技术能力成为一份工作的必备条件 | 哈佛商业评论

译者 zhang_ch

As the internet has grown from 70 million users in 1997 to 2.2 billion, entrepreneurial companies with technology at their core have disrupted entire industries and threatened or eliminated incumbents. For example, Square, the new electronic payment service, has already upended a long-established financial ecosystem, with some arguing that it may even replace cash.

       随着互联网用户由1997年的7000万发展到现在的22亿，以技术为核心竞争力的公司的存在已经影响到了整个行业，威胁甚至淘汰了行业内的其他企业。Square，这个新的电子支付服务已经颠覆了长久以来建立的财务生态系统，有人甚至说其将会取代现金。

In recent years, incumbents have fought back. A 2011 IBM study of over 3,000 CIOs revealed that CIO-CEO alignment is stronger than ever, with traditional companies aggressively investing in technology innovation. Big-box retailers, like Best Buy, now have large, fast growing e-commerce businesses. The New York Times and other traditional publishers are launching digital products tailored to the mobile web. Even the big banks are getting social.

       近几年来，企业已经开始绝地反击。IBM公司2011年对超过3000名CIO(首席信息官)的调查显示随着传统公司更多的投入技术创新，公司CIO-CEO的职能分工比以往更明确。百思买这样的大型零售商现在也拥有发展迅速，规模庞大的电子商务。纽约时报和其他传统出版商现在也开始专门为移动互联网市场定制数字产品。连大型银行也逐渐社交化。

Yes, this is creating unprecedented demand for employees with serious technical chops. But as more traditional businesses are being run on software and a larger component of a company's customer experience is being delivered online, everyone from marketing to general management needs to take notice. Studies confirm that technology skills will be crucial for future employment prospects. Engineer or not, the managers and employees who understand new consumer technologies and can create value by deploying software as a solution will be those most valued by organizations young and old.

       也许你发现了，技术创新带来了对拥有专业技术能力应聘者空前的需求。销售部门和管理层的每个人都要注意到更多传统商务可以利用软件完成，用户体验很大一部分通过网络实现。研究表明技术能力将会是未来招聘的至关重要的考虑因素。不论是否是工程师，经理和职员谁能掌握新兴的消费者技术并能利用软件的解决方案创造价值就是被企业重视的人。

Firstly, entirely new categories of technology jobs are forming, creating exciting opportunities for today's job seeker. A few years ago, community managers did not exist. Yet with 67% of surveyed brand managers planning to launch social media campaigns in the next 12 months, community managers are now amongst the most sought after marketing professionals. With the rise in new web-based applications, advertising products, and client-side software, user experience (UX) design is suddenly one of the nation's fastest growing employment areas. Because these categories are so new, a drastic shortage of formally trained professionals exist to fill the roles available. This creates opportunities for the savvy job seeker in an adjacent field looking to switch into an in-demand technology role.

       首先，各种各样的技术职位为应聘者创造了良好的机会。几年前，社区经理这个职位还不存在。现在参与调查的67%的品牌经理计划在未来的12个月启动社交媒体营销，社区经理现在是继营销人员之后最需要的专业人士。随着基于网页的应用，广告产品及客户端软件的流行，用户体验设计成为国内增长最快的领域之一。因为这些领域过于新兴，受过正式培训的专业人员的空缺非常大。这给一些精明的求职者提供了从相似领域跨进这个高需求的技术岗位的机会。

Secondly, traditional roles are likely to have a larger technology component that will only increase over time. Marketers no longer live in an above-the-line world; instead, direct-response and pay-per-click advertising have entered the mix. Similarly, HR professionals who fail to harness the power of LinkedIn, Identified, and BranchOut may miss out on attracting star candidates. Nonmanagerial, nonconsumer-facing employees, such as data entry specialists, need to be well-versed in specific new technologies that relate to them. Even the most traditional of employees, the factory worker, must transform into a technologist or face extinction. As Adam Davidson recently argued, "Today, the computer moves the cutting tool and the operator needs to know how to talk to the computer."

       第二，传统角色很有可能只有在缓慢增长的行业占据主要地位。营销人员也不再局限于传统营销方式，直销和网络营销也成为他们的选择。同样，招聘者如果忽略了LinkedIn，Identified和BranchOut，他们就很有可能与优秀的候选人擦肩而过。像数据入口专员这样的非管理，非前线员工也需要精通和他们有关系的新兴技术。即使是最普通的员工，如工厂工人，也要向技术专家方向发展否则就会面临失业。亚当戴维森说道“现如今，机器都由电脑控制，所以操作人员就必须知道怎么使用电脑。”

In a world where everyone must become a technologist, how can we land an exciting technology job in an entirely new category — or simply become more technologically sophisticated in the way we approach our current, traditional roles? Here's a five-step checklist to ensure you stay relevant:

       在一个以技术为主导的世界里，我们怎么能在这些超新领域里获得一份工作，或者仅仅是在我们现有基础上变得更专业。以下是能让你留在行业内的五点建议：

1. Be an end user: The best way to understand new technologies is to use them. It would be difficult to truly grasp the power of Facebook fan page marketing without being both a Facebook user and a fan of brands yourself. Dedicate time on the job to tinkering with platforms that are highly relevant to your role.

       1.成为终端用户：了解一项新科技最好的办法就是去使用它。如果既不是脸书网站的用户又不是粉丝那么就很难掌握脸书网站好友界面营销的力量。在和你相关的平台上多花些时间去补充工作需要的知识。

2. Know the ROI: As the pace of technology innovation increases, the savvy professional will curate and invest in the platforms that matter. Different consumer technologies, like Twitter and Pinterest, have different use cases and entirely different customer acquisition economics. Therefore, a well-understood financial model is crucial if you're arguing for a reallocation of company resources to support investments in new consumer technology platforms. Even internal collaboration tools, such as Basecamp, salesforce, and Sharepoint, should be subject to detailed business case and ROI analyses.

       2.了解ROI(投资回报率)：科技创新日新月异，精明的商人会选择合理的领域投资。不同公司，如Twitter和Pinterest的用户不同，吸引用户的方式也完全不同。所以如果你要为投资一个新的技术平台去争取公司资源配置 ，容易理解的财务模型是非常重要的。甚至如Basecamp，Salesforce和Sharepoint这些内部协作软件也应该设立专门的业务分支和ROI分析。

3. Demonstrate your knowledge: Do you know your SEO from your SEM? New technologies are creating new vocabularies. This isn't irrelevant jargon, but rather essential concepts you'll need to successfully weave into your verbal and written arguments to land that new role or perform at a higher level in your existing role.

       3.证明你的才能：你知道什么是SEO(搜索引擎优化)和SEM(搜索引擎营销)的区别吗？新科技创造了新词汇。这并非无用，这是你成为新的角色或承担更多任务的时候需要融入到你的口头和书面论据里非常必要的概念。

4. Learn technical skills: New companies and older institutions alike have recognized the structural mismatch between available technology jobs and worker skillsets. That's why you can log onto Codecademy and learn programming for free, instantly. Universities are rapidly growing their engineering courses. Venture capitalists are creating software engineering academies in their own cities. There are now countless opportunities to learn what you don't currently know and use these skills to your advantage in your new or current role.

       4.技能学习：公司都认识到了新的技术职位和现有职员技能的不匹配。这就是为什么你要立即到Codecademy免费学习程序设计。大学迅速地增加了工程相关的课程。风险投资人也在自己的城市设立了软件工程学校。如今有非常多的机会去学习你不知道的知识，然后再转化为你现在或未来的职位中优势。

5. Anticipate trends: With the age of device fragmentation, increasing smartphone and tablet penetration will usher in a post-PC era. Translating mega-trends like these to potential impacts your current professions, and then to the implications for your skillsets, is a powerful way to get ahead. Trends need not be domestic. As the cost of computing falls, overseas markets and entirely new customer sets are suddenly being propelled into relevancy. Anticipate international trends, too.

       5.展望发展趋势：设备的多极化的时代到来，智能手机的增长和平板电脑的广泛使用会引领我们进入后PC时代。转化这样的大趋势，使它潜在地影响你现在的职业，然后为你积累技能指明方向是占据领先的重要手段。这个趋势没有必要只是国内的。由于电脑成本在比以往更低，海外市场和新客户就进入了我们的视野。记住，关注国际市场的趋势。

What else can we do to position ourselves? Is your job or industry becoming more technologically focused?

       我们还能做什么来给自己定位？你是工作或是行业是否朝着更注重技术的方向发展？