Go wireless young tech worker: CompTIA survey reveals wireless skills will top future hiring priorities

Global survey of 3,500 IT managers identifies current and future tech skills needs.

April 7, 2008 – Technology workers looking to keep their skills out front of employers’ future needs would be wise to focus on wireless technologies, research commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) indicates.

A survey of more than 3,500 information technology (IT) managers reveals that wireless and RF mobile technology is the skill set expected to increase the most in importance over the next five years. In all but two of fourteen countries surveyed, IT managers said wireless skills will increase the most in importance over the next five years. Wireless skills ranked second in South Africa (behind security) and France (behind Web-based technologies).

Among specific industries, IT managers in healthcare (63 percent) and education (63 percent) were more likely to identify wireless technology as the skill that will be most important five years from now. IT managers in the auto/manufacturing sector (48 percent) were less likely to consider wireless important.

Other skills expected to grow in importance in the next five years include Web-based technologies (such as Web 2.0, Service Oriented Architecture, Software-as-a-Service, Rich Internet Applications, and AJAX) and specific programming languages.

CompTIA commissioned The Center for Strategy Research, Inc. (http://www.csr-bos.com/index.htm), a Boston-based market research firm, to conduct the survey among organizations worldwide to identify gaps in IT skills and possible solutions to close those gaps. The telephone and online survey was conducted during the fourth quarter of 2007 with IT managers in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For more information on the study, visit http://www.comptia.org/sections/research/.