10 roadmaps to IT career success

If you’re considering a career in IT — or looking to make a career change — there’s no better time than now. With salaries well above average and companies grappling with a talent shortage, you’ll be well-compensated and your skills will be in high demand for years to come.

Over the past year, CIO.com’s Career Roadmap series has taken an in-depth look at some of the hottest IT careers out there so you can get a behind-the-scenes view at careers in this field. Here are our top 10 Career Roadmap stories from 2016.

Kristine Spence is a digital marketing pioneer whose career has undergone just as much of a digital transformation as the IT industry. Here, she talks about what it takes to be an innovator in the digital marketing arena.

Chris Turner’s mobile app development skills have taken his career journey in some unexpected places, including a reality TV show, ESPN and now the internet of things. Here, he talks about what it takes to be a mobile developer.

As organizations struggle to make sense of increasingly large amounts of customer and industry data, data scientists are becoming a must-have role for any IT department. Two data scientists for Kronos explain what it takes to succeed in one of the sexiest careers in IT today.

Technology evangelists are increasingly important in today’s digital world, where applications, software and Web platforms all compete for users’ attention. Michael Sage explains what it’s like to be a technology evangelist, and what it takes to make tech evangelism a career.

Amanda Stent’s degree in music has informed her career as a research scientist as much as her computer science and mathematics education have. In this edition of the Career Roadmap, Stent talks about her journey into the research scientist role.

Angela Johnson saw firsthand how agile and Scrum transformed the manufacturing industry. With a technical background and a love of teaching, becoming a Scrum trainer was a perfect fit. Here, Johnson talks about what it takes to attain this specialized career.

DevOps requires not just a solid background in technology, but empathy, communication and stellar interpersonal skills. Eric Sigler, head of DevOps, talks about how to leverage both for a successful career in DevOps.

Behind every successful IT project are the unsung heroes of the technology industry: project managers. Kristyn Medeiros talks about the ins and outs, ups and downs of being an IT project manager.

Despite rumors to the contrary, the systems administrator role is far from obsolete; the role has evolved and changed with the advent of cloud computing and virtualization. Sysadmin Nick Bush offers a glimpse into this critical, continually evolving IT career.