Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a presentation at the Australian Computer Society Young IT SIG by Steve Godbee. Steve is the CIO for IBM in Australia and New Zealand, and tonight he was discussing the current economic climate and how young IT professionals can survive and thrive in these uncertain times.
Steve has worked at IBM for over 23 years so has been through many ups and downs in the world’s economy so I’d certainly consider him an authority on what’s happening at the moment.
The main message from Steve was that all IT consultants should be practicing and improving their soft skills; communication, people management and negotiation. Technical skills are important, but gone are the days where developers can sit in a room and write code off a spec. Some food for thought for all those who have their head buried in technical text books at the moment.
So now's the time to practice your soft skills. Volunteer to give a speech. Take on a mentoring role in your job. Anything that gives you the opportunity to develop these skills. Skills which don't necessarily have a text book, or a definite right way to be done.
Steve also is of the opinion that the current economic climate is not as bad for IT as it was during the dot com bust. Hopefully that’s a positive for those like myself who have been hit hard by the recent economic woes.
