What does it take to make it to CIO?

IT – A profession? 

Unlike established disciplines such as Accountancy and Engineering, IT has only recently started seeing itself as a profession. Therefore, it is lagging behind other professions in terms of training and career development. Whilst great strides have been made by such bodies as the British Computer Society and its SFIA (Skills Frame in the Information Age), there still appears to be a disconnect in convincing organisations to adapt such schemes.

What skills and attributes do IT professionals value? 

A significant proportion of IT professionals have come up through the “ranks” and have progressed quite often in organisations because of their technical skills. They will often have “management” thrust upon them and they have to adapt quickly, often without the comfort of a mentor or corporate development scheme. That said, the increasing importance of IT Service Management (ITIL) has helped IT organisations align closer to wider business need and processes.

What are the challenges for IT professionals in terms of career progression? 

Notwithstanding the contribution of ITIL, many businesses still see IT as an expensive overhead which harbors unfriendly pointy heads.  Often, IT is not seen as an important business driver (unless it fails) and the advance of consumer computing has created a perception by the business that “IT is easy.”

What skills and attributes do the business value? 

Businesses value those who know and understand the business whilst making a direct contribution to the bottom line. They expect leaders to be strong focused individuals who can communicate, influence and motivate staff and peers alike.  One important word here is influence. Quite often, those who climb the corporate ladder are those who can influence, usually through charisma, strong communication or sycophancy. The latter leads to the concept of seeking patronage which has been around since the days of Pharaoh’s court. A powerful patron will help his “student” create a strong personal brand and perception.

The previous paragraph probably makes uncomfortable reading for many IT guys because they probably believe that strong technical leadership in a meritorious environment will guarantee a passport to the top, i.e. becoming a CIO.

What can the poor nerds do? 

Well, if you could an write an app or software programme then it might look something like this:

10: SET CIO = DREAMS

20: SET POTENTIAL = (20 * PERSONAL_BRAND) + (10 * BUSINESS_KNOWLEDGE) + (2* LEADERSHIP) + (0.0005 * TECHNICAL_COMPETENCE)

30 IF POTENTIAL > CIO THEN GOTO 100

40 PERSONAL_BRAND = PERSONAL_BRAND + SYCOPHANCY + POLITICS + UNDERMINING

50 GOTO 20

100 PRINT “WELL DONE”

A new technical vocabulary

I thought that I would focus on two technical terms which have emerged in the last few years.

1) SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – This is basically about how you get your web site further up the rankings of search engines such as Google, E-bay and Yahoo. There are individuals and companies who offer this as a service.

2) Click Farms – These are companies where low paid workers click on web sites for fraudulent purposes. They are usually found in developing countries and they may generate click through revenue for unscrupulous people or try to deplete paid advertising credits ( e.g. Facebook) of client’s competitors.

In summary, one has to be judicious in assessing their page hits and likes in order to determine if a campaign has been successful. Perhaps, you should look at demographic statistic. For example, if you had marketed a US toothpaste and all your hits are from Decca or Cairo then perhaps you should rethink things.