10 Tech Skills that are headed the way of the Dinosaur

Greetings!

I thought many of you may be interested in this information that was published on the web on Feb. 22, 2011.

===================================

10 Tech Skills that are headed the way of the Dinosaur

As reported by Global Knowledge, one interesting facet of the IT industry
is the need to learn new skills on a continual basis. New technologies are
released all the time, and new operating systems seem to roll off the
factory floor every 18 months or so. What this means for us IT
professionals is that we must continuously update our skills or end up
becoming redundant. What are out-dated skills? Some skills have been in
continuous use for over 50 years (COBOL programmers) and will still be in
demand for the short term, but their days are numbered. Other skills are
hard to think of as just a pure IT skill (typing) - but does have a
dramatic impact overall (texting or IM)

1. Software Installation and Support
2. Email
3. Telephony
4. IPv4 Subnetting
5. Typing (or the rise of IM speech)
6. Non-TCP/IP Networks
7. Hardware
8. HTML - Web Developer
9. Older Server Operating Systems and Server-based applications
10. COBOL

===================================

I'm sure it won't affect any of the go-getters in this forum, but this could be the wake up call for any colleagues, friends, or family members who are struggling with the development of new IT career skills.

Enjoy!

By the way, I did know some guys in 2007 that were getting over $100/hour for supporting OpenVMS servers for a Federal Agency.

Cheers!

Paladin
ISMS Architect and Data Center Manager

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Comments

SteveLord

COBOL is always on this list. Thought Novell was on this kind of list as well.

billyr

I think what you may be missing here is:

As published by Global Knowledge - nothing like having a vested interest in wanting you to take more courses.

As for not needing to be able to use Ipv4, well thats just laughable and shows the amount of time taken to conduct this highly scientific research.

eansdad

How can hardware be on the list? What is everything going to run on? Also software installation and support? I guess you don't need it if you don't have hardware.

/usr

Telephony?

That one made me lol.

skyline

Email.... Really!?!?

msteinhilber

Global Knowledge seems to make themselves look more foolish with each press release.

veritas_libertas

/usr wrote: »

Telephony?

That one made me lol.

Made me laugh since I know most VoIP people I know are making plenty of money. You still have to deal with PBX, and that is not going away any time soon.

xenodamus

WTH?.....Who comes up with this stuff?

Hardware?
Software installation and support?

Are we being replaced by robots or something?

TheShadow

eansdad wrote: »

How can hardware be on the list? What is everything going to run on? Also software installation and support? I guess you don't need it if you don't have hardware.

If you have been in this business as long as I have you would know that hardware has always been on these types of lists; just not in the way that you have imagined.

Minicomputers will never replace room filling mainframes, who needs them. Just ask GE, Control Data, Burroughs, RCA, Sperry Univac, etc

Microcomputers will never replace Minicomputers, who needs them? Just ask DEC, Burroughs/Unisys, Wang, etc

Netbooks, Tablets etc will never replace desktops, who needs them. Just ask well, just about anyone.

Smart phones will never eventually replace the hardware of today, who needs them. Just, umm look in the mirror and ask yourself. Things such as the Apple or Android stores handle automatic software installation. Support ? What is this support that you speak of?

When is the last time you fixed some hardware rather than deciding it was cheaper to replace it. Hardware is becoming like televisions, radios, etc. as throwaway commodities. Seen any TV only repair shops lately. The more powerful hardware becomes, the more justification to just dispose of it at the recycle plant when the next model arrives. Powerful quite often equates to more miniaturization which in hardware is a synonym for disposable.

If cloud computing becomes the be all, end all and our future version of Skynet then who needs a lot of hardware people. You need a few highly specialized one but not a lot. Ask aging redundant mainframe and mini designers of whom I won't admit to being a part of that group. Always plan for your next high tech career or you might find that you don't have one. I don't agree with Globals entire list but in general it is food for thought.

uncleant

skyline wrote: »

Email.... Really!?!?

Who sends email? It's all text messages and twitter. Sending email is like sending a hand written letter or paying by check at the store.

tpatt100

uncleant wrote: »

Who sends email? It's all text messages and twitter. Sending email is like sending a hand written letter or paying by check at the store.

Professionally email is still the way to go for me, I would not text or twitter somebody else. I like keeping emails as records anyways. Now with friends and such yeah email not as much. Texting still feels like "answer me now" though, and I usually just email.

SteveLord

Email rules in business still. Texting and Twitter are nowhere near professional.....and won't be....so sorry.

mikedisd2

uncleant wrote: »

Who sends email?

Every company in the world?

Turgon

Paladin wrote: »

Greetings!

I thought many of you may be interested in this information that was published on the web on Feb. 22, 2011.

===================================

10 Tech Skills that are headed the way of the Dinosaur

As reported by Global Knowledge, one interesting facet of the IT industry
is the need to learn new skills on a continual basis. New technologies are
released all the time, and new operating systems seem to roll off the
factory floor every 18 months or so. What this means for us IT
professionals is that we must continuously update our skills or end up
becoming redundant. What are out-dated skills? Some skills have been in
continuous use for over 50 years (COBOL programmers) and will still be in
demand for the short term, but their days are numbered. Other skills are
hard to think of as just a pure IT skill (typing) - but does have a
dramatic impact overall (texting or IM)

1. Software Installation and Support
2. Email
3. Telephony
4. IPv4 Subnetting
5. Typing (or the rise of IM speech)
6. Non-TCP/IP Networks
7. Hardware
8. HTML - Web Developer
9. Older Server Operating Systems and Server-based applications
10. COBOL

===================================

I'm sure it won't affect any of the go-getters in this forum, but this could be the wake up call for any colleagues, friends, or family members who are struggling with the development of new IT career skills.

Enjoy!

By the way, I did know some guys in 2007 that were getting over $100/hour for supporting OpenVMS servers for a Federal Agency.

Cheers!

Paladin
ISMS Architect and Data Center Manager

There will always be a need for people with legacy skills providing you can get the work in. But the opportunities will certainly diminish over time, they already have. Most people that work in IT do not have niche or even specialist skills these days. We are the steel workers of the 21st Century to use a quote I saw on a forum in 2003. The number 1 on the list is the key for me, we will see support squeezed until the pips squeak over the next 5 years with many, many jobs being outsourced. The outsourcers will also munch one another up in mergers. The support jobs available will be increasingly automated and standardized and the glass ceiling to better paid IT work will get thicker.

We need to upskill, but I would say IT professionals need to get less hung up about chasing technology, and more savvy about where they sit on the pie chart. You need to be moving into work that is seen less as a cost sink, and more of a value add revenue generating type of role. Do this before the Ivy League graduate trainee executive puts the pie chart up on the slide show to the C level's in your company and the 'no brainer' decision to relieve people of their jobs takes place. When the pie chart appears, 20 years experience will not save you.

Hands on jobs that cover 'everything' (and offer the best experience) will be driven to the margins of small companies, but increasingly even those companies will be munched by a parent company that has a corporate IT policy which will take power away from local IT support.

Sett

I think by "Telephony" they meant the old PSTN and ISDN, not the VoIP, which is generally true. " Software Installation and Support" is there due to all this cloud computing fuss.
"Older Server Operating Systems and Server-based applications" -I have no idea what is that...

RTmarc

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Every company in the world?

I think it is a good bet he was being facetious.

Other than #9, the list is garbage.

N2IT

uncleant wrote: »

Who sends email? It's all text messages and twitter. Sending email is like sending a hand written letter or paying by check at the store.

Everyone in corporate uses email. Formal communications are always sent out via email

OCS and other communication tools are for quick pings, but for professional communication it's email.

shon541

Here is the article with the author's reasons for why they think these skills are going away.

10 Tech Skills That Are Heading the Way of the Dinosaur

tpatt100

I thought more about this and like all tech, I think if you are comfortable now you should always do a self evaluation and think "can I do this for another give years and if I can will my experience in this help me find another job?"

I know guys I worked with 10 years ago who thought they could do desktop support until they retire. A lot of places near me use Citrix and or VMware. OS crashed? Send the client a new image, their files are on the NAS anyways.

Applications? Usually a webpage hosted by a third party supporter.

bertieb

Turgon wrote: »

You need to be moving into work that is seen less as a cost sink, and more of a value add revenue generating type of role. Do this before the Ivy League graduate trainee executive puts the pie chart up on the slide show to the C level's in your company and the 'no brainer' decision to relieve people of their jobs takes place. When the pie chart appears, 20 years experience will not save you.

Completely agree and I think this applies to almost every job role these days, if its not generating revenue it'll certainly end up on a pie-chart sooner rather than later. One particular bugbear of mine with IT people (in general of course

) is they don't necessarily see the bigger picture and the reason why their job exists. This is why I'd always recommend moving into a design/consulting role rather than support based in nature. I work for a large(ish), global outsourcing company and I've certainly seen us take onboard much more design-build-run work across the various departments over the past 12 months alone and judging by the corporate emails I've been receiving lately we seem to be buying other firms at an increasing pace.

Back on topic, that list is useless. Email/Telephony? As much as I wish my work email and phone would p*** off and die sometimes, they sure won't be going away anytime soon

2E151

Paladin wrote: »

Greetings!
4. IPv4 Subnetting

IPv4 might be on the decline, but I suspect many companies will continue to use IPV4 internally and translate (or tunnel) to a public IPV6 for years to come.

Paladin

2E151 wrote: »

IPv4 might be on the decline, but I suspect many companies will continue to use IPV4 internally and translate (or tunnel) to a public IPV6 for years to come.

I attended a briefing by one of the IPv6 architects, Brian Carpenter, back in 2001. He said we would have IPv4 -> IPv6 gateways and IPv6 -> IPv4 gateways with us for the forseeable future.

My guess is that as long as companies can use private IPv4 address blocks* inside their firewalls, unless they have to have IPv6 machines that talk directly to IPv6 applications from outside the firewall, I would guess they will feel no real compelling need to switch over to IP v6. Mobile applications, however, will be another story altogether. Besides that, the population of China could gobble up about 40% of the total public IPv4 addresses, so between mobile apps and China's emergence into the Age of the Internet, the existing remaining public IPv4 addresses weren't going to last very long.

Cheers!

Paladin
ISMS Architect and Data Center Manager

* Private IP Address Blocks:
10.x.x.x
172.16.x.x.
192.168.x.x
169.254.x.x (Microsoft's special APIPA block, and usually means you can't access a DHCP Server)

mikedisd2

RTmarc wrote: »

I think it is a good bet he was being facetious.

Other than #9, the list is garbage.

Then he needs to make his sarcasm more obvious; I can't see his facial expression.

So what's going to replace server-based applications?

certhelp

Paladin wrote: »

* Private IP Address Blocks:
10.x.x.x
172.16.x.x.
192.168.x.x
169.254.x.x (Microsoft's special APIPA block, and usually means you can't access a DHCP Server)

Why is this last entry a Microsoft Special block? Isn't it a special block regardless of the vendor?

certhelp

phoeneous wrote: »

Yeah, and what's up with no love for 172.16.32.0-255/16?

Paladin did list 172.16.0.0/12 as 172.16.x.x (like every other block he/she listed) instead of using CIDR notation.

AFAIK, 172.16.0.0 -- 172.31.255.255 is the private class B address range.
Or do you mean specifically 172.16.32.0-255/16?

May be it's my brain that is going the way of Dinosaur as well.