Federal IT Management 10 Years from Now: New Skills Required

Here is an interesting article from my colleague Joe Kim, in which he discusses what we can expect to see in the future as federal IT professionals.   Over the past couple of years, administrators have confronted a rapidly changing landscape that seems to shift overnight. Public vs. private cloud is an old argument; now, administrators are grappling with the reality of implementing and managing hybrid IT infrastructures.   As such, their skill sets are being tested like never before. Sixty-two percent of respondents to a recent SolarWinds IT Trends survey indicated that hybrid IT has required that they acquire new skills, while 11 percent said it has altered their career path. Meanwhile, 57 percent of public sector organizations have already hired or reassigned IT personnel, or plan to do so, for the specific purpose of managing cloud technologies.   The skills that IT administrators are learning today will have a large impact on what IT management will look like ten years from now.   From service managers to service consumers   Our survey found that 96 percent of respondents have moved at least some applications and aspects of critical infrastructure to the cloud. This migration has caused federal administrators to sharpen their “as-a-service” skills, since many of the tools they are using have become software-defined and exist both on-premises and in hosted environments.   Federal IT professionals have gone from being service managers to service consumers who work with cloud providers to manage their infrastructures. In this service-oriented world, administrators are finding themselves interacting more with software than they are with hardware switches and routers. These interactions are precursors to IT practitioners’ inevitable evolution from traditional network managers into areas that may be more familiar to developers, and toward becoming service brokers, rather than service managers.   From network manager to network developer   Administrators previously needed to be savvy about command lines and hands-on management of network components, but the move toward hybrid IT and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications has greatly reduced the need for these types of skills. Administrators must now begin to be able to manage the different pieces of code that comprise applications and allow those programs to work with each other.   Tomorrow’s network administrators will be familiar with application program interfaces (APIs) — essentially app building blocks — and how they can be used to solve common problems, from network management to security challenges. They will create highly customized and dynamic networks that fit the unique needs of their agencies. Furthermore, they’ll have a greater amount of control over these networks, as they will be able to tap into APIs to dictate policy, rules, user access, and more.   From servicing people to self-service   They’ll also move from being service managers to service brokers. Instead of provisioning more storage or spending their time clicking around user interfaces, they’ll be assigning applications and access rights to individual users so that those users can easily set up services on their own. The standard practice of a user submitting an online request for access to a new application will be a rare occurrence; everything that a person needs or is authorized to use will be at their fingertips in this self-service environment.   Network administrators will also have more opportunity to add strategic value to their agencies. Today, administrators spend a lot of time servicing users. Moving toward self-service will allow users to check their own boxes, download their own applications, and authorize their own access, all without having to go through their system administrators. In turn, future administrators will have more time to work on higher value services, such as developing plans for stronger security measures or using predictive analytics to anticipate and remediate network issues.   From the future to the past   Despite all of these changes, administrators will still need to focus on the “bread and butter” aspects of network management, including performance, availability, and compliance. To ensure success in each of these areas, administrators will need to use many of the same tools and processes that are commonplace right now.   Indeed, some of these tools will be even more important than they are today. For instance, network performance monitoring will be critical, particularly as IT becomes increasingly hybrid- and application-based. Agencies will need solutions that provide automated and unfettered insight into the performance of these applications, whether they are on-premises or hosted, just as they do today.   Learning these and other solutions will take some work, but there are resources available. Online forums such as SolarWinds’ THWACK provide forums where administrators can exchange ideas and ask questions, and most vendors will be more than willing to offer information on best practices.   These resources provide administrators with a chance to hone their skills today while preparing for their future. That future undoubtedly will be challenging, but it also will present many opportunities for federal IT professionals who want to expand their horizons and add more value to their agencies.   Find the full article on GovLoop.