10 tech skills you should develop during the next five years
I came across this article this morning and I have to say I absolutely agree! Of particular importance is bullet points 3 and 7.
3. Hybrid networks
The day of the all-Windows or all-UNIX network is already past, and networks are likely to grow more, rather than less hybridized in the future. As new versions of Linux, such as Ubuntu, become friendlier for end users, we’re likely to see some organizations deploying it on the desktop for certain users. However, it’s likely that other users will continue to use Windows because of application requirements and/or personal preferences, and there may very well be Macintosh users in the mix as well, especially in graphics environments.
IT pros will no longer be able to get by with expertise in only one platform; you’ll need to be able to support and troubleshoot different operating systems.
In actuality where I am currently employed this is already a reality and has been for five years or more.
7. Software as a service
Web 2.0, the next generation of the Internet, is all about SaaS, or Software as a Service. SaaS involves delivering applications over the Web, rather than installing those applications on individual users’ machines. Some IT pundits have warned that SaaS will do away with IT administrators’ jobs entirely, but the more likely scenario is that the job description will change to one with less focus on deployment and maintenance of applications and more emphasis on broader-based planning, convergence, etc.
If SaaS takes off, the job market may also shift so that more jobs are concentrated in the application provider sector rather than in companies’ in-house IT departments. In that situation, IT pros who have the skills relating to service provision and multi-tenant architecture will have a head start when it comes to getting and staying
employed.
This point is particularly true. The new paradigm is the office is your web. I have begun investing in web techlogy because it is both portable and requires thinner clients to access such as a web tablets like the Nokia N800 or web enabled phones like the Apple iPhone.