| The relationship between IS skills and career success for IS professionals is studied from the perspective of person-vocation fit, which has been shown in prior studies to be positively related to career success. A person-specialization-skill fit variable was developed to measure the fit between the level of an IS professional's skill, based on the results of a certification exam, and the perceived importance of that skill to his or her specialization, measured with a follow-up survey. The study found no statistically significant relationship between a professional's person-specialization-skill fit and that professional's career success, measured with a career satisfaction survey, for any IS job type studied. The hypothesis was not supported by the research. The mean career satisfaction of the survey of 126 IS professionals was 3.6 on a 5.0 scale. A further analysis showed that the top three most important skills identified by the IS professionals surveyed agreed with a prior study. These skill areas were, in order, individual and team/interpersonal, system analysis and design, and project management. A statistically significant relationship between the control variable career sponsorship and career satisfaction was found, confirming a finding from prior work. Future studies might focus on particular forms of sponsorship as well as individual and team/interpersonal skills and both of their relationships to IS career success. |
