Beyond Technical Know-How: What Skills Drive Success for IT Professionals

How IT Talent Stacks Up

When it comes to acquiring talent in IT, technical skills are rightly evaluated, but IT professionals need a combination of technical skills, strategic thinking, leadership, and adherence to standards to be successful. These skills are required to not only build and design systems but also analyze data, plan effectively, and collaborate within teams.

To understand the skills IT candidates possess, and how these compare to the broader workforce, we did extensive research using data from our Global Skills Assessment (GSA) to identify strengths and skills gaps to help HR teams help shape skills development strategies. There were 13 key skills that were deemed critical for IT talent to succeed in the industry, here are 4 key takeaways from the findings:

1. Technical innovation is a strength 

One critical skill that IT professionals excel at is building and designing new tools or systems, reinforcing their role as drivers of innovation. Employers should harness this strength by providing opportunities for creative problem-solving and technical development.

2. Leadership and coordination are areas for development

The data highlights skills gaps in coordinating work and monitoring performance. These are areas that are critical to success, and while IT professionals may be strong individual contributors, structured leadership development could help bridge these gaps, particularly in team-based roles.

3. IT professionals excel at forward planning

IT professionals show a clear advantage among peers in planning ahead—an essential skill driving success in this sector. This sets them up for managing complex projects by making detailed plans and completing tasks in a logical manner. Organizations can leverage this strength by assigning IT professionals to long-term strategic initiatives and getting them involved in organization-wide projects early on. They could also consider redeploying IT talent to other areas of the business where forward-thinking or problem-solving skills may be needed, and existing in-company knowledge would be beneficial.

4. Compliance and strategic thinking align with the general workforce

Skills related to compliance, critical thinking, and strategic vision align with the broader workforce. Similar scores compared to the general candidate pool are not necessarily weaknesses, but present opportunities for HR teams to develop these skills into strengths through targeted learning and development programs.

Assessing Skills Strengths and Gaps Will Drive Development

Our research also highlighted skills strengths and gaps for IT professionals beyond those that were critical to success but could still offer big benefits for organizations. For example, IT candidates were stronger than the general workforce in being on top of market developments and competitor activities. By empowering existing talent to act on these skills, businesses can be better placed to be agile in the face of challenges, or pounce on new advancements to gain competitive advantage through reskilling into emerging areas.

One area of development among IT professionals was building rapport and making personal connections with others. With team skills part of a major shift among professionals today, investing in relationship-building development initiatives will better place IT professionals to transition into other roles as business priorities change. IT talent is typically hard to find, so if talent exists with the right technical and planning skills to succeed, businesses can utilize these skills to match people to other opportunities in the business that may need more attention.

Empowering IT Professionals to Thrive

Internal career development is known to be crucial to both employee engagement and retention, so having a data-driven approach to understand the skills that your IT talent possess beyond technical know-how can help you decide on a build or buy talent strategy, determine where to direct investment, build structured career paths, and make smarter talent decisions that will build teams that are not only technically skilled but also prepared for the leadership and collaboration demands of the future.

Discover the full list of 13 skills that determine success in IT professionals, and a wider view of skills across industries by downloading our latest research: Bridging the Skills Gap: Essential Skills for Success Across Key Industries.