New IT Skills

Why It's Important: The real question isn't, "Why are the right IT skills important?" Rather, the question should be, "What could be more important?" The skills and knowledge that a CIO or technologist possesses are the tools of his trade. The sharper the "tools," the better the worker's productivity. As clients move quickly to mobile devices, and as social technology plays a larger role in corporate life, the skill set required of the technology workforce and a financial company's CIO will change just as fast. However, while mobile and social programming skills increasingly are in demand, many of the skills that are most coveted in the capital markets remain the same.

Where the Industry Is Now: It's no secret that capital markets organizations are awash in data of all shapes and sizes. Today, however, the volume of data is increasing at rates not previously seen. In addition, more people within the organization are requiring access to the data, including compliance and risk managers, customer service, trading, portfolio managers, and others. The challenge is to make sense of the data and to turn it into useful information for business leaders and compliance experts, as regulatory transparency requirements will continue to increase for the foreseeable future.

In order to access this data, firms are utilizing the "bread and butter" skills that they have been using for years, namely C++ and J2EE -- computer languages that are commonly used for the analysis of real-time data, says Constance Melrose, managing director of eFinancial Careers North America. "Technology is evolving rapidly and Wall Street is often the fastest to adopt some of the technologies," Melrose says. "But if you look at the job descriptions, C and J2EE are the core skills that firms are looking for, and it runs through most of the job listings." Despite the mass layoffs in the financial services industry in 2011, eFinancial Careers has continued to see brisk activity on its job boards, she reports.

Focus In 2012: While the basic skill sets -- C++ and J2EE expertise -- are most in demand, individual IT professionals who have these skills are looking to take their abilities and apply them to projects that involve big data, virtualization, cloud and mobile technologies, according to Melrose. While specific C++ expertise may not be directly applicable to a bank's mobile project, the skills are certainly needed to access and analyze the data that supports the mobile application.

However, specific IT skills only go so far. Technology leaders are desperately searching for technologists with some level of domain expertise. "You don't know how many times I've heard, 'What I would give for someone who has C++ and financial market experience,'" Melrose relates.

Valuable technologists also have to be able to do more than simply produce good code. Some of the best developers are interacting with business users and leaders daily. Possessing "customer-facing" skills is becoming more and more of a basic requirement, says Shawn Banerji, executive recruiter with Russell Reynolds Associates in New York.

Likewise, CIOs need to broaden their skill sets as they head into 2012. "Many CIOs in financial services have spent the past few years cutting budgets. But that doesn't really show any technology innovation," Banerji says, adding that many firms are starting to look at technology again as a competitive differentiator. "Today's CIO needs to have real subject-matter expertise. CIOs need to understand the newer technologies. Just having the CIO as an offshoot of the CFO's office doesn't work anymore."

Industry Leaders: Even with massive layoffs coming to the financial sector, the big banks still have the advantage of being able to lure the best and brightest technologists with hefty compensation packages. Buy-side firms, smaller banks and exchanges also need advanced IT skill sets, but often they can't compete head-to-head with the larger banks just on compensation. Instead, they will hire more entry-level workers, offer more flexible work environments and "train them up" quickly to stay in the race.

Price Tag: The IT workforce in financial services is massive. Some of the largest banks (think: Citi, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan) have global technology organizations with 30,000 or more workers. But with increased layoffs in the financial services space, overall IT salaries will likely be depressed heading into 2012. However, the rare IT workers with financial market expertise and customer-facing skills will continue to demand a premium, according to Banerji. And on the executive level, despite industry consolidation and cutbacks, talented CIOs will remain in short supply, he says.