Synthesizing IT job skills identified in academic studies, practitioner publications and job ads

Abstract

This research examines IT job skills across three genres of texts: scholarly articles, practitioner literature, and online job ads. The job skills are organized in three broad categories: technical, humanistic and business skills. Findings suggest that the online advertisements list a strong mix of skills in these three categories, while practitioner literature tends to focus heavily on technical skills. The most recent practitioner literature, however, notes that CIOs are increasingly demanding business acumen as well as technical skills. Project management, financial analysis, and communication skills are the most frequently cited business skills. The scholarly literature tends to lag behind in terms of specific technical skills, but reports the richest set of IT job skills across the three categories.