Published on the 02/04/2019 | Written by Heather Wright

84 percent lacking confidence in ability to manage IT environments in next 3-5 years…

Australian IT professionals are suffering from a confidence crisis, with a new report showing 84 percent are lacking confidence in their ability to successfully manage their IT environments over the next three to five years.

At least, that’s according to a new report from infrastructure management software vendor SolarWinds.

The Australian results show our IT pros are less confident than their global counterparts, 75 percent of whom said they weren’t ‘completely confident’ in having the necessary skills to manage their IT environments.

“The data suggests a greater need to empower skillset and career development for technology professionals, so they can continue helping businesses transform their technology while also preparing for future disruption.”

The supposed lack of confidence comes despite 97 percent of the Aussie respondents saying they have worked to develop a skill over the past 12 months.

And it’s not confined to any particular business size, with 35 percent of small business IT professionals, 40 percent of medium size tech pros and 37 percent of IT pros at enterprises saying they’re somewhat to completely unconfident in their ability to manage environments into the near future with their current skillsets.

Topping the areas of concern are artificial intelligence, quantum computing and machine and/or deep learning.

Unsurprisingly a lack of time and budget for upskilling was cited by more than 70 percent of Aussie IT pros as key in their lack of confidence.

“The urgency of day-to-day tasks often impedes their ability to participate in learning sessions they find most valuable, like full-day courses, self-guided trainings or webinars,” IT Trends Report 2019: Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow says.

But while we’re not feeling that confident, we are getting in some training. Australian tech pros have prioritised hybrid IT (48 percent), systems and infrastructure (43 percent) and coding and scripting skills (43 percent) development in the past 12 months. Over the next three to five years, IT pros say they’ll be lining up for training in hybrid IT development monitoring and management (51 percent) and security management, including SIEM, policies and compliance (47 percent). Those key areas see IT pros well aligned with Gartner’s forecast that the worldwide public cloud services market is set to grow 17 percent this year, and that global revenue for the information security market will see 8.7 percent growth this year.

Data science and analytics rounded out the top three skillsets Australian tech pros plan to develop in the coming years.

When it comes to that training, Aussies are turning to vendors (27 percent) as their primary source, followed by online communities (19 percent) and organisation and/or coworkers (17 percent). That’s despite them deeming the ‘ideal format’ of training to be self-guided online courses or full-day or half-day in-person workshops or user conferences.

“The data suggests a greater need to empower skillset and career development for technology professionals, so they can continue helping businesses transform their technology while also preparing for future disruption,” the report says.

“However, upskilling in all the leading areas – from security and hybrid IT/cloud to data science and quantum computing – coupled with tech pros’ reported time and resource constraints is a tall order.

“In the year ahead, tech pros must approach skills development strategically and should prioritise necessary training based on the needs of daily operations and IT environments, as well as skills that translate to career growth,” the report says.

It says the trajectory form emerging, buzzword-laden technology and its real-world implementation should act as a guide for which technologies are best to pursue training in and also advocates considering the impact of postponing training.

“Many IT departments are laser-focused on reducing technical debt but lose sight of the impact to the department’s knowledge base. When it comes time to implement new technology to create efficiencies, there’s a steep learning curve that creates double the work.”

Instead, tech pros should ask management to define core competencies of the business as they relate to tech, and then monitor for gaps.

“When there’s a gap between core competencies and skills in IT management, it becomes much easier to have a conversation about necessary training.”

Learning to walk slowly with data science is also advocated – rather than expecting to become an expert quickly – as is creating a blueprint for career development.

“The less proactive the IT environment, the more proactive IT professionals should be when it comes to personal development. To truly capitalise on the opportunities presented by emerging technologies – and to ultimately remain successful five years from now – tech pros must commit to the mindset of a lifelong learner by taking a more disciplined, proactive approach to skills and career development.”

And it doesn’t have to be a big investment, the report says, noting that learning can happen in short bursts of just five minutes. “Five minutes twice a day adds up fast.”

“Recent history has proven that there is a direct correlation between technology and business performance,” says Joe Kim, SolarWinds executive vice president and global chief technology officer. “The results of this year’s IT Trends Report highlight that businesses need to focus even more on developing these professionals charged with running and pioneering technologies for the businesses. By removing day-to-day barriers, arming technology pros with the right technology and management tools, and prioritising skills and career development in the IT budget, tech pros can be better equipped for the future and help with business growth.”