Guidelines To Offshore-Proof Your Technical Career

Some of the top tips also are parallel to tips experts advise for any IT career succession, whether offshoring is a risk or not.

Some of the best advice usually falls under three wide categories –

• Technology and business skills diversification


• Self promotion


• Soft skills and networking.

Skills diversification:
"If you want to move up the food chain, and keep your career secure, you've got to be a perpetual learner," says Steven Creason, assistant professor in MIS at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota and a former Accenture consultant and employment lawyer.

"Whether it's taking classes or moving around within a company, you need to broaden your skills and stay relevant to the business' needs," he says. "How many times do I need to reinvent myself? As many times as it takes," he says.

One key characteristic that can help offshore-proof your own job is education how to manage relationships with service providers and vendors -- those skills are a bonus if your company does offshore work to a third party. So, instead of becoming a aim of offshoring, you're a possible link.

However, only 55% of IT staffers say they currently have an additional important connected skill-set -- significant how to build vendor relationships. More managers -- about 77% -- maintain they have those skills.

Self promotion:
While some people shy away from self promotion, too much reserve might really hurt you career-wise. "Being a manager, marketing yourself internally, and also having a enthusiasm to step out of your comfort zone during your career" can help construct offshore-proof defenses, says Bill Wisley, who spent 20 years as an IT pro previous to joining nationwide IT staffing firm XSell as director of ERP solutions.

Once you step further than the IT comfort region, "immerse yourself into day-to-day operations, building relationships with users, and understanding how tech tools can be an asset to them and their processes," he says. "If you're coding, understand why you're coding," he says.

But most important, "make sure your direct organization knows you're maximizing your skills," Wisley says

Soft skills and networking:
Increasing solid interpersonal skills also is significant. "The strongest and best things people can do to stay valuable is to develop teamwork and communication skills," advices Mike Biela, a 20-year IT expert who last year reinvented himself as a mentor after becoming a casualty of a former employer that determined to outsource its IT process . "Acquire those interpersonal skills through training, on the job or outside the job, whether it's at a local or community college," Biela says.

Also helpful in developing valuable business and communications skills is involvement with IT professional organizations, Wisley says. Networking with other professionals in and outer your association could help you land your next job, mainly if you do get the boot since of offshoring or outsourcing.