The document summarizes the results of a survey of hundreds of experienced IT professionals regarding their careers and job satisfaction. Some key findings include: - Two-thirds of respondents wanted to make their next career move within the next two years. - IT professionals at larger companies and those that aggressively adopt new technologies reported their departments were taken more seriously. - Developing business skills like being business savvy, influencing others, and building relationships were seen as most important for career advancement over technical skills alone. - Respondents reported generally good fit between their temperaments and their organization's cultures.

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2. 5 Tips Every Job Hunting IT Pro Should Know 2
Introduction
In April 2014, Wisegate surveyed hundreds of seasoned IT professionals (90% of whom
have been in IT for more than ten years), asking questions geared toward learning what
they know, what they need to learn, and what they perceive as important in their careers.
This survey revealed several extremely interesting findings regarding career changes for IT
professionals. As shown in Figure 1, IT professionals definitely see a career change in their
future, with two-thirds of them wanting to make the next move in their career within the next
two years.
While many IT professionals are considering changes, they often don’t know some of the
key indicators of whether the company they’re investigating is a good fit for them. By
looking at the results of this survey, a revealing picture emerges, giving valuable insights to
IT professionals who are considering moving to a different company.

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Figure 1. "When would you LIKE to make the next move in your career (promotion, role
change, etc.)?"
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
Meet the Respondents
Wisegate reached out to hundreds of senior-level IT professionals when conducting this
survey. First, we gathered information on the industries in which they work, their current
roles, and their seniority within the company, all in order to get a sense of who the
respondents are. The responses make for a good composite view of IT professionals.
Figure 2 shows that a balanced mix of C-level / VP’s, directors, managers, and individual
contributors participated in this survey.
Figure 2. "Which of the below most closely matches your current role in IT?"
Source: Wisegate, April 2014

4. 5 Tips Every Job Hunting IT Pro Should Know 4
Figure 3 shows the proportions at which common industries are represented in this survey,
with finance and insurance leading the pack, with manufacturing, health care, and
professional/scientific companies making the bulk of other respondents’ employers.
Figure 3. "Which of the following general categories describes the organization you work
for?"
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
Figure 4 shows a very mature survey respondent profile, with 90% of replies coming from
people who have been in IT more than ten years.
Figure 4. "How many years have you worked in IT / How many years have you worked in
your current position?"
Source: Wisegate, April 2014

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Not surprisingly, given the rapidly-evolving nature of IT, Figure 4 also shows that more than
half of the respondents have been in their current position for between one and five years,
with a significant 10% having been in their current position for less than a year.
1. Go Big
Consider Company Size When Looking at a Job Change
While it’s natural and expected to have uncertainty about whether a new job at a different
company will be a good fit, this Wisegate survey provides some good clues as to how to
narrow down your job search.
In general, IT departments have the respect of the companies they serve. In reply to the
question, “How seriously do you feel your IT department is taken by the company where
you work?” 35% of respondents said, “somewhat seriously;” 37% said “very seriously.”
While this general trend is gratifying, drilling down reveals a couple of interesting insights.
First, larger companies take IT more seriously than smaller companies do. As shown in
Figure 5, 23%—nearly a quarter—of IT pros at smaller companies say that their department
is not taken very seriously.
Figure 5. "How seriously do you feel your IT department is taken by the company where
you work?" as viewed by company size.
Source: Wisegate, April 2014

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In larger companies (500+ employees), on the other hand, nearly nobody—a meager 3%—
reports IT is not taken very seriously, with 81% of survey respondents saying IT is taken
“very” or “somewhat” seriously. This trend continues as company size increases: in
companies of 5,000+ employees, the number of respondents who say IT is not taken
seriously drops to essentially 0%.
The difference in attitude toward IT at smaller companies is great enough that any IT
professional considering going to a startup or small company needs to be aware of the
likelihood that they may be starting in a company where respect for them and their position
is not a given, but must be fought for. While some IT practitioners may find this an
interesting opportunity, many will be frustrated at having to prove something that should be
obvious to everyone by now.
2. Go Bleeding Edge
Company size is not the only strong indicator of how seriously IT is taken. If you are
considering moving to a company with a pattern of aggressively adopting new technology
and ideas—a “bleeding edge” company—you can have high confidence that the IT
department will be taken very seriously. As Figure 6 shows, an extraordinary 83% of survey
respondents who say their company is “extremely bleeding-edge” in adopting new ideas
and technologies also say their company takes the IT department very seriously.
Note that the second-highest “very seriously” response to this question belongs to
respondents who indicate their company is “somewhat bleeding-edge” in adopting new
ideas and technologies.
Considering the high correlation between new idea/technology adoption and whether IT is
taken seriously at the company, it would serve IT job hunters well to ask questions of
prospective employers that help you get an understanding of how aggressive—or cautious
—the company is in adopting new technology. Ask a simple question along the lines of:
“Can you tell me about new technology or idea that’s been adopted here recently? What
was it, and what steps did you need to go through to put it into effect?”
The answer should help you get a good sense of how bleeding-edge the company is in
adopting new ideas and technology, which in turn should help you understand how
seriously IT is taken by the company.

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Figure 6. "How seriously do you feel your IT department is taken by the company where
you work?" as viewed by company adoption of new technology and ideas.
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
3. Look for Longevity
A critical part of career happiness is finding a good match between yourself and the culture
of the company. The Wisegate survey has some good news in this respect: Nobody (0%) in
the survey said their temperament suited their company culture “extremely poorly,” and
65%—two-thirds, essentially—of survey respondents said their temperament suits the
culture of their organization “well” or “extremely well,” as shown in Figure 7.
Of course, the “fair” and “poorly” responses to this question show there’s room for
improvement, but it is nevertheless encouraging to see that IT professionals feel reasonably
“at home” in their work environments.

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Figure 7. "How does your own temperament suit the culture of your organization?"
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
When looking at a prospective new employer, an excellent way to quickly assess how other
IT professionals find the work environment is to ask how long the typical employee in the IT
department has worked at the company. As Figure 8 shows, both people who have been at
the company for less than a year and people who have been at the company for between
six and ten years show outsized perception of a healthy company culture.
While the very high “extremely healthy” perception of first-year employees (56%) can be
attributable to a “new-hire halo” effect, it’s the employees who have been at a company for
between six and ten years that are really interesting. 44% of them say their company culture
is “somewhat healthy,” 12 points higher than any other group. This makes sense when you
consider that this is the group that has been employed by the company long enough to
know both the good and bad. The fact that they have remained this long indicates they
have a healthy—but not unrealistic—sense of the company culture.
With this in mind, be certain to ask about the makeup of your team or department when
investigating a company for future employment. How many have just joined? How many
have been there for several years? Knowing this will let you know not only whether “churn”
(a high rate of employee turnover) is a problem, but also your co-workers’ perception of
company culture.

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Figure 8. "How healthy or sick does your company culture feel," broken down by number
of years at the company.
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
4. Get Close to the Business
A clear majority—71%—of survey respondents answered “yes” to the question, “Do you
know what training you need to move your career in the direction you want?” Following up
on this, the survey asked respondents to “choose the three skills and attributes you think
would be most worthwhile to move your career forward.”
The most-often selected choices, as shown in Figure 9, were:
» Being business savvy
» Influencing others
» Building relationships
As the top results in Figure 9 demonstrate, IT professionals know that they need to develop
business-relevant skills in order to understand and communicate with the business. In fact,
when asked, “If you had to choose, which would you say is more important, business
knowledge or technical know-how for you to move forward in your career?” a remarkable
87% of survey respondents chose “business knowledge.”

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Figure 9. Wisegate Survey Question: "Choose the three skills and attributes you think
would be most worthwhile for you to focus on to move your career forward."
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
Some questions you should ask a prospective employer, then, are:
» “Does the job I’m considering put me close enough to the ‘business’ side of the
company for me to develop my business knowledge?”
» “What kind of opportunities will I have to develop my “soft skills”—understanding
business strategy, communicating, negotiating, influencing, leadership, team
management, and so forth?”
» “What peers on the business side of the company will I regularly interact with?”
» “In what ways will my position—and my team—affect business strategy?”
» “Does the job I’m considering put me close enough to the ‘business’ side of the
company for me to develop your business knowledge?”
More and more, soft skills and business acumen are critical aspects of the IT professional’s
career path. Do not take a new job in a company that isolates IT from the business.

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5. Choose a Company That Helps You…The Way
You Want to Be Helped
When looking for a new job, IT professionals need to take a close look at the company
structure of their prospective new employer…but not just to find out whether you’ll be in an
organization where you can get your job done. Instead, the Wisegate survey shows that
how hierarchical your company is a strong indicator of the kind of help you can get in
developing your career, as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Wisegate Survey Question: "Who is currently helping you develop your
career?" broken down by how hierarchical the respondent's company is.
Source: Wisegate, April 2014
If you are the kind of person who prefers to look for guidance on your own, a company with
a flat hierarchy may be your best bet; note that people who indicate they work in
“extremely” flat companies in Figure 10 also indicate they find career help outside their

12. 5 Tips Every Job Hunting IT Pro Should Know 12
companies: “mentor,” “executive coach,” and “peer outside the company” are frequently
selected, while “manager” and “peer inside my company” are not selected at all.
On the other hand, if you prefer to have established career guidance built in to your work,
you should look at companies that are more hierarchical. Here, as illustrated in Figure 10,
help from management as well as from peers and mentors within the organization is more
likely to be an established part of the process. Companies you select should match your
learning style.
The Bottom Line
It’s tempting to consider at compensation, the health of the hiring company, and the day-to-
day responsibilities of the position as the primary criteria for evaluating a position…and of
course, these are all important. However, even as demand for IT expertise increases,
expectations of highly experienced IT professionals are evolving. In order for your career to
stay on track, you of course need to consider what your job at the company will be. More
importantly, though, you need to consider—and ask the questions necessary to find out—
whether the company has what it takes to be meaningful—in terms of size, technology
adoption, affinity between business and IT, and how the company will help you develop.
About the Authors
Nikk Gilbert is vice president of Information Technology and CISO for CUNA Mutual
Group. You can reach him at nikk@nikkgilbert.com or @archangelnikk on Twitter.
Paul Harjung is the CISO at W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. and can be reached at
pharjung@wlgore.com.
Elden Nelson is Editor-in-Chief of Wisegate, with responsibilities to provide consistent,
high-quality content its Members can use. You can reach Elden at
elden.nelson@wisegate.org.

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