1. IT Trends Report 2019: North America Federal/Public Sector
Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow
Conducted by C White Consulting
December 2018

2. © 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Study Overview
Areas of discussion
How equipped do tech pros feel with their current IT skillset to manage the emerging technologies of tomorrow?
In which areas are tech pros already upskilling today and/or know they should be upskilling today?
How often do tech pros find the time to participate in upskilling (skills training and/or career program development) and from what primary source?
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

3. © 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Study Overview
Respondent demographics
22% of respondents were from MSPs/MSSPs
106 technology practitioners, managers, and directors in the U.S. and Canada from public-sector small, mid-size, and enterprise organizations participated in a December 2018 online study
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4. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pro confidence in having all the necessary skills to successfully manage IT environment for next three to five years
Tech pros surveyed represent the 75% of all tech pros who are not “completely confident” in having all the necessary skills to successfully manage their IT environment for the next three to five years. Of tech pros surveyed, nearly three in 10 are somewhat unconfident or completely unconfident (combined) about having the necessary skills to do so.
Q: How confident are you that you already have all the necessary skills to successfully manage your IT environment for the next three to five years?
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5. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Most important technologies for organization’s technological transformation over next three to five years
#6 by weighted rank
#3 by weighted rank
#1 by weighted rank
#4 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=2): no noteworthy mentions
By weighted rank, cloud/hybrid IT is also the number one most important technology, followed by SIEM and/or threat intelligence and software-defined network (SDN), storage (SDS) and/or datacenter (SDDC).
#2 by weighted rank
Over 85% of tech pros surveyed indicate that cloud (public, private, or mix of both) and/or hybrid IT (mix of cloud and on-premises) is one of the top five most important technologies needed for their organization’s technological transformation over the next three to five years, with 37% listing cloud/hybrid IT as their number one most important technology.
Q: What are the five most important technologies needed for your organization’s technological transformation over the next three to five years? [choose up to five in prioritized order]
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6. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Technologies tech pros feel unequipped to successfully implement/manage with current skillset
Over half of tech pros surveyed indicate that artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain (respectively) are technologies they feel unequipped to successfully implement and/or manage given their current IT skillset, followed by machine learning and/or deep learning, quantum computing, big data analytics, and containers (44%, 42%, 42%, and 42%, respectively).
Q: Based on your current IT skillset, which of the following technologies do you feel unequipped to successfully implement and/or manage? (choose all that apply)
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7. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Skills tech pros have worked to develop over past 12 months to better manage daily operations
All 100% of tech pros surveyed worked to develop a skill over the past 12 months – no single tech pro surveyed feels he/she already possesses ALL needed skills.
Over the past 12 months, over half of tech pros surveyed have worked to develop their systems and infrastructure management skills in order to better manage their day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps, and/or outsources services (MSP/MSSPs)), followed by security management (such as SIEM, policies, compliance) and hybrid IT deployment, monitoring, and/or management (43% and 42%, respectively).
Q: Which of the following skills have you worked to develop over the past 12 months in order to better manage your day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (such as IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps and/or outsourced services (MSP/MSSPs)? (choose all that apply)
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8. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Skills tech pros need to develop over next three to five years to better manage daily operations
“Other” responses (N=2): no noteworthy mentions
Two-fifths of tech pros feel they need to develop their systems and infrastructure management skills.
Over the next three to five years, over half of tech pros surveyed need to develop their hybrid IT deployment, monitoring, and/or management skills and nearly half need to develop their security management skills (such as SIEM, policies, compliance) to better manage their day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps, and/or outsources services (MSP/MSSPs)).
Q: Which of the following skills will you need to develop over the next 3-5 years in order to better manage your day-to-day IT environment and its needed disciplines (such as IT Ops, DevOps, SecOps and/or outsourced services (MSP/MSSPs)? (choose all that apply)
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9. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Top career development goals for tech pros over next three to five years
#1 by weighted rank
#3 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#6 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=0)
#4 by weighted rank
Nearly six out of 10 tech pros surveyed indicate that technology innovation is one of their top three career development goals over the next three to five years, with 26% listing it as their number one career development goal. By weighted rank, technology innovation is also the number one career development goal, followed by IT security protocol and/or processes and strategic planning.
Q: What are your top three career development goals over the next three to five years? [choose up to three in prioritized order]
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

10. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Most important technologies needed for tech pro career development/advancement over next three to five years
#6 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#1 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
#4 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=3): no noteworthy mentions
By weighted rank, cloud/hybrid IT is also the most important technology, followed by software-defined network (SDN), storage (SDS) and/or datacenter (SDDC) and security and information event management (SIEM) and/or threat intelligence.
#3 by weighted rank
Over three-fourths of tech pros surveyed indicate that cloud (public, private, or mix of both) and/or hybrid IT (mix of cloud and on-premises) is one of the top five most important technologies needed for their career development/advancement over the next three to five years, with 33% listing cloud/hybrid IT as their number one most important technology.
Q: What are the five most important technologies needed for your career development/advancement over the next three to years? [choose up to five in prioritized order]
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

11. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ primary source of IT skills training/career development
“Other” responses (N=4): no noteworthy mentions (ie training sites such as lynda.com/LinkedIn (1))
Only five percent of tech pros look to YouTube/Switch or associations (respectively) as their primary source of skills training and/or career development.
Nearly one-fourth of tech pros surveyed indicate that vendor training sessions is their primary source of IT skills training/career development, followed by online communities/forums (such as Slack), industry events/trade shows, and their organization and/or coworkers (18%, 16% and 16%, respectively).
Q: When it comes to learning about emerging technologies, what is your primary source of IT skills training/career development? (choose only one)
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12. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ impression after participating in IT skills training/career development at primary source
“Other” responses (N=3): no noteworthy mentions (ie disjointed (1), lots of variability depending on presenter (1))
After tech pros surveyed participated in IT skills training/career development from their primary source, nearly half of tech pros considered the training to be informative, 30% considered it engaging/interactive, and nearly 30% considered it not long enough or too simple (respectively).
Q: Overall, how would you describe the IT skills training/career development you have participated in from the primary source you just mentioned? [choose all that apply]
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

13. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ impression by primary source (top four)
Vendor Training Sessions
Industry Events/Trade Shows
Online Communities/Forums (i.e., Slack)
My Org and/or Coworkers
“Other” responses (N=3): no noteworthy mentions (ie disjointed (1), lots of variability depending on presenter (1))
Those opting for training via vendor training sessions find it slightly less engaging/interactive when compared to those opting for training/career development from other sources.
By primary source (qualitatively speaking), those opting for training via online communities/forums (such as Slack) and industry events/trade shows (respectively) find the training/career development slightly more informative than those opting for training from other sources.
Q: Overall, how would you describe the IT skills training/career development you have participated in from the primary source you just mentioned? [choose all that apply]
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14. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Frequency that tech pros’ day-to-day IT tasks extend into time earmarked for career development
Nearly three out of 10 tech pros surveyed indicate that day-to-day IT management tasks “always” extend into the time they set aside for pursuing their career development goals, while 54% of tech pros state that happens “sometimes,” and 17% say it happens “rarely.”
Q: How often do your day-to-day IT management tasks extend into the time you set aside for pursuing your career development goals? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

15. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Frequency that tech pros currently engage in IT skills training/career development programs
One-fourth of tech pros surveyed indicate that they currently engage in IT skills training and/or career development programs a few times a year, while 22% of tech pros engage monthly, nearly one-fifth of tech pros engage quarterly, and 17% engage weekly.
Q: How often do you currently engage in IT skills training and/or career development programs? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

16. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Frequency that tech pros would commit to IT skills training/career development programs given no schedule/workload restrictions
Half of tech pros surveyed indicate that given no schedule/workload restrictions, they would commit to IT skills training and/or career development programs on a weekly basis, while 18% of tech pros would commit monthly and 14% of tech pros would commit daily.
Q: If you could set your own schedule and workload with no restrictions, how often would you commit to IT skills training and/or career development programs? (choose only one)
© 2019 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved.

17. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ biggest barrier to current ability to participate in IT skills training/career development
“Other” responses (N=0)
Less than 10% of tech pros believe any other barrier is the biggest one to overcome, and 100% of tech pros surveyed believe IT skills training and/or development programs are useful.
Over two-fifths of tech pros surveyed indicate that time/availability (for travel, training itself, etc.) is the biggest barrier to their current ability to participate in IT skills training and/or career development programs, followed by cost (of training program, travel to tradeshow, etc.) (34%).
Q: What is the biggest barrier to your current ability to participate in IT skills training and/or career development programs? (choose only one)
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18. Technology Skills and Training Are Needed
Tech pros’ ideal delivery format for IT skills training materials for IT ops, SecOps, DevOps and MSP/MSSPs
#4 by weighted rank
#1 by weighted rank
#3 by weighted rank
#2 by weighted rank
#6 by weighted rank
#5 by weighted rank
“Other” responses (N=20): no noteworthy mentions (ie skype session with colleagues (1))
By weighted rank, full-day, in-person workshop/user conference is also the number one ideal delivery format, followed by self-guided online courses and half-day, in-person workshop/user conference.
Nearly half of tech pros surveyed indicate that full-day, in-person workshop/user conference is their ideal delivery format for IT skills training materials, followed by webinars, self- guided online courses, and half-day, in-person workshop/user conference (21%, 12%, and 12%, respectively).
Q: In order of preference, what is your ideal delivery format for IT skills training materials pertaining to IT Ops, SecOps, DevOps, and outsourcing/managed services? [choose five in prioritized order]
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