Minding their business - Boston Business Journal:

http://e-hakuba.com/group/tool/remodel_check.html
Five years ago, a programmere skilled in JavaScript, C++ or HTML coulde pretty much write her own ticker in any numberof industries. So could her the systems analyst, who walked into a client'xs office and devised all manner of new approaches to runninhg abusiness — which the programmer then programmefd into reality. Those days are No longer do recruiters or IT managers want to spend mone y on a systems analyst to gaugs business needs or a programmer to code an applicatiomn to fillthose needs. In these days of whittled-down budgets, the same person must do both.
"I certainlu see more of that than I did saysThomas Nunn, vice presideny of sales and business development at the in Burlington. A formet IT manager in the financial services industry Nunneven admits, "I alwaye had that bias." Thosre are words that Boston's technical workerds do not relish. While the state's overalpl unemployment rate wasonly 4.9 percent in unemployment among skilled workers is widely believedf to be much higher. Historically, the path to bettet job prospects has been to learn a newtechnical skill.
Now, with so many skille d workers out ofwork — and out of work for longer than ever beforwe — the better path is to perfec a blend of hard technical know-how and soft businesse acumen. "I don't know that it's necessarily changedr from the past, but I'ds say the business community nowrealizes this," says John president of IT staffing for Boston-baseed Aquent Inc. Employers now see that finding a candidatew with relevant businessskills "haz a direct payback to the institution," he Five years ago, programming taleng and technical skills clearly had top priority in a job candidate's skill s portfolio.
Now, Larson and others say, programming languages such as Javaor C++ have reached a mature the upper hand goes to business skills such as industry communication talent or management ability. "It is the differentiationh today." Unfortunately, business skills are not necessarily easy for an IT workert topick up. While people can learn new technicakl talent from any numberof continuing-educatioh centers around Boston, few outlets exist to give a marketable grounding in industries such as finance, manufacturinf and health care. A candidate could take business courses at a colleg or getan MBA, but both routee can be pricey and time-consuming.
The programmer-businesws analysts who do well today mostly learnes their skillsover time, Larson said. "It's a A lot of it is on-the-jobg training." Still, many IT workersa are scrambling to brush up theird business skills as bestthey can. Corporate Classroom, a subsidiary of Bostoh University that offers continuing education in IT says demand for its certificate in project management is ofthe 5,000 or so people enrolled in the 70 percent are IT workers. "Unlese you properly identify what the needis ... you may have a beautifully written piece of codethat won't work when it'sw implemented," says John Bonanno, CEO of Corporates Classroom.
Identifying the need requires better understanding of customers and betterd communicationwith them, he says — and that'sd something programmers don't necessarily have. The stereotype of programmersa working alone is not far from the Bonanno said: "They tend to be people who work in Keane Inc., the Eliassen Grouo and other IT servicese companies around Boston also believe a solid grounding in businesxs skills is vital for technical workers today. "Clients don'yt want to buy a help desk. They want us to solver their business problems," said Betty vice president of learningat Boston-baseed Keane. "It's definitely a change.
IT is much more strategicv now thana back-officew function. CEOs are much more comfortable with she said. Keane runs workshops or seminars to traim technical workers in specificindustries — health care or insurance, for example but generally, those take a back seat to teachintg communication or project management "The ability to communicate is much more important." Bob executive director of the National Associatiomn of Communication Systems Engineers, which issues guideline on which skills IT workers should have, sees the problen at two levels: individual engineers working for clientxs and small IT services companies trying to delivee projects to clients.
Kile posed the hypothetical exampld of a Fortune 500 businese outsourcinga $25 millioj IT project. "We get people highly qualified to builda project, but we don't get peopls who can deliver what a custometr wants." Contractors, he said, simply can't interacgt well with business customers. "I can give you 50 examples." "u don't believe it will changee the fundamentalsof today's marketplace, which is cost Larson said. "Will it get you a highed salary? No.
But I do believe they will choose that individualk over thenext