IT Skills Inventory
The skills required to become an IT professional consist of a mixture of personal, sometimes referred
to as ‘generic’, and industry specific skills. While there is obviously some overlap, especially in the
area of communication skills, there are components of even these overlapping skills that are
considered to have an IT specific component. For example, while ‘write in a clear and concise
manner’ is a personal skill, within the context of the IT profession, this may include the use of
various ICT tools to format or present that writing.
Personal skills have been categorised into five broad groups, namely:
Communication – these skills are clearly those related to the transmission of information
between people. Oral, written and listening skills are some of the most important assets
of an IT professional. In some IT jobs, they are the most important skills, well ahead of
technical ones. These skills become increasingly important as the nature of the work
becomes more senior and/or involves more people.
Developmental – these skills affect a person’s ability to grow in the job and are essential in some
measure in order to build a career path rather than just having a job.
Initiative – relates to the creativity, determination as well as reflection on performance
Integrity – is self explanatory
Social – involves skills that reflect on a person’s ability to get on with others
IT Industry skills are much more difficult to categorise. Frequently, the skills are listed in low level
ways that focus on some particular aspect of the technology such as ‘configuring a router’ or ‘write
code for well structured programming problems’. Examination of hundreds of such skills has shown
that they do fall into a number of general classes but accurately describing these classes is not easy.
The five that have been used here are just one interpretation of how this might be achieved. It is
also important to note that these skills need to be interpreted in a particular context or content
area. For example: “Apply good design principles” is manifested in quite different ways in writing
code to programming problems than it is in setting up a local area network or creating a database.
However, the skill is never the less just as relevant and can be assessed within the specific content
area in question. This is one reason that the number of IT specific skills in this inventory is very much
shorter than it might otherwise have been.
The five general categories of Information Technology specific skills that have been used as the basis
of the inventory are:
Knowledge – the most common and basic form of skill. The acquisition of a set of facts is
fundamental to all learning but it is only one dimension of the process.
Application – the use of techniques and procedures to achieve an outcome beyond just the
acquisition of knowledge. Typically these skills require the person to do something. Often
this involves a single step or just a small number in succession.
Problem solving – uses multiple steps to achieve an end result and often has a large range of
possible outcomes (not all equally as good though). It is characterised by placing
‘thinking’ ahead of ‘doing’.
Evaluation – calls for making some qualitative judgement and appropriate justification to support
that evaluation.
Communication – as for personal skills but with a particular emphasis on aspects that are
particularly relevant to the ICT professional.
The table of skills is as follows:
Personal
Industry
Communication
Explain complex concepts clearly and simply
Communicate with non-experts (in the field)
Relate well to others
Listen well and understand what is said
Write in a clear and concise manner
Summarise accurately
Developmental
Demonstrate a capacity to learn
Adapt to new situations
Determined to succeed
Accept a significant level of responsibility and accountability
Work autonomously when required to
Initiative
Demonstrate perseverance
Energy and drive in carrying out tasks
Constructively critical and has self-critical capabilities
Decisive when required to make a decision
Show a capacity for generating new ideas (creativity)
Show initiative and entrepreneurial spirit
Integrity
Honest
Show a concern for quality
Is ethical in dealings
Social
Patient and shows respect when expected to
Personable and well presented
Knowledge
Use terminology correctly
Demonstrate a general knowledge of the content area
Detailed knowledge in the field of study
Discuss elements of good style
Describe the characteristics of hardware/software/system
components
Compare the characteristics of items of hardware
Use standard ICT tools
Application
Basic knowledge of the profession in practice
Apply basic concepts of the content area
Apply advanced concepts of the content area
Apply specific methods and techniques from the content area
Apply knowledge in practical situations not just theoretical
Apply good design principles
Carry out activities that demonstrate elements of good style
Apply good testing procedures
Apply the relevant standards in measuring the quality of an outcome
Apply a variety of abstract data structures to the solution of
problems
Administer or manage a system
Configure hardware or system components
Identify and carry out a variety of roles
Implement good policies and practices
Implement the solutions of problems
Integrate components to produce a desired outcome
Store and manipulate data using a variety of tools and systems
Problem
Solving
Interpret a problem
Analyse requirements
Construct appropriate abstractions to manage complexity
Gather, interpret, and act on data
Research skills
Evaluation
Determine the relative importance of various concepts
Compare alternative methods/technologies/architectures
Assess the impact of particular actions/processes/techniques
Evaluate the effectiveness of alternative
methods/technologies/architectures
Debate ethical issues and principles
Justify actions or decisions taken
Communication
Communicate effectively and in a professional manner
Document activities or solutions to problems in a clear manner
Incorporate diversity and multicultural contexts
Demonstrate leadership
Plan and manage time effectively
Work in a team with interdisciplinary members
Work in a team with other discipline members
Work in an international context