Introduction
As with any career, advancement in an Information Technology career occurs due to many factors…education and training, experience on the job, mentoring, advancement opportunity, personal motivation…to name a few. It’s reasonable to assume, however, that acquisition of appropriate new IT skills enhances hiring or advancement possibilities since the new skills make the individual more valuable to the organization. While employee recruitment for IT positions is most often job-title based, a study was reported which identified the frequency with which various skill-sets appear for similar positions albeit with differing job titles. [1]

What Did VITC Do?
VITC abstracted information from the report mentioned above, reorganized it, and added other information to create a draft document. We then asked a leading figure in post-secondary IT education [2] to review the draft and adopted many of his suggestions to create what we’ve called the IT Skills Hierarchy.

Why Did We Do It?
VITC believed it would be helpful to create a list of IT skills identified by employers and ranked by how frequently mentioned to assist Vermonters using this web site to make decisions about further IT education or training.

What Can You Do With the IT Skills Hierarchy?
If you’re visiting the VITC web site for help in deciding about further IT education or training, look at the skills listed under the headings of most interest to you…Basic Computer Skills, Web Development Skills, etc. Go down the skills list and determine which of these skills you already have. When you get to skills you don’t have, you can search the Education and Training Resources section of the web site to identify Vermont organizations which train or educate for these skills.

For example, if Web Development is of interest to you and you believe you already have Basic Web Page Design and Graphics Design skills then you might want to consider courses offered in development tools such as DreamWeaver or Front Page.

Other Considerations
Acquiring skills does not always happen in the linear fashion suggested by the IT Skills Hierarchy. For example, if you’re working in web development, you may have developed some Basic Javascript skills but not yet mastered DreamWeaver. Not to worry…the IT Skills Hierarchy is a guide not the bible. Just fill in the blanks in your education in the most orderly manner you can.

Also be aware that not all employers rank the IT skills needed by their businesses similarly. (In fact, it’s quite likely that no two IT “experts” would agree on a skills hierarchy.) It should come as no surprise that the IT skills ranked by a health services provider may differ from those assigned by a manufacturing company. If you are currently employed in IT, be sure to discuss with your supervisor or your HR department what IT training or education might be of most benefit to the company and therefore most likely to advance your career with it. Another resource you can use is the career planning group at the training or education providers you are considering.

1 The IT WorkNet Attribute Lexicon report by William Osgood, President of the Knowledge Institute, with James T. McKim, Chairman of the Software Association of NH, 2001 
2 John Lavallee, Chairman - Accounting and Computer Systems Division, Champlain College, Burlington, VT

VIEW HIERARCHY