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Top 10 skills to have

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I know techies.com has a skills index, but the latest one I could find was from 2002. What are your top 10 IT must have skills (or 1, 5, 8, 30, whatever, I don’t care) – Certs? Languages? Skills? VPNs, Cisco, MCSE, Oracle, C++? For someone hiring an IT/IS/CIO manager, what hard skills do you look for? As a developer, what do you see in demand? Feel free to say generally or for specific positions. With all the different tracks people can go (tech fads? I’m sure they exist). I’m interested to see what people think of as the “must” skills to have – I want to see through all the hype.

Topic

My Top 10

In reply to Top 10 skills to have

1) Cisco
2) Linux
3) C#
4) C
5) Perl
6) Microsoft AD
7) Network security
8) SQL
9) Snort (specific subset of 7)
10) Communication

Will the reall top ten skills please stand up!

In reply to My Top 10

1. Communication Skills
2. Patience
3. Good Grasp of Business Functions
4. Organisation
5. Understand how to decifer/read code
6. Have general grasp of Microsoft suite of products
7. Ability to learn from others
8. Ability to take critism
9. Networking Knowledge
10. Ability to work with others

These are all non specific things that should stay with you forever. SQL, well that may fade away, C C gone in a decade. Its the soft skill that count, that make you an ideal and attractive canidate/employee.

Kathy

Communications is very important. I would ammend the list this way

In reply to Will the reall top ten skills please stand up!

Communications is critical part for any techie. Many years ago you could get a way with ?hiding behind a computer?, but those years are long gone. My top 10 would be:

1. Can speak clearly to all stakeholders (management, client?s management, client?s users, sponsor, etc.)
2. Can write clearly to all stakeholders
3. Good grasp of Business Functions
4. Organization (get tasks done on budget and on time)
5. Understand how to decipher/read code and uses good coding techniques when they are coding.
6. Have general grasp of Microsoft suite of products or any other productivity software.
7. Strives to keep his/her knowledge up-to-date (always learning)
8. Ability to take criticism and to learn from others
9. Networking Knowledge
10. Ability to work with others and can be independent.

Testing the skills you’ve listed

In reply to Will the reall top ten skills please stand up!

Lets see if you can apply number 8 on your list. You list Communications Skills as 1, and may have good verbal skills, but your written (spelling) could use some work (see 4 & 5).

4 OrganiZation is important, but to high on your list.
5 Never had a need to deciPHer code as an IT. A very basic understanding has been sufficient.
3 On a positive note, I’m happy to see you mentioning Business Functions high on your list.
6 Microsoft sucks.

True…

In reply to Will the reall top ten skills please stand up!

I must agree with the “soft” skills being most important. I just landed a new position with a global company and while I have been in the field for nearly 7 years I have no certifications and barely have a working knowledge of code. But my communication skills, enthusiasim for what I do, raw technical skill and ability to work as part of a team of work or independently were merit enough to allow me this new opportunity. For all of the wonderful things we techie people know, the ability to communicate effectively seems NOT to be one of these things. But that is just my 2 cents for what it is worth.

Business is Business

In reply to True…

I once was like your friend, took advantage of everything and acting like a kid. But if he wants experience, then now’s the chance to wake him up. The first lesson would be business ethics, you don’t go ditching work to go to an interview, and if you do, you take the day off, and you don’t let anyone know. Business is business and it should not interfere with your friendship. However, you should be a friend and educate him/her on how to conduct oneself in the presence of others. Others should not know that he?s going to interviews during work hours, others should not know he?s pricing around for a better job, and pay should never be a topic between friends who work together. The fact that he?s not happy and voices it due to pay concerns would be a problem in any company. You mentioned that he?s a bit green, now?s the time to straighten him up. It?s business, you need to tell him how to conduct himself to others as a professional. Right now he probably thinks he can do whatever because of his friendship to you, and not knowingly (giving benefit of the doubt) making you look bad. Time for a reality check, and fire him. I was once in that situation and I took advantage of the situation and basically had my way, not knowing any better. My boss (friend) fired me stating why and that was it. After the wakeup, I conducted myself to business only and was hired back after learning my lesson. I have since moved on, and understand that the reason you don?t mix business with pleasure or friends is that it doesn?t work. Business is business and that?s all it should be.

Communication skills don’t get you in the door

In reply to Will the reall top ten skills please stand up!

While I agree that effective communication skills, an ability to understand business needs and priorities and all the other ‘soft skills’ are important in delivering value that your client/employer appreciates and understands, they do not stand out in a resume and do not get that first face to face or even phone interview. If you are looking for marketable skills that transfer well from one assignment or job to the next then education, certifications, and specific technology/product knowledge and demonstrable hands-on experience are still the ready yard stick most potential employers prefer to rely on to do their first level screening or short listing.

Bingo

In reply to Communication skills don’t get you in the door

You have hit the nail on the head. All the Soft Skills are important, that?s what makes a well rounded employee. We all know however that hr and recruiters use buzz words and specifics when scanning resumes. If you put your resume on one of the many job boards out there and listed your communication and not your skills, do you really think you would get the job?

I would like to see a list like this that is realistic to what IT employers are looking for. I have worked for large and small companies. I have noticed that the larger the company the less experience you get with multiple technologies. Where as the smaller companies or contracting gigs you have to know and do more. I have noticed this trend in medium to bigger business cropping up as well. Where they want Super IT man instead of Joe everybody IT man.

What do they really NEED? When it all comes down to it, it?s more bang for the buck. So if you want Super IT man then why would you go after good soft skills boy?

A pox on soft skills

In reply to Will the reall top ten skills please stand up!

When you really want the job done right and done now, do you go to the guy with the pocket protector or the guy who would be equally at home selling life insurance?

I think there is far too much emphasis on soft skills, owing to the fact that business has never figured out how to reward long-term techies other than force them into the business side.

We’re both old

In reply to A pox on soft skills

With soft skill or a skirt, you end up as a Manager anyway…

True Enough

In reply to We’re both old

I have a friend of mine, tho a non-skirt wearing female, who gets IT management calls for interviews all the time.

Her recent major? Stage management, as in theatre.

Fortunately for the IT community, she passes on those.

Did I really read that?

In reply to We’re both old

Seriously? So in management
(i.e. 1- The act, manner, or practice of managing; handling, supervision, or control: management of a crisis; management of factory workers. 2- The person or persons who control or direct a business or other enterprise.) it is far better to have someone who can sit at their desk, code, direct network traffic, etc. than who can actually manage the business?

I agree, when something needs fixing you are going to call on the geek; after all, that is why they were hired. Now, if you need to focus on keeping the business in the black, are you going to count on the geek or they guy who knows and understands business (yes, the guy with soft-skills).

But, don’t get me wrong, there must be a solid balance between understanding IT (i.e. EXPERIENCE) and understanding business and managing people. We all know that not all in IT have a clue – and it is too bad people are promoted in IT just because they’ve been around forever and there’s no place else for them to go.

And yes, I took offense to the skirt remark. Where is that coming from?

A pox on dinosaurs

In reply to A pox on soft skills

In the “good old days” techies with rotten social skils were tolerated because there wasn’t much choice. Today, we can find techies who can hold civil conversations with their teammates and who are mature enough to consider technical options that they themselves didn’t think of.

I’ve been the hard core techie, and I have soft skills.

If you are really that valuable to the company, you should be compensated for it. I have senior techs with 20 years in at the company working for me, and they have the same rank and pay as me. In other companies we called these “senior technical contributors”.

James

add patience to the list at 6, and bump the rest down.

In reply to My Top 10

That would be my list… with linux/unix as 2.

Business Top 10

In reply to Top 10 skills to have

1. Project Management
2. Communications and Team work Skills
3. VPN and Terminal Services
4. CISCO and MCSA/MCSE Certs or experience
5. Exchange, Antivirus and SPAM Experience for email
6. LINUX / UNIX experience
7. Network installation and Repair
8. SQL/Oracle or some form of Database Experience
9. C++ or other languages
10. Good sense of humor and patience for those 30 hour around the world conversations with tech support during outages.

My one and half cents

In reply to Top 10 skills to have

Top skills for a Tech to have to grow in IT/MIS?

1. Thirsty Ears – Listen to what is being said around you by clients, peers, managers, crazy people on the web like us
2. Bright Eyes – Look around you and see what is really going one. Look beyond where you are and see what is going on.
3. Strong Hands(part 1) – Get your hands dirty wih the stuff of doing, make as many mistakes as you can possibily can, and then push yourself to make a few more. Use those eyes to see what didn’t work and why.
4. Strong Hands(part 2) – Help as many people do the right thing at the right time in the right way as you can, then think about what worked and didn’t and why.
5. Peanut Brittel Mind – Remember all the “stuff” you can about what goes on around you– what worked and why, what failed and why, who works and who doesn’t
6. Spongy Mind – Never stop trying to learn about “stuff”. Technical stuff, Business stuff, People stuff, Fun stuff, Painfull stuff. Spend the time to spin that stuff into new Things, new patterns, and new stuff
7. Empty Pockets – Share as much as you can with others so that they have new Stuff to work with.
8. Loving Heart (part 1) – People are a pain in the Butt about 6 out of 5 times. You need to train your heart (that part of you that makes the go/no go decisions of actions in a split second) to Love people (LOVE == Doing what is best for the other person regardless of return on investment)
9. Loving Heart (Part 2) – Love what you are doing from sunrise to sunset. When you stop loving it, stop and ask why.
10. Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebodies mother. – It is the strange ducks in our life that give us the best things in our days. Be kind to them, and remember you are a duck to someone else!

The detail of technolgies will change every day/hour/situation. These 10 will do some real cool things for you.

GregDC
(spelling is an option I have rarly paid much attention to, if you do, good for you!!)

Hard IT skills get you past HR

In reply to My one and half cents

and soft skills get you past the interviews and help you keep your job!

Hard IT skills?

In reply to Hard IT skills get you past HR

So, what are the necessary hard IT skills to get your foot in the door?

Hard Skills

In reply to Hard IT skills?

That’s my question too – I worked as a programmer a couple of decades ago, then got away from it and would like to go back – but things have changed since the mainframe days of TSO, COBOL, BAL and JCL. I’ve been told that Java and VB.NET are good things to start with so that’s what I’m trying, one web class at a time…

How about , “Who you know?”

In reply to My one and half cents

Most of the IT jobs I have had was based on knowing someone on the inside.

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