Broader is Better in Technology Education

Late nights, long hours.It’s 10:00PM and I’m just wrapping up a class on technology marketing for a group of engineers made up of folks from Intel, Synopsis, and Tektronix. They look tired, but they’re tracking the material, studying hard, and putting in what it takes in these late nights, long hours.They know education, these folks. There are eight of them in class and not only do they have their bachelor’s degrees in computer science and master’s degrees in engineering, they’re here studying marketing with me as part of their MBA regimen. And still, in spite of the years they’ve put into their academic careers, this is hard work.“We have to do this,” says one of the students. “Understanding the business at a high level is what allows me to fit in my company to do better work. This business degree will make me more viable.”And that story is echoed around the room. It was once acceptable to be a field expert, they say, to see your role in the organization and fit into it perfectly. Now, understanding technology alone is not enough.Curt Siffert is a programmer. He’s one of the legions of PHP and database experts pimping themselves as independent consultants, and he’s exceedingly good at it. But he’s also a musician – jazz pianist and composer – and his analysis on his political blog has been featured on national TV.Siffert’s humble about his accomplishments, but he cops to being successful as a result of them. That he takes great pride in understanding his clients’ businesses and helps to integrate his technology solutions into their operations more fluidly as a result.“Most of programming is about being able to anticipate when things might go wrong,” Siffert says. “If I know my client, how their business works, I feel like I can make connections between their world and mine more quickly. When you have a wide variety of disciplines at your fingertips, what you know becomes less important than the speed you can make connections between them.”So, is this a trend? If you’re a technical expert on the job market, it should be. The value of a technical staff as a commodity in itself is degrading rather quickly. In late 2005, the we conducted an independent survey of more than 300 employers nationwide. The questions focused on how their demands on employees’ skills are changing. Some key themes emerged: adaptability, agility, broad technical proficiency, and – get this – a demand to solve problems and add unexpected value in the face of stiff competition.But what is unexpected value? You can think of it as being ready for anything, and going above and beyond; Good enough, isn’t, anymore.It is fair to assume, according to the survey responses, that employers have a different set of expectations for employees than they did a decade ago:

• Employees don’t have the luxury to work in their niche; they must have a broad set of skills, and be able to adapt to new and changing situations in the workplace and the industry at large.
• Employees must be able to manage and, at the same time, be prepared to roll up their sleeves and get the job done. A valuable employee will master more than one skill or talent, and be able to quickly and easily move to another seat at the table and take on a different roll — and do it well.
• Skill integration and multi-tasking are not just buzz words, they are a reality and an expectation in the technology industry — for all levels and positions.

These skills are not just more prevalent on the list of in-demand skills for employers, but they are have-to-haves for employees seeking job security, promotability, and marketability. A rapidly changing economy and subsequent workplace have put pressures on employers to get more out of employees than ever before. And the rallying cries from these employers? We need people who can make connections, work together, communicate, and, most importantly, people who can and want to learn.Still, the message gets more complicated. In the same survey, employers were asked to rank skills in order of priority and then they were asked how well they felt traditional education delivered on those skills. For the top five skills in their list of importance (including leadership, critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and desire to learn and grow on the job), these employers felt traditional education fell short in meeting those needs.If you’re thinking that there is an apparent correlative disconnect between major employers and traditional education, indeed, you raise a good point for all of us: life-long learning is our own responsibility. Employers are finding it more and more reasonable to demand a workforce that not only can be trained, but wants to be trained. And employees are finding it more and more reasonable to demand a workplace that satisfies their personal need for education. It’s up to us to find a way to match our own needs with those of the companies that employ us.It’s 10:15 and I’m walking out of the building. One of my students is waiting for me by the door. He’s a gentile East Indian fellow from Intel who’s been working hard in class. He wants me to change an assignment, to change it in such a way that will make it appreciably more difficult for him. “You don’t need that for the degree,” I say to him with some glee over his demonstrated academic pluck. “The degree is not my mission, Pete,” he says to me.“The degree is just the start.”