What an IT career will look like in 5 years
IT
pros
who
tend
to
change
jobs
every
few
years
may,
in
fact,
be
just
what
future
organizations
are
looking
for,
and
we
may
see
a
shift
in
the
way
the
organizations
think
about
long-term
careers,
he
says.
IT
pros
who
tend
to
change
jobs
every
few
years
may,
in
fact,
be
just
what
future
organizations
are
looking
for,
and
we
may
see
a
shift
in
the
way
the
organizations
think
about
long-term
careers,
he
says.
“Enterprises
ahead
of
the
curve
are
already
crowd-sourcing
talent,
through
gig
workers
or
contractors,
to
fill
gaps
and
free
up
their
internal
resources
to
focus
on
the
most
challenging
and
interesting
work,
and
to
the
delight
of
those
bored
IT
pros,
we
expect
more
organizations
to
take
this
approach,”
Bechtel
says.
Remote
in
full
force
The
pandemic
accelerated
the
development
of
remote
and
hybrid
teams,
and
that
trend
will
only
continue
in
the
future,
Bechtel
says.
Organizations
whose
IT
employees
who
prefer
working
from
home
will
also
benefit
by
sourcing
talent
from
all
over
the
world.
“Given
the
rate
of
digital
transformation,
enterprises
are
demanding
more
from
their
technology
teams
and
are
sourcing
talent
globally,”
he
says.
“Many
technology
workers
have
opted
to
stay
remote,
creating
a
more
fluid
workforce.
In
fact,
85%
of
IT
divisions
plan
to
be
hybrid
or
fully
remote
going
forward.”
Frank
Opat,
chief
architect
and
vice
president
of
architecture
at
Versapay,
sees
remote
support
work
evolving
in
both
scope
and
how
the
work
is
accomplished.
“IT
pros
already
know
what
it’s
like
to
be
on
call,
but
with
the
continued
rise
of
remote
and
hybrid
work,
geography
and
time
zones
are
becoming
less
relevant,”
Opat
says.
“I
expect
to
see
the
continued
need
to
adapt
so
that
IT
services
are
available
around
the
clock.
I’d
imagine
that
this
continued
demand
will
see
the
rise
of
natural
language
process
AI
to
handle
things
like
tier
2
issues
or
frequently
asked
questions,
much
like
you
see
in
chat
on
websites
for
marketing
and
customer
support
today.”
As
the
impact
of
widely
distributed
organizations
unfolds
over
the
next
few
years,
Wiley
CTO
Aref
Matin
says
increasingly
sophisticated
ways
of
working
remotely
will
improve
collaboration.
“Virtual
and
hybrid
work
is
here
to
stay,”
Matin
says,
“and
I
think
that’s
a
great
thing
for
technologists.
In
terms
of
culture,
putting
teams
in
a
silo
is
the
fastest
way
to
dishearten
them.
In
a
physical
workplace,
this
can
be
easy
to
do.
I’m
hoping
that
virtual
work
environments
have
shown
leaders
not
only
the
benefit
but
the
necessity
of
better
connectivity
between
day-to-day
work
and
business
outcomes.”
Rehman
sees
a
trend,
especially
among
younger
workers,
of
using
mobile
devices
for
IT
work
instead
of
being
tied
to
a
computer
at
work,
or
a
desk
for
that
matter.
“I
see
the
next
generation
using
phones
for
writing
an
entire
doc,”
he
says.
“I
saw
a
kid
coding
on
his
phone
the
other
day,
not
like
C
emulator
stuff,
but
actual
coding.
Remember,
languages
are
changing,
and
I
see
this
more
and
more.
There
is
a
change
in
how
tech
workers
use
our
attention
span.”
And
while
it’s
difficult
to
say
how
all
these
forces
will
impact
IT
salaries
on
the
horizon,
Hendrickson
sees
the
confluence
of
AI
and
remote
work
freeing
up
additional
budget
for
IT
talent.
“The
days
of
physical
monitoring
or
fixing
are
gone.
Most
everything
can
be
done
remotely,
and
with
cloud
services
and
major
providers
being
the
future
of
tech
infrastructure,
there
will
be
little
need
to
go
into
a
physical
office,
at
least
from
an
infrastructure
point
of
view,”
he
says.
“With
the
coupling
of
continued
automation
and
the
reliance
on
cloud
technology,
organizations
can
prioritize
investments
in
talent,
R&D,
and
skills
and
career
development
ahead
of
real
estate.”
Either
way,
it’s
going
to
be
interesting
seeing
how
the
next
five
years
unfold
in
the
IT
workplace.
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