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The changing face of IT. Worker versatility is seen as crucial as marketplace shifts

March 20, 2006 /

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Bear Paw Development Corporation is a private non-profit organization created for the purpose of administering programs to help improve regional economic conditions in Hill, Blaine, Liberty, Chouteau and Phillips Counties and the Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy's Indian Reservations.

Mark Zahorik, information officer for RAPP Collins, says people who know how will always work for those who know why.

Bob Schmidt remembers a time 20 years ago when his boss at Frito-Lay Inc. called together members of the information technology department to issue a warning.

With personal computers rapidly becoming ubiquitous in the workplace, she told the staff, ”Knowledge of COBOL is no longer going to be enough to survive.” To stay in the game, she said, staff members would need to broaden their skills.

An analysis by Gartner Inc., a research firm based in Stamford, Conn., predicts that the information technology job market will shrink by a whopping 40 percent by 2010. IT folks who specialize in a single technology will be the most vulnerable to job cuts.

By Mary Jacobs
Knight Ridder News Service

Full Story: http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_3619903