IT skills volatility - seismic shift

Career Watch: The IT labor market: Volatile, and no tranquillity in sight
By Jamie Eckle
June 7, 2010 06:00 AM ET
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/349903/Career_Watch

..."skills volatility has been in the 29% to 39% range in the past year and a half. From 2005 to 2008, it averaged only half of that...seismic shifting to new IT service delivery and sourcing models"...

We've been struggling for some time with a limited budget. We know we need more resources to address business needs, but what job should be posted in a small shop with no clear long term skill set identified?

Seismic shifts in platform from custom development to commercial products are on the near horizon. What is the best way to help staff and yourself prepare for a new future?

Heard another local shop restructured to an internal consultant type of IT organization. People are assigned to projects and return to the resource pool when they complete that project. Then between projects, they are 'on the bench' and expected to train for possible future project skill sets. Then it is short term skill acquiring and applying. Hard to do in a small shop though?

Isn't a blog scope creep on life?

Well, maybe it is, but it seems like the thing to do when you're in this business. That is the business of application development in a small IT shop. We've been attempting to incorporate some agile processes in our life cycle. Some pieces have worked well. Others have been a challenge - like early and often code sharing...