Nine Super Skills for Information Technology Jobs

High-speed broadband access via computers, phones and other devices brings data, audio and video together in an ever-more-complex convergence, delivering it to individual consumers as well as nearly every workplace environment. Examine the trends that this new era is bringing to business and the information technology industry, and it's easy to see where the jobs will be in the near future.

• Consumer-driven applications—such as games, social networking and downloaded media—network security, and virtualization technologies continue to be growing fields.
   
• Another major trend is called software as a service, or SaaS, which refers to software applications accessed and used via the Internet, rather than installed locally on your computer.
   
• A third trend in the tech industry is cloud computing. Cloud computing uses the Internet to extend the existing capabilities of a company's information technology, from software applications to virtual servers to data storage.

IT professionals are in demand in every area. Here are some of the hot new information technology jobs to look forward to:

• As indicated by industry trends, security specialists and network engineers will continue to be in high demand.
• Network and data security will be of increasing importance as more companies rely on the complex networks used in cloud computing enterprises.
• Also critical to the future of cloud computing and software as a service are virtual systems managers, who manage the operation and security of the virtual servers that make up the cloud computing environment.

IT professionals with business skills will also be in demand in the job market:

• Capacity managers and other IT resource planners evaluate the efficiency, capabilities, and financial viability of a company's information technology resources.
• Sourcing specialists determine the best methods of meeting a business's staffing and subcontracting needs, whether it's outsourcing to another vendor or acquiring software as a service.  
• Those with knowledge of the health care business can expect a boom in the area of electronic health records management.

Computerworld's 2012 Forecast Survey reported six skill sets that are highly valuable in the information technology job market:

• Programming and Application Development: Businesses are looking for IT professionals with the ability to develop new projects, particularly those with knowledge of specialized or open-source developer platforms such as .Net, Java, and Ruby on Rails.
   
• Project Management: IT professionals with business, management, or project management experience will be pleased to know that project managers continue to be in high demand.
   
• Help Desk / Technical Support: Technical support skills will always be extremely marketable, especially as businesses expand. Growth in business usually means growth in the IT department as well.
   
• Networking: With the growing trends of cloud computing and software as a service increasingly affecting businesses, there will be excellent opportunities for information technology professionals with networking skills.
   
• Business Intelligence: Another business-related IT skill is business intelligence, or the use of computer technology to pinpoint and analyze business-related data that is critical to areas such as revenue reporting, historical performance analysis and future planning.
   
• Data Center: Data center operations will be impacted by an organization's virtualization and cloud strategies, which will create demand for workers with data center operations and systems integration expertise.
   
• Web 2.0: Tech skills in social media remain in demand in 2012, with .Net, AJAX and PHP being key back-end skills and HTML, XML, CSS, Flash and Javascript essential on the front end.
   
• Security: Companies all across the board, from data storage systems to energy providers, continue to require security specialists to address the increasingly complex security environment and neutralize threats.
   
• Telecommunications: Demand is seen for professionals with IP telephony skills and for those familiar with Cisco IPCC call center systems. 

Most information technology careers, including engineers and systems analysts, require a bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, or engineering. More highly skilled jobs, including management positions, may demand a master's degree.