IT technical skills that still matter

VoIP and security are among the areas of expertise in heaviest demand

While business acumen may help you finesse your next great career move, technical skills are still important, particularly in VoIP and security.

At Sapphire National Recruiting, the number of client requests for VoIP positions increased more than threefold between 2006 and 2007, and the number of security positions is up 153% during the same timeframe, says Matt Colarusso, a branch manager for the Woburn, Mass., firm. (read our archived career chat with Colarusso).

"Cisco is the highest demand. We definitely see demand for VoIP, and we see demand for network administrators who understand all parts of the network: the LANs, WANs, voice, Internet and how they all work together," Colarusso says. "Our clients are interested in people who have done VoIP implementations."

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While business acumen may help you finesse your next great career move, technical skills are still important, particularly in VoIP and security.

At Sapphire National Recruiting, the number of client requests for VoIP positions increased more than threefold between 2006 and 2007, and the number of security positions is up 153% during the same timeframe, says Matt Colarusso, a branch manager for the Woburn, Mass., firm. (read our archived career chat with Colarusso).

"Cisco is the highest demand. We definitely see demand for VoIP, and we see demand for network administrators who understand all parts of the network: the LANs, WANs, voice, Internet and how they all work together," Colarusso says. "Our clients are interested in people who have done VoIP implementations."

Plus, the demand for network professionals with security expertise has "hit us in the face in the last 12 months," Colarusso says. "I don't remember that being in the forefront in the last two quarters of last year."

"Network security management is huge," agrees David Foote, president of Foote Partners, which conducts IT salary surveys nationwide. "In terms of great networking skills that are going to help your career, I'm seeing VoIP, unified communications, convergence and virtualization. I'm also seeing mobile user support…and the ability to support hybrid networks, with Unix, Windows and Linux."

Henry Eckstein, CIO of York Insurance Services Group in Parsippany, N.J., says the technical skills he needs most on his IT staff are virtualization, storage-area networking and network security.

"Our focus is on higher-level skill sets — five to 10 years of experience as opposed to two or three," Eckstein says. "The experience matters as much as the skill sets. Certifications are important, but we've got a lot of super people who didn't necessarily get their certifications or who let them lapse."

Foote recommends that network professionals develop broad technical skills, rather than becoming experts in one area.

"If you're going to be a technical specialist, you can't get away with being deep in one area," Foote says. "You're going to need to be able to work across the enterprise and across several platforms…God forbid if you are too narrowly focused."

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