5 tech skills you should develop
If you like to be constantly learning new things and developing new skills, you're in the right business. IT is the field for you. 20 years ago NetWare and IPX/SPX administration were the skills to have. Today, it's all about TCP/IP and the Internet.
Let's take a look at some of the skills you should be thinking about developing to keep on top of things in the tech world in the next years.
- Security
Smart IT professionals have been developing their security skills for the last several years, but the future will bring new security challenges and new security mechanisms. Technologies such as VoIP and mobile computing bring new security issues and challenges. Authentication methods are evolving from a password-based model to multifactor models and biometrics are likely to become more important in the future.
As threats become more sophisticated, shifting from teenage hackers defacing Web sites 'just for fun' to well financed corporate espionage agents and cyberterrorists bent on bringing down the country's vital infrastructure by attacking the networks that run it, security skills must keep up. In addition to proactive measures, IT pros will need to know more about computer forensics and be able to track what is happening and has happened on their networks.
- Virtualization
Virtualization has been around for a while, but now, with Microsoft heavily investing in the technology with its Windows hypervisor, which will run on Windows Server 2008, VMWare offering VMWare Server for free, and Red Hat and SuSE planning to include Xen hypervisor technology in the next versions of their server products, we can expect the concept of virtual machines to go to a whole new level in the next few years.
Managing a VM-based network environment is a skill that will be not just handy, but essential, as more and more companies look to virtualization to consolidate servers and save on hardware costs.
- Mobile user support
Cell phones, Blackberries, and other ultra-portable devices are becoming ubiquitous and will likely grow more sophisticated in the future. Employees will expect to get their corporate e-mail on their phones and in some cases, to use terminal services client software to connect these small devices to the company LAN.
IT staff members will need to develop a plethora of skills to support mobile users, including expertise in configuration of mail servers and knowledge of security implications of the devices.
- Hybrid networks
The day of the all-Windows or all-UNIX network is already past, and networks are likely to grow more, rather than less hybridized in the future. As new versions of Linux, such as Ubuntu, become friendlier for end users, we're likely to see some organizations deploying it on the desktop for certain users. However, it's likely that other users will continue to use Windows because of application requirements and/or personal preferences, and there may very well be Macintosh users in the mix as well, especially in graphics environments.
IT pros will no longer be able to get by with expertise in only one platform; you'll need to be able to support and troubleshoot different operating systems.
- Voice over IP
Many companies and consumers are already using VoIP for telephone services due to cost and
convenience factors. According to a SearchVoiP.com article in June 2007, sales of pure IP PBX systems for the first quarter of 2007 increased 76% over the first quarter of the previous year.
More and more companies are expected to go to VoIP, to either supplement or replace their traditional phone lines. And because VoIP runs on the TCP/IP network, IT administrators will in many cases be expected to take responsibility for VoIP implementation and ongoing administration.
