CompTIA Research


Summary of “Business Skills for IT Professionals”

Survey Information

In order to determine whether or not IT Professionals have “heard the message” about the value of business skills and whether or not they are taking action or getting employer support for the pursuit of those skills, a Web-based survey launched 2/7/07 to 215,085 IT Professionals via CompTIA IT Professional Access eNewsletter. The survey closed on Feb. 23 with 22 responses.

Key Findings

IT professionals feel that employers want them to not only be able to do their jobs, but to be personable while they are performing their duties as well. When presented with a list of six different major skills, IT professionals believe that employers value ‘interpersonal and communication’ and ‘technical’ skills the most when considering candidates for employment or advancement. However, ‘strategic thinking’ and ‘project management’ skills are believed to be of value as well, while ‘financial’ and ‘negotiation’ skills are believed to be of least value.

Most respondents felt they possessed the skills they believed employers value. Respondents also felt they were most proficient in ‘interpersonal and communication’ skills - the skill set which is believed to be of most value to employers. However, their proficiency ratings aren’t rated as highly as their value ratings.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of all respondents say they plan to upgrade their business skills within two years. The most popular skill these respondents chose for upgrading is project management (71%). Other top skills include ‘strategic thinking’ (51%), and ‘interpersonal and communication’ (43%). The majority (73%) will pursue self-study and 57 percent will pursue online training. The majority (92%) expect to spend at least some money to update their business skills. A combined 56 percent will spend $100-999.

Nearly all (94%) of the respondents plan to spend money to upgrade their technical skills or acquire new IT certifications in the next 12 months. A combined 61 percent will spend $100-999. More than half (52%) see the value in pairing technical and business training – they believe that both provide an equal opportunity for advancement. There are a considerable amount (37%) who feel technical training alone offers the best ROI in terms of new opportunities and raises, while 11 percent feel that just business skills training offers the best ROI.

Most (94%) have experience working in IT, and 76 percent are currently employed in the IT field. Respondents believe their employer is more likely to support ‘technical skill development’ (39%) than other types, and nearly one-quarter (24%) say their employer does not provide support for their training or education. Sixty-six percent believe their employer will offer partial support. Ten percent indicate that their employer will fund the total cost of training. One-quarter expect to receive less than 25 percent support. Respondents were then asked about in which other ways their employer supports training and ‘tuition reimbursement’ is the top choice at 54 percent. And 41 percent indicate that their employer provides ‘opportunities for advancement.’

Complete reports are available to CompTIA corporate members via logging into CompTIA’s Members Only Area at http://members.comptia.org. The information contained throughout these studies is proprietary to CompTIA. No portion of these studies may be reproduced in any form without the expressed written permission of CompTIA. However, small segments of no more than one paragraph in length may be quoted if proper citation is made. For more information or if you’re not a member and would like to purchase the report, please contact research@comptia.org.