Hmm, I'll have to come back to you on this one!
Personally I don't think you need a degree in IT to start off in the industry. The desire to learn and adapt are much more useful.
What was your first IT job?
I managed to pass my MSCE many years ago, which didn't actually teach me much about IT. So I started off working as a sys admin for 200 a month in order to get hands-on experience.
What do you think are the most important skills people wanting to enter the IT job market should have nowadays?
Personally I don't think you need a degree in IT to start off in the industry. The desire to learn and adapt are much more useful.
What advice would you give someone thinking of entering the IT jobs market/your younger self?
Recognise the up-and-coming technologies and start experimenting. Passion, knowledge, an innovative streak and a willingness to learn are very marketable traits. Make sure you can demonstrate most (if not all), when looking for potential roles.
What is the biggest challenge facing IT professionals at the moment?
The industry is constantly changing which is driving individuals to be more agile than ever before. The ability to continually adapt and innovate are going to be "must-haves". Simply being a developer or an infrastructure guy just won't cut it.
What technologies/trends are you currently watching and why?
Anything to do with information and the ability to gather and process it quickly is particularly interesting. The ability to identify and understand trends in real-time combined with the capability of responding immediately will become very relevant in a very competitive market place.
Conversely, what current technology/trend are you not interested in and why?
I'm sad to say (seeing that this was my background),"tin" has become extremely commoditised and therefore has little influence in providing a competitive advantage any more.
