Lessons in learning

You certainly can’t accuse us of following the pack. Here it is, late May, with the world fixated on graduation and summer plans, and what’s InfoWorld hawking? A special “Back to School” package, with one article on IT pros polishing up their business skills and another on the challenge of providing continuous learning in a budget-conscious environment.

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No, we haven’t lost our ability to read the calendar. We’re simply trying to stress that education is a year-round endeavor. Those who ignore this do so at their own professional peril.

In particular, business acumen is emerging as a career priority. Forrester VP Randy Heffner hammered the point home last week at our SOA Executive Forum in New York, when he said, “We need IT people who think business thoughts, not just talk business talk.” For many IT pros, that entails returning to school -- specifically business school. As it turns out, there are plenty of MBA programs with a strong technical bent. But according to Contributing Editor Tynan, though high-tech MBA programs have been around for a while, “only recently have universities begun actively recruiting people with tech backgrounds. These programs are becoming hybrid business/engineering degrees, and not just business with a dollop of geekiness on the side.”

Unfortunately, companies often discourage staff members from furthering their education; employers worry employees will take their new skills and leave for greener pastures. Tynan talked to a slew of disenchanted IT workers who are paying for business courses and executive leadership training programs out of their own pockets. Their organizations simply won’t pony up.

That sort of attitude toward education can backfire because it increases the likelihood that highly motivated, advancement-minded employees -- the very people an organization should retain -- will bail. “I think employers need a wake-up call,” Tynan says. “They need to be aware that if they don’t pay for their IT employees’ education, employees will do it themselves and take newfound knowledge elsewhere.”

So what’s a company to do? Between sessions at the SOA show, I chatted with a senior-level IT exec (he requested anonymity) who is currently negotiating with a major university to set up a continuing education program for his company. His advice: Make it easy for employees to stay up-to-date on the latest developments. Then supplement those efforts by building a cutting-edge IT organization, which will encourage the smartest people to stick around.

Supporting continuing education may seem bold, but it’s well worth the risk. “Management often operates out of fear,” the exec told me. “That’s simply not an effective way to manage.”