June 04, 2019
June 04, 2019
Contributor: Susan Moore
Successful application leaders create a balanced career incorporating technical, business and personal skills.
Frank is a software professional working for a large financial services firm. After seven years, he’s an expert in the company’s systems, but he’s wondering what’s next. What skills and attributes will he need to stay ahead. Accelerating technology change is disrupting industries and upending careers like Frank’s. In the past five to 10 years, the tide of innovation has brought cloud computing, mobile computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, the gig economy and digital business.
Application leaders must work out how to ride the wave, says Eric Knipp, Practice Vice President, Gartner. “To be successful in the changing world of applications, you will have to be good, or even great, at more than one thing,” says Knipp. “The days of getting by on superior technical acumen alone are passing us by.” CIOs report that critical hiring areas are data analytics, digitalization, digital marketing and cloud computing. Target these areas for career longevity.
Rather than gaining mastery in a single domain, become a versatilist. Create a skill set that lets you apply depth of expertise to a progressively wider scope of challenges.
Knipp recommends that technical professionals in application roles take five steps to prepare their career for the future.
“The biggest barriers to career development are personal and psychological,” Knipp says. “We often carry around deeply entrenched attitudes that inhibit us from taking action to develop as professionals.” In the past, technical professionals could count on their employers to provide them with a “career path,” including training and a direction for advancement. Now, success is up to you.
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