A lot of my day is spent either helping folks figure out what they want to be when they grow up or helping managers have these conversations with their people. Over the years, I’ve discovered …

In no other profession is accepting change as a matter of course as important as it is in IT. In fact, it’s a primary motivator for most IT professionals. Staying challenged is one of the key things that great IT professionals like about the profession. Employers appreciate that. But if you’ve worked for a company for a long time, particularly working on long term projects using tried and true technologies, you may one day discover that your skills may not be as current as you had hoped.

The market for IT professionals remains hot. Companies are investing heavily in updating their recruiting strategies to find qualified candidates. But there’s a difference in today’s job market than back in the dot-com era — basic skills in IT are no longer enough. As technologies have evolved, so have employer’s expectations for the people they hire. The bar is raising. And the question to IT professionals is “How are you keeping up your technical skills?”