My Job Went Upmarket

The New York Times has a Steve Lohr article about the changing face of careers with computers. It describes how being able to code no longer cuts it.

For students..., expanding their expertise beyond computer programming is crucial to future job security as advances in the Internet and low-cost computers make it easier to shift some technology jobs to nations with well-educated engineers and lower wages, like India and China.

He Was A Coder...

Well, we've been saying that for a while now. Chad Fowler's upcoming book has a whole section titled Coding Don't Cut it Anymore. As he says:

You're not going to be able to sit back and simply master a programming language or an operating system, letting the businesspeople take care of the business stuff. If all they needed was a code robot, it would be easy to hire someone in another country to do that kind of work. If you want to stay relevant, you're going to have to dive into the domain of the business you're in.

This sounds similar to an observation in the NYT article:

"If you have only technical knowledge, you are vulnerable," said Thomas W. Malone, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of The Future of Work (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). "But if you can combine business or scientific knowledge with technical savvy, there are a lot of opportunities. And it's a lot harder to move that kind of work offshore."

All very well, you say, but what can developers do to expand their skills beyond IDE-jockeying? Well, it really isn't rocket science. You just have to ask people---non-technical people---in your industry "what's up?". Chad has a call to action at the end of this section in the book:

1. Schedule lunch with a businessperson. Talk to them about how they do their job. As you talk to them, ask yourself what you would have to change or learn if you aspired to have their job. Ask about the specifics of their daily work. Talk to them about how technology helps them (or slows them down) on the job. Think about your work from their perspective.

   Do this regularly.

2. Pick up a trade magazine for your company's industry. You probably don't even have to buy one. Most companies have back issues of trade rags lying around somewhere. Start trying to work your way through a magazine. You may not understand everything you read, but be persistent. Make lists of questions you can ask your management or business clients. Even if your questions seem stupid to you, your business clients will appreciate that you are trying to learn.

   Look for industry websites that you can monitor on a regular basis. In both the websites and the magazines, pay special attention to what the big news items and the feature articles are about. What is your industry struggling with? What's the hot new issue right now? Whatever it is, bring it up with your business clients. Ask them to explain it and to give you their opinions. Think about how these current trends affect your company, your division, your team, and eventually your work.