Human Resources

Robert D. Blackwell Sr. has seen a lot of progress by African-American IT professionals since he first joined the industry nearly 40 years ago. Computerworld spoke with Blackwell, 67, about the merger, the state of the IT consulting market and the challenges of being a black IT professional.

The most cost-effective way to dramatically improve your IT organization's implementation of a new system, app or upgrade is to make sure you fire the right person. Nothing boosts morale or heightens concentration quite like the public firing of an individual who everyone knows is a persistent obstacle to discipline, collaboration, quality and ethics during an implementation.

Companies find it convenient to single out employees as the main threat to internal network security so they can put a face on the problem. But unwanted intruders, not employees, pose the greatest risk to organizations.

Proactive IT managers need to make sure their retention weapons are loaded

Lack of focus on soft skills is the chief career inhibitor not just for CTO or CIO aspirants who want to straddle business and IT but also for technologists who want to stay firmly in IT.

Lasha Dekker, vice-president of developer and platform evangelism for Microsoft Canada Co., says it was mostly chance that led her to a career in IT

Success, they say, leaves clues

As part of the continuing expansion of its Qualified Specialist program, Cisco Systems Inc. added Cisco Unity Support Specialist to its existing IP telephony certification programs.