Bridging the Knowledge Gap in IT Skills Development

John R. Wetsch, Program Director for Cloud Computing, Wake Tech Community

John R. Wetsch, Program Director for Cloud Computing, Wake Tech Community

John R. Wetsch, Ph.D., is the Program Director for Cloud Computing at Wake Tech Community College and a Lecturer in Cloud Computing for CalTech’s CTME. He has over 30 years of experience working in industry, government, and higher education. He is a recognized industry leader in large scale information systems development and deployment, software engineering, systems analysis and design, cloud migration and related technologies.

Cultivating Versatile and Adaptable Tech Talent

There are thousands of information technology positions that go unfilled due to a skills shortage. There are multiple approaches to address this problem. Organizations often foot the bill to get their staff upskilled and struggle to find new talent that can fit into their environment and due to the specific nature of a business or IT environment that upskilling will often focus on a particular type of technology. Organization may be resistant to change and keeping with what works only to find themselves in maintaining an environment that quickly is becoming obsolete and hinders competitiveness. When new technology is adopted the approach that I have observed working is not unlike getting a bird out of the nest and to thrive on its own. A company will bring in experts who can train and work the implementation with IT staff. The staff then start taking over duties and develop their own expertise and then the experts leave but are available for support for a specific amount of time and this knowledge transfer is usually successful and results in a working system. This is much more successful than just sending off personnel to a bootcamp or paying for a certification and then the staff member is given the “sink or swim” approach to get the new technology up and running. Of these two approaches the “sink or swim” approach becomes the costliest and most likely to fail, because it becomes a trial and error effort taking more time, recovering from unexpected errors or gaps in the technology. Simply put the IT staff face more unknowns.

Now, of course there are other approaches to knowledge transfer and there is nothing wrong with having certifications but the important thing it to be able to apply what is learned, and we call that experience. Bringing in new entry level employees becomes a problem because they often do not have the needed experience or may have serious gaps in knowledge.

“Technology changes so fast that information technologists need to be able to keep up. The ability to adapt to new technology so it can be implemented properly is crucial.”

There are solutions and taking a longer-term approach by changing the understanding of what makes for a good entry IT staff member is being versatile and knowledgeable. We can sum it up to skills and adaptability but how do we get there. First, there needs to be a paradigm shift in what IT is about from aspiring professionals. I often hear, I love computers and have been building them since I was very young; I learned to program on my own so I am very skilled with computer technology; I have been able to solve my friends and family computer problems and they think I am a computer genius, etc. All of these things are great from the perspective that there is a definite interest in information technology, have developed some useful skills but it doe not make them a professional information technologist. This is not unlike someone who just likes to collect rocks, they can do things and exhibit knowledge about rocks, but they are not seen as a professional geologist.

In information technology we all know that the most constant thing in this field is change. Technology changes so fast that information technologists need to be able to keep up. The ability to adapt to new technology so it can be implemented properly is crucial. To do this, not only being able to adapt to change is necessary but the foundation level to become an IT professional must also change. The traditional approach typically focuses on a type of skill to embark on a traditional career as a programmer, system or network administrator, database specialist, cybersecurity specialist, etc. Yet the industry is faced with how do I get a Cloud Engineer, Cloud Architect, Kubernetes expert, etc. The reality of the situation is that an IT professional needs to have foundational knowledge in multiple areas and can then branch out into specialties related to hardware, software, etc.

Obtaining needed foundational knowledge facilitates cross communication across technology disciplines, improved understanding of design concepts and increased ability to be adaptive to changes in technology. The foundational technical knowledge that IT professionals need today are to understand the following:

● Networking

● Virtualization

● Storage

● Cloud Foundation and Containers

● Programming and Scripting

● Operating Systems

● AI

They do not need to be experts at this point but they do need the broader understanding of the application of information technology to systems.Knowledge in these areas can then launch into the further study and application of DevOps, FinOps, AIOps, and other specializations. In addition, cross over knowledge can easily be learned such as knowing how cybersecurity is applied to each of the foundation areas. The point here is that the synergies of the foundational knowledge then comes together to provide for more adaptable entry level employees who are better equipped to learn new technologies and communicate across IT specialties.It is really not unlike having hyperconverged knowledge to work with technology that is constantly converging.

Envision the real world scenario where we need to work in a multi-cloud environment, on-prem services are being supported, legacy systems need to be supported, new tools are constantly coming out, microservices and container deployment are used, data needs to be stored and under control, security across multiple layers needs to be implemented and maintained, service and support to the systems is needed, application of sound information governance, plus addressing multiple business needs that must be either developed or purchased and ultimately implemented. This becomes a typical information technology world that requires good technical ability coupled with strong communication and problem-solving skills to support going across multiple disciplines.

Consequently, entry level employees need to be better equipped to not only understand the work environment they are in, but they also need to be able to embrace and thrive in that environment. A hyper-converged technical knowledge capability is the cornerstone for a well-rounded information technology professional.