10 Most Wanted IT Skills

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Security Tops List of Most Wanted, Most Lacking IT Skills
By Karen D. Schwartz

New research from CompTIA shows that security is seen as the most desirous IT skill worldwide, and many companies find their in-house security skills lacking.

When it comes to hiring qualified IT professionals, a large portion of U.S. companies want more highly skilled workers, especially in the areas of security, networking and operating systems.

That's the conclusion from a new study from [url=\"http://www.comptia.org/\"]CompTIA[/url] (the Computing Technology Industry Association), an industry group dedicated to IT. The study surveyed more than 3,500 IT professionals from around the world.

For established countries like the United States, security was by far the most important skill requested, and the skill most likely to be lacking.

The study found that while 73 percent considered security skills like firewalls and data privacy most important, only 57 percent considered those skills adequate. Other security skills considered critical included data protection, regulatory compliance and identity management.

General networking and network infrastructure skills were the next most important, with 64 percent of respondents citing them as very important, while the third category consisted of operating system skills, notably Linux, Windows XP and Vista.

Another important category for U.S.-based companies is soft skills, such as customer service, project management, communication and administration. While 52 percent considered these important skills, only 41 percent said their employees were proficient at these skills.

Although wireless skills are not currently a hot-button issue for companies, the survey found that wireless technology skills are expected to become much more important over the next five years. Other skills expected to grow in importance are Web-based technologies and specific programming languages.

At the same time, skills expected to decline in importance over the next five years in the United States are security, networking, operating systems and hardware skills, although security skills are still expected to be important, on par with wireless skills.

The study also found that for established countries like the United States, factors currently driving the most change in the IT industry are, in order of importance: budget constraints; cost; the fast pace of technological change; security and compliance; and consumer needs/demands for goods and services.

Check out [url=\"http://www.midmarket.eweek.com/c/a/News/Top-10-IT-Jobs-for-Salary-Increases/\"]this list[/url] of the top 10 IT jobs for salary increases.

Source: [url=\"http://www.midmarket.eweek.com/c/a/News/Security-Tops-List-of-MostWanted-MostLacking-IT-Skills/\"]MidMarket eWeek[/url]