High growth in demand and compensation for non-certified IT skill sets has occurred for four straight quarters and is projected to continue, outpacing certified skills which have been experiencing comparatively anemic activity in the same timeframe, according to a new report by Foote Partners.

Factors cited as responsible for the growth include a focus on skill-based acquisition (creating more contract and consulting positions), increasingly distributed IT responsibilities in organizations, and the evolution of “hybrid IT/business professionals.”

“Technology and business skills have in effect collapsed into each other, creating legions of what our firm refers to generically as hybrid IT/business professionals.  New hybrid jobs and job titles have been created throughout the enterprise,” said David Foote, co-founder and CEO of Foote Partners. “Globalization and competitive pressures have accelerated the popularity of hybrid IT/business professionals and in turn energized market demand and interest in paying cash premiums for hundreds of certified and non-certified IT skills.”

Foote said the economic recession had a hand to play in the skill-based approach and rise in hybrid positions yet the story of evolving the IT workforce started earlier. “The truth is that IT and business leaders have been struggling with transforming the IT workforce for years, trying to make it more agile, flexible, nimble, whatever you want to call it, said Foote. “What the recession did was help leaders get ‘unstuck.’  More focused and motivated.  The pressure to get on the other side of this transition is enormous.”  Foote mentions the “end game” is to find a way to “react quicker, execute faster and more predictably.”

Of the certifications showing continued growth in worth, VMware is at the top showing an average compensation premium of 8.5%.  As virtualization and other areas tied to Cloud Computing grow, relevant certifications will continue to rise in value commensurately.  Other certifications seeing rise in value include those from Red Hat and Oracle.

Non-certified skills which saw a sustained lift for four consecutive quarters include database, application development tools, SAP/ERP, Web/e-commerce and methodology and process management.

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There is a myth persisting where it comes to data center jobs.  Those willing to understand the true landscape stand to gain a great deal in the job market.

The myth is that data center jobs are going away as enterprises move to the Cloud.  It isn’t true.  Gartner analyst Dave Cappuccio sets us straight in pointing out that “when virtual infrastructures are using SAN’s, and Fiber Channel is running over Ethernet, who has responsibility for the overall storage environment; the network team, storage team, virtualization team, or server team?  All of the above.”

New recruits able to meet the demands of tomorrow’s data centers are needed.  Dr. Mickey Zandi points out that while “data center hiring isn’t in crisis yet, it’s already difficult to find qualified people.”  Consolidation of systems such as storage, network and computing save the data centers money but increase the qualification needed from employees. 

 Zandi recommends companies invest in the training needed to deal with these more advanced environments.  He points out that certifications will increase in importance, such as cloud-related certifications from Cisco, EMC and VMWare, and he recommends that workers do more training, research and learn other domains.

Learn more about IT certification paths for key technologies.

The U.K. Office of Government Commerce (OGC) began phasing out v2 publications and qualifications for ITIL in June of 2010.  The formal movement from v2 to v3 continues through June 30, 2011 when the availability of the Manager’s Bridging qualification ends.  At that point, ITIL will be offered strictly in the v3 format of qualification.

Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL), the professional best practice definition for IT service management, is a valuable addition to anyone who is responsible for information technology service management.  There are four exam levels: Foundation, Intermediate, Expert and Master. 

Get ITIL Foundation and Intermediate training courses from GogoTraining, offering outstanding instruction from industry experts such as Neal Rowland, Sue Southern, and Helen Morris.

Have you updated to v3 yet?  Have you obtained your ITIL certification?