into a 45 day walk in the park? used this PC to increase my marketing efforts? moved into ?Middle Management?, while watching upper management flounder with technology?
I took my marketing skills and combined them with technical skills and started moveing any ceiling that was in my way.
Fast forward 10 years? IT Manager, applying all learned skills ? people, marketing, politics, sales, technical? My bottom line was great! The best tech?s? cohesive teams, smooth technical transitions? for 5 years? I rose up to the ceiling? I had people raise the ceiling for me. And for what?
I became everyone I never wanted to work for.
I was good at what I did, I am better at who I am.
Could I be a CIO? Probably not of a large company. (No degree? life took over).
I don?t miss the lime-light, the pressure? oh, I?m still in management? I manage a small (2 of us?lol) IT department that supports 100+ users. I still have to worry about EOL, TCO, ROI, the technical ineptness of users? the early mornings and late nights, and yes everyone still counts on me to take care of it yesterday.

The difference! I no longer have to impress anyone with who I am? or what I do? I take care of my family? my company. My career now allows me to make where I work a better place for others to work. Not only technically? but personally.

I have had this same conversation with my boss. I am the CIO for a community college. I said I do not feel that I should never be able to compete for the top job just because I am IT. We both agreed that as long as I prepare myself technically and educationally, the door is Not closed. I am working on a terminal degree and she has sponsered me to an Advanced Leadership Seminar to learn the politics and financials of higher education (fund raising ansd schmoozing).

"If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted." It's as simple as that. Look to take on some small management projects to learn and demonstrate diversity. Make sure other Techies on your team can do ALL the tasks you do. No smart manager will let his #1 IT guy (or girl) go if the feeling is that the network can't run without you.

I have seen many ego driven IT folks run themselves into distruction (Divorce, drugs, alcohol) because they HAD to be THE GUY. Utilmately they destroyed their lives working 20 hour days because they had to do everything and would let anyone else step in. This may also apply to small shops where you are the only guy do to poor staffing.

In large companies, face it, IT is not viewed as a profit center. IT is a hole where large amounts of money are thrown. As much as we know what the true value is, the bean counters view it differently. Enough of that....

If your goal is to move to management, you may have to look outside your present company. Someone said above that the path may be sideways...that is correct. The smaller the company, the greater the need to look external.

Oh and yes...there where "Chief Telephone Officers" I never heard it termed that way, but it's great and has me laughing. When Voice went from Centrex to PBX, there was alway some ex-telco guy that was hired to oversee the Adds, moves and changes (MACs). These folks usually held a fair amount of power in their thiefdom since no-one could do anything without them. As it chipped away at their power base with VoTDM, VoATM and finally VoIP, those who failed to convert to the dark side usually ended up in mailroom or something...unless they were so favored by management that they were promoted to IT manager.

In the IT world, be nice to everyone. You never know who you are reporting to tomorrow.

Never make a pure technical proposal to upper management...you will smoke their brains and will generally not understand what you are talking about.

Format you presentation into a nice Power Point presentation. Discuss new server request Or whatevere) in terms of costs, productivity and redundancy.

1. What is the cost of maintain current hardware vs. replacing with new. Is there a cost savings? Find it and exploite it.

2. Will the the new hardware be faster? Discuss things like transaction time and impact to customers.

3. Will it prevent outages? How much is the company willing to loose during an outage. How will new servers prevent that?

These are just some of the ways to approach the request. Take off your IT hat and put on a BeanCounter hat. You will be suprised at the difference.

Yes, you had better be where you want to be, and watch your back at the same time. If a young enough group comes into management, they appear to have no compunction about removing/demoting you, regardless of years of service/quality of service. Even though Ford Motors lost their case in court, for the antics that other companies use to cover their age discrimination, it still goes on, with impunity, elsewhere.

I think IT Pros can become CEOs, but you have to stop thinking of yourself as a IT Pro. A CEO is not a IT Pro but the pilot of a business. You mentioned that a number of your personal contacts moved to other fields to allow mobility up the corporate ladder. In effect, any move toward a purely managment position is like changing fields, even if it is a tech oriented management position.

All of the CIOs and MIS people I know come from technical backgrounds. Most, but not all, have an advanced degree of some sort. That said, a majority of the IT people I have know over the years would make lousy managers. Not only would they be bad at it, they would hate it.

What it comes down to is do you want to give up being an IT Pro to move up the ladder, and if so are you willing to learn the skills necessary?

In other words, no, there is no glass ceiling specifically for IT Professionals.

In the April issue of Health Data Management, they talk about this particular issue.

While it is true, that Healthcare CEOs generally do not come from the CIO position, more and more, some CIOs are being tapped to become CEOs.

You can see the issue at: http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/html/current/PastIssueStory.cfm?PostID=19323&PastMonth=April&PastYear=2005

Hi all,
I started my career in IT in 1991 as an entry-level programmer. About 3 years later I was promoted as a Lead Programmer, and then a year after a Systems Analyst and Project Manager. I moved from company to company promising better pay and benefits, but the hours never stabilized, especially when I reached the six-figure mark as a C-level executive. When the stock market crashed and "dot-bombs" blew in everyone's faces, most of the companies I worked for ran out of money. All my hard-earned stocks were worthless, leaving me no choice but to find low-wage jobs away from IT and become a part-time consultant to just make ends meet. In addition, my health started to deteriorate from all the ten-thousand hours I dedicated to those C-Level "scheming" morons who did not know squat about IT.

I believe that my story is similar to everyone, and advancing in IT within a company not your own or without a personal financial stake in it is next to impossible unless you are a push-over and "politically" affiliated with C-Level execs who usually plays mind games instead of making the right decisions and, if not worse, they truly do NOT understand the technology behind each project!

Unfortunately, IT is now a hopeless career since it's overly saturated by wanna-be's and outsourced to headhunters by your very own C-Level execs--if they are not doing it now or where they can not "confirm nor deny", believe me, they are planning for it regardless of what they are saying to you.
Anyway, for everyone that it's not too late, leave IT and move on. Hope you will find good health, peace and happinesss.

There is a ceiling for some IT people because they lack basic business knowledge. It is very rare for a tech to become a CEO or move into a business related function because they are techs. As far as a ceiling goes for roles, there is obviously the CIO role, although this is often filled by a non-technical person who may not even have come from IT. The role of these people is as a bridge between IT and the business and to sell the IT capabilities to the business and show how value can be both driven by and support by IT.
There are always going to be VP's in IT, and there are plenty of Diretors. If you mean Board of Directors, sure there are IT folks on boards as well, tho not many.
If you want to start as a tech and make your way thru the ranks to a CEO, you need to understand a lot more than IT, even working for an IT company. It is not an IT role to be the CEO of any enterprise. Get yourself an educaton in business, finance, marketing, HR, operations, logisitics, sales and so on, at least at a level where you know what is going on when sitting with those people. Get a degree in a non-IT field.
I know plenty of MBA's who are IT folks and have no idea about finance or business however, so don't think that a few letters after your name means anything.
For an IT person, the best way to move away from being a tech but still stay in IT, is through business process and business enabling application work. You will see how the business works, get exposure to a lot of non-IT people, and learn something about the non-techy world. You could also quit IT and go do something else for a while, or find a company with some form of rotation scheme where they move you to different roles.

The person who becomes a senior exec in a company does so because they know what they are doing and have a general knowledge of everything, that is why most of them were one "general managers", they know the basic's of all areas of their business.

It is certainly possible for IT folks to become senior in a company however, even CEO's, you just need to broaden your horizons. The best path in my opinion would be to learn something about finance.

An IT guy who knows IT, appreciates what money is, and knows about how their business runs, will go a long way.

I think there are three general phases in moving from a technical position into management. First we focus on setting up and maintaining the best systems possible (the Tools phase). Then we learn things like ITIL, CMMI and Project Management standards (the process phase). Then finally we learn to speak well, sell, negotiate, and realize that politics is a necessary and natural process (that can be used either for good or bad) (the people phase).

What you are focusing on and where you get your self worth determines what phase you are in. To go into upper management from a technical position, you must move through the first two stages and get your self worth from the third. If you still get the most pride from setting up excellent systems or putting in place the best processes, you aren't ready yet for upper management in a medium or large organization. You must get most of your self worth from motivating and directing others in the right direction in order to move up into upper management.

It is a hard thing to let go of earlier phases. You have to be willing for other people to not set up the systems as well as you sometimes and to not have the best processes in place. Then it is your job to motivate and train them to do things well like you did when you were in the technical or process oriented position.

If you've worked in IT and only IT then how are you going to understand problems in accounting department or any other department if the problems are not related to technology? If you?re having personnel issues or moral issues in sales you have to have the ability to look at problems from differently. Most people in IT are fairly one dimensional at work and IT people for the most part are predictable. Look at the lines at the release for Star Wars, were not all people persons and other people have a difficult time talking to use because they can?t relate to us at our level of geek ness. If you want to move up in the company you have to move out in order to demonstrate that you are capable of managing areas other than IT. You have to look a the big picture of what's best for the company as a whole and the best way to do that is to demonstrate it and that is an area that IT does poorly. Not because were all tech geeks but because IT is perceived as an expense to companies (not including consulting). The technology we implement may increase productivity and reduce the number of staff that are required but when you look at the dollars spent on IT over a year it is mind boggling, so much so that many people outside of IT find it hard to comprehend the actual value of the service we provide. So if you?re looking to move up in the company then it may be easier to make a lateral move to a different department. This demonstrates diversity on your part and that is something that is highly valued by employers.

I have seen and understand the posts I read on this subject thus far. Being in my mid 40s and working in network design/support, I see some of what the others before have wrote about. Some, not all IT folks make good managers. I am not sure if it is due to the fact that IT people in general deal with inanimate objects (hardware & software), not people. In the transision to management these same people must shift gear and start dealing with more people issues than the hardware & software issue of the past. I have seen the wheels come off many times when that transision didn't work.

To become a good manager one must understand the business side of the equation as well as the resourse and people side. Treat your people fairly and share the praise with them.

IT professionals - IT standard - IT enterpris - IT basic - MyIT - IT Messenger - IT mobile phone - IT methodologies　- IT love - IT home - IT company - IT government - IT map - IT equity

Everything is surrouned by IT. One day you can purchase a "management" package, then you know who to deal with the people, their action isn't without path.

What is your deal? You want to stay technical but you want to be a manager - why are you programming in the first place? My advice, if that's what you want is to forget about being technical and doing anything useful or interesting and start being political - you can begin by stabbing your coworkers in the back and sucking up to HR. With any luck I'll never meet any of your ilk. I started programming in COBOL, stayed technical, avoided lead positions like the plague. Now my wife and I work from home designing and supporting web sites for small companies.

Few IT pros have the skills for upper management. When you spend all your time on technical matters you aren't learning the business, in terpersonal and political skills necessary to be seriously considered for top managment positions.

That doesn't mean it can't be done. But you do have to make choices about whats important to you.

Personally, I love technology and prefer working with technology in a development environment to managment. And I have done both, having held positions such as Chief Technology Officer and corporate vice president.

But I wasn't happy so I now have a little company of my own with a very few employees and we only work on projects that are interesting. And we have more work that we can handle because we are really doing what we love to do and are therefore very good at it.

Moving up the corporate ladder from IT is very difficult (partly because of the stereotype of IT people), so be sure its what you really want. You will be competing against people who feel the same way about business managment as I feel about technology and development.

If you have the skills and desire and feel that your path is blocked where you are, I would recommend starting your own company. That will really test your skills! And, it will give you some real experience for your resume if you decide to go back to working for someone else.

Migration out of IT occurs for a number of reasons - It's definitely tougher than it used to be (we don't automatically switch jobs every few years for that salary bump), as we mature and our skills become more rounded we decide that we would prefer to do something else/add something to what we do.

Some of our industry's "big fish" are (or were) hard core techs, including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Scott McNealy, Pam Lopker. I don't see a ceiling for techs who become able, qualified, and interested in the "larger picture". CEO's & Directors share a quality missing many techs don't have - the "vision thing". We have laser-like attention and focus, we create simple or elaborate solutions to complex business problems as part of our jobs, but the C-level folks are deal-makers and (in some cases) risk takers too. Breaking through requires the same "right stuff" required for success in any field - skill, excellence, dedication, but also requires vision, the ability to lead, inspire, and instruct, and other skills we don't have or don't hone. If you can't see it, you may not reach it.

It's the exact same thing for a sales rep.

It's the exact same thing for a marketing director and many other positions.

BEcause IT is such a young field, people are JUST starting to see all the issues that go along with virtually ANY other field.

This is not unique to IT at all, as a trained sales rep, there was little hope of management advancement (past sales manager) unless you stand up and start proving your skills. AT that point anyone can have any job in teh copmpany, it's called DRIVE, many people seem to think that certifications equal drive and ability these days, but it's not so.

Anyone in a company can obtain any position in the company, with the right assertion, drive and proven experience.

I've done it so many times it isn't funny. Take an ENTRY level position and once you're in choose your direction and get th ejobs you want to continue to your goal.

The issue is, when you leave that company you must be prepared to quickly jump in on someone else's ground floor opportunity and take minimal pay until you can prove your way up the next ladder.

When I take a job, I often have little to no idea where I want to go with the company, I just pick a company for who they are. After selling them on my skills, whether in sales, marketing and promotion, management or IT, I then get involved in many areas of the company until I either choose a position I want or else I work to create my OWN position. I will CREATE a fit for myself, not look for someone else to offer me a fit.

It's a bit hard to really explain unless it's a trait you possess already, but jobs aren't handed out, they must be sold to the employer. Where you come from, what certs you have, even what BASIC education level you have will become irrelevant, once you learn to sell yourself and prove yourself, this is VERY hard to do in IT though because your jobs are usually quite specific, but I have seen it done by a very driven IT guy.

He had no certs, was hired to run a large IT department (ful of certified staff) and is now a VP for that company's parent company.

Hello All

There is no reason to characterise the development of one's career progress in such black or white terms. IT People who manage other IT people tend to manage them more effectively than management without such a background, but those managers must perforce develop other skills beyond those that may have been contained within their original portfolio. The IT skills may no longer be in use in the same manner as they were, but they continue to inform that manager's understanding of the work that is being done under him and, thus, shape his expectations.

This is a natural evolution, not a barrier you have to leave your skills behind in order to cross. IT people need to appreciate that even if, to borrow the intial example, such persons start their own companies, they will immediately need to develop additional skills in order to complement the technological.

Brian Elvidge
Chief Technical Officer
WanderPort Wireless Inc.

I can speak most effectively to what I have seen. In my experience, the very attributes that will get you promoted to a senior technical management (e.g., CIO) position will prevent you from being a business manager.

The tech organization tends to reward people who are operations focused, detail oriented, interrupt-driven, hands-on and want to do things right. The business wants senior managers who are strategic, big picture, have an agenda, delegate and want to do the right things. In many cases, having an agenda or letting go of technology will get you blocked from advancing within the tech organization. Then a person gets to be CIO and suddenly has to flip a switch and turn her/his habits 180 degrees? Not gonna happen!

In most cases, the ceiling has more to do with the person's soft skills (communication, interpersonal, leadership, decision making, etc.) than a person's technical abilities.

Unfortunately for most in technical fields like IT, the soft skills are hard to come by (nobody from the Chess club in high school was homecoming king). Without being too stereotypical, it is common that the reason that most put themselves behind a computer (by choice) is because they would rather work with programs than deal with people. Not that this is a bad thing...to each his own, right? But, it can be tough for someone to switch from and introvert to an extrovert simply to fulfill a new position.

AND...contrary to what many will say, education has little to do with it. Many top executives and some of the wealthiest people in the world didn't attend a day of college or have any certifications to their name.

Develop your people skills and decision making ability and you will be able to extend beyond your cubicle walls, just don't be afraid to leave some of the daily IT chores to someone else, as your new position will make more use of your new soft skills and less use of your technical abilities.

Just my 2 cents (observed as I moved from technical to non-technical management in my company, and without stabbing any backs along the way!)

Most IT techs/pros are educated in different aspects of IT and as their career enhances they learn business disciplines. I have always professed "give me a B.A or M.B.A. (MBA almost required these days) and I'll teach the IT side". Just "picking business discipline up" on the side just isn't enough. Management skills and IT skills rarely cross paths. I dare say that a good manager doesn't require the technical skills for managing an IT department. That's what his staff is there for.

It worked for me.

Get your MBA first... then get the IT background you are interested in.

It is true that over the last few years, there has been a ceiling forming for IT professionals; however, that is not entirely true.

In order to understand career paths to the corner office, one should also look at the criteria and discriminators used when selecting CEOs, Directors, etc. Many selection teams seek someone that has operational - strategic and tactical - experience in that industry. They tend to look for someone that has an intimate understanding of the business and a feel for the pulse and direction of the industry.

Why? Put simply, they need to be able to function as the Captain of the boat.

So, when looking at a career path for a technology professional, one should consider some of the following:

- Are they working in a capacity that contributes directly to profits / losses?
- Are they in a line of business position?
- What type of credentials (academic, professional, experience, etc.) does the individual have that qualifies he or she to lead a business unit or firm?
- What does the breadth and depth of their experiences look like?

Many IT positions are allocated to support lines of business in firms. And, while many of these business would not be able to function without that technology support, most business managers still (rightly or wrongly) view IT as not fully understanding the bigger picture.

Simply stated - if you are support, chances are you are always going to be support. If you are contributing to the bottom line, than you are perceived as "getting it".

So? What to do from there...

In my opinion, there are two options:

1. Project management
2. Technology consulting

Project management affords a professional the opportunity to expand their portfolio of skills. As a project manager, one is responsible for scope definition, resource allocation, scheduling deadlines, planning, negotiating, finance, human resource issues, ... , and the list goes on. They simply are exposed to many of the same issues that a CEO or line of business head have to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

With these experiences, there is a logical path from managing projects, to programs, to business units, to groups and divisions, to businesses, to companies...

Technology consulting firms give the typical professional an opportunity to "get out of the support role" and become a profit / loss contributing member of the firm. It is an opportunity to understand the business, and with the right assignments, really gain an insight into those same issues that are described above for project management.

In the end, technology is likely going to be outsourced under a utility-like model. Businesses are going to expect it to be there just like the electricity, phones, and other utilities. And, while our understanding of the technology is imperative, we also need to be striving to identify with the line of business units and constantly positioning ourselves to increase profit and growth.

We need to shed the "tech-head" image (but not lose the subject matter expertise we have worked hard to gain!) and be perceived as the well-rounded business professionals that we know we can be if we want to take a career path that leads to management positions.

Or - we can always start our own firm.

To bridge th etopic, it's hard to believe the IT ceiling is STILL falling.

For years I have read chicken little stories from incapable IT staff who flood these forums with tales that the sky is falling. IT has let them down, IT is not what it used to be, IT is not living up to their expectations, their time and money spent was wasted, etc.

Perhaps it IS true, but it's not the sky, it's an artificial ceiling!

If so that must have been one pretty high ceiling, it's been fallin gfor years now, and IT still goes string and is an excellent stepping stone into an executive career, if you beat your own path and not follow the old one that is more of a rut now than a path.

I've been in the IT field over 16 years now. Started in field service in 1989 and climbed the ladder from basic PC repair, Desktop support, Server Admin to Network and security. However the only way I have been allowed to excel into new territories of Information Technology were to change companies.

During the years it has always seemed that management would try to keep me in check by making sure I stayed in a little box they have created for me. However, not only I perform my job, but also became involved with other departments and learned as much as I could from my peers. Also in my spare time I researched new technologies and broaden my horizons. In addition I would learn about the company i was employed with at the time and not only know the technical side, but to get an understanding of that business to fuel pro-active thinking and present ideas in group meetings, until such manager claimed my idea for himself. And the kicker about that is that he lacked technical knowledge.

I have never believed in politics, it reminds me of the popularity game in High School. In my opinion politics decreases productivity within an organization. However it is an unfortunate must in Corporate America.
I could share many a horror stories but lets get back to your question at hand; few companies promote from within, unless a structure change occurs (down sizing).

They may state in the employee handbook they promote from within, but it is a rarity.
However if you shine within the political arena, continue your education and achieve your masters degree, befriend an executive, a techie could make it as high as CIO (Chief Information Officer) Or follow the same path and hire on up the ladder into management.

After reading an article on cnet.com; the IT outsourcing trend is going to pick up, I would make a decision what you will want to do in the next couple of years. However being faced with the same circumstances a couple of years ago, I went out on my own as an Independent contractor, and as IT departments are downsizing and outsourcing, business became increasingly busy, and MY company is about to soar.

Again my esteemed professional, these are my own personal experiences and opinions. Best Regards!!

Being a 40 something techie, I have been following this discussion closely and have come to take comfort in being 40.

Reading the posts and responses, the old addage of "Youth and enthusiasum will always be overcome by age and experience" seems to prevail. Kind of makes me feel more comfortable being 40.

Someone stated above that it's not what, but who you know. This is very true in business. Good managers will surround themselves with people who make them look good. The best managers take care of those people. A renegade engineer, no matter how many times you save the company's a** at 3am, will never get beyong their cube. Its just a fact of life.

There are no answers to this...Take my example, I have been quite happily implementing ERP for the past 6 years and am now invovled in pre-sales. Though I am a functional guy I am now at the point in the career where I HAVE to decide in a couple of weeks where to head..here are my options:
1. I have been selected within my company to head the Business Development (there was an assesssment which I cleared)
2. Offer from another company as a 'Principal consultant" for its Indian operations.

I know for sure that the best bet for advancement in your ''Designation'' and ''visibility'' in an organization is going the marketing / sales route...these are the guys who generate the moolah for the companies and hence pampered.

But my problem is, I know too that once I step into the shoes of a marketing / sales guy there is no turning back...plus my chances of a career shift later dwindle...since I would not be in touch with IT any longer and there would be a gap in my ERP career. Both these are a strict no no.

I intend to stick to the ERP world and try and sweat it out...this also gives me chance to go independent in future..something i really like and something for which I think i need to hone up my skills further and possibly get some more pure tech skills into my resume...a two year plan should work fine I guess....

So thats how I am planning it. Note that I work in a IT Solutions company and not a regular company selling consumer products or in the manufacturing industry..I guess the decision to move would also depend upon the industry one is in.

For ex., main stream e-Biz work ...a la CIOs of the world is pivotal for large companies and if u are good technically and can communicate your ideas clearly and crisply to all concerned, man there is no stopping you...and all these presentation skills, communication skills, nego skills are learned skills ...one just needs to be a litlle more ''aware'' when involved in a discussion...i guess the quintessential need is to be aware of the 'Business Processes" - i dont mean one should be able to read balance sheets, P&Ls, etc...but be clear in the cross functional interactions of business and related IT systems and no one can ignore you...no one. I can bet on this. Also, there are a very few people in the company who can provide a holistic view of the IT operations...no bits and bytes...but how systems interact, what is the information flow, what are the pros and cons..etc etc..

Thats about it I guess!!