Most valuable knowledge domains other then IT, to focus on

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Dear Madam/ Sir,

If people work in IT, soon they will run into people who are knowledgeable in other domains of expertise. I think it is worth it to have expertise in other domains of knowledge.
Which knowledge domains are most demanded? I am thinking about things such as accounting, healthcare, etc.

Sincerely,
Herbertus J. Grootenboer

Hi Herbertus,

You are correct in that the IT profession liaises and interacts with people from many industry sectors and disciplines every day. The could be users of their services; external customers, who come from any walk of life; suppliers of IT and other equipment; and those in areas such as finance and marketing which administer and publicise IT.

There is no one single way to distinguish which industry sectors are in the most demand. This is swayed by a number of factors ranging from the political climate through to what's trending on social media. One could argue that, at present, COVID-19 is predominant in our news fees and so the medical industry is in huge demand right now, but then the stock markets are reacting to a health pandemic and so therefore there are people needing sound financial advice which makes this an in demand sector this week. Every year, on an annual basis, people need to complete taxes, so accountancy is in demand for the 1st 3 months of any given year. Trends change very rapidly, and there is no way to predict this.

The only safe prediction I can make is that the world is placing an increasing reliance on IT (as it has done for the last 30+ years), and that, whilst IT will continue to evolve, the demand for IT skills will always be present in some way, shape, or form.

Thanks
Jo

@Herbertus-J-Grootenboer,

You don't necessarily need to be a expert in every field. More than anything, being able to communicate, indicate interest in another person is key.

So a story is told of a man that met two famous men in Britain in the 1800s. He was interviewed about meeting them. I cannot remember the name of the one man, but the other was Benjamin Disraeli. Of the other man when asked to describe the meeting with him he said simply that after talking with him, you believed you had met the most interesting man you had ever met...when asked to describe meeting Disraeli, he smiled and said that after speaking with him, you believed that YOU were the most interesting man he had ever met.

So the choice is not always knowledge but the context in which you speak to someone and the interest that will demonstrate not only are you skilled IT professional but also someone you'd like to talk to again.