Not so long ago, the definition of an IT worker was pretty simple: they were largely confined to central roles related to hardware, network infrastructure, and software development in centralized IT departments.But what constitutes an IT worker has evolved in recent years; now, it can just as easily mean technologists embedded in virtually every division of a company with greatly expanded responsibilities and skills.IT is now a key driver of business strategy, with workers collaborating directly with business leaders on digital transformations, product development, data-driven decision-making, improved customer experiences even business operations. Cybersecurity is now a core focus, with tech pros handling risk management and safeguarding digital assets. The rise of no-code/low-code tools has shifted some developer tasks to non-technical staff, though IT workers still must focus on integrating and maintaining those systems. AI and automation are increasingly part of IT life, with workers overseeing and optimizing generative AI-driven tools.And the evolution isnt over yet.The definition of an IT professional is going to change, from people working on networks and systems to more customer-facing tasks, said David Foote, chief analyst at business consultancy Foote Partners, which gathers data from about 4,500 companies on hiring, pay, re-skilling and other statistics.Organizations seeking IT workers can no longer simply focus on traditional IT roles. Businesses are now hiring tech talent across various departments, from finance to sales and marketing and beyond, Foote said.Reflecting the changes afoot, Foote Partners recently created a new IT description for tracking purposes the business technologist and has been researching what they do and how much they earn. These technologists have an ability to think about the long-term strategically and then make decisions that are put into play to determine what technology would be purchased by companies, Foote said.The business technologists decisions can lead to everything from spending cuts to programs designed to boost revenue, improve customer satisfaction or raise market share, Foote said.Among other tidbits of data, Foote Partners saw growth in jobs related to web search portals and computing infrastructure, and a big decline in technology consulting. Many consulting firms, including our clients, are turning to AI for tasks like analysis, reducing the need for human workers, Foote said. This suggests consulting businesses are reshuffling their workforce, aiming to do more with fewer employees.GenAI reshuffles the deck especially for developersArnal Dayartna, a research vice president at IDC, said AI and generative AI (genAI) have redefined the role of software developers by shifting their focus to managing AI tools like copilots that assist in coding, testing, documenting, and optimizing.Developers now must be able to evaluate AI-generated suggestions, choosing the best ones for the task at hand. The shift requires new skills, including understanding where AI excels and where human input is needed. Just as with text generation, genAI tools can boost productivity but have limitations developers have to navigate for seamless integration into their day-to-day jobs.Using genAI to assist them, developers may write code faster up to 60% quicker but they still need to acquire new skills for the other 40% of their time, Dayartna said. In the long run, as AI tools evolve over the next six to seven years, developers roles may shift towards more product management responsibilities. This includes understanding business needs and communicating those to AI tools, while still overseeing these tools to ensure quality.To stay competitive, Dayartna said, developers should begin tackling new skills now and organizations need to provide access to the latest genAI tools to help their employees maximize productivity. Without those tools, developers (and other tech-focused workers) will fall behind those working in AI-forward companies. Both individual upskilling and organizational support are essential for success.GenAI, which exploded on the tech scene in late 2022, is now being used to automate jobs at both the low-end and high, affecting even well-skilled, experienced workers. The tools are especially good at synthesizing insights from large, unstructured text. That means for IT workers, key skills now involve: 1) mastering how to use genAI prompts effectively with clear, natural language; 2) quickly evaluating AI-generated outputs; and 3) developing processes to integrate genAI into daily tasks.Currently, theres no single platform that seamlessly automates the selection and use of different AI tools, so IT workers must also become skilled at choosing the right AI technology for each task, Dayartna said.The rush to reskill and upskillTech workers, however, are finding their organizations lack programs to upskill or reskill; that, in turn, has resulted in a significant skills gap across a variety of industries that will affect global job growth by 2030. Its seen as the biggest barrier to business transformation by 63% of employers surveyed by the World Economic Forums (WEF) January Future of Jobs Report.To address the issue, 85% of respondents plan to prioritize upskilling, 70% will hire for new skills, 40% expect to reduce staff, and 50% will transition workers to growing roles, according to the WEF. It found that skills such as resilience, flexibility, resource management, quality control, and tech literacy are in high demand.A key part of those efforts over the next five years will be centered around genAI; companies are expected to spend$42 billion a yearon genAI projects such as chatbots, agents, research, writing, and summarization tools by 2030. Currently,50% of companieswith more than 5,000 employees use AI with many more planning to do so. The rapid advance of the technology is contributing to the skills gap, forcing IT workers to learn about genAI even as genAI continues to evolve.Though job postings for AI skillssurged 2,000% in 2024, education and training havent kept pace, according to Kelly Stratman, Ernst & Youngs global ecosystem relationships enablement leader. As AI adoption spreads across industries, the gap is growing to include IT, cybersecurity, automation, and more, Stratman said, arguing that organizations must partner with AI leaders to access talent, training, resources, and tech solutions.The WEF jobs report found workers are worried about the shake-up: 39% think their skills will become outdated by 2030 due to economic uncertainty, genAI, and the rapid pace of change.Staffing firm ManpowerGroups recentGlobal Talent Barometerechoed that image of a workforce in flux: 60% of employees are considering job changes within the next six months. Perhaps more tellingly, 41% of workers feel their current companies lack sufficient opportunities for career advancement.The IT industry is undergoing a historic reshaping of the entire technology workforce, said Kye Mitchell, president of tech workforce staffing firm Experis US. Whats particularly interesting is how the convergence of economic caution and AI acceleration is creating distinct hiring trajectories in the market.From genAI to agentic AIDevelopers in many ways at the forefront of the current industry shift have often been portrayed as wary of AI. But new research from Salesforce found theyre actually enthusiastic about the industrys shift to AI agents; the arrival of agentic AI, which can act independently to complete a task, means developers can focus less on tasks like writing code and debugging and more on strategic, creative work.Thats what I hear when I talk to my developers and my friends people are excited about the opportunity, because I think what its doing is its allowing developers to focus more on the high-impact projects, said Alice Steinglass, general manager of Salesforce Platform.Not surprisingly, of 250 frontline US developers surveyed earlier this month by Salesforce and polling firm YouGov, 91% said AI agents will fundamentally change their role for the better.And with developers increasingly using agents powered by low-code, no-code tools, development is becoming faster, easier, and more efficient than ever regardless of workers coding abilities. The tools allow more people to become, in effect, coders; business users, for instance, can define and manage their own workflows using natural language, making it easier to adapt processes as business needs change; that can improve efficiency and ROI, according to Steinglass.Dynamic, flexible AI agents can solve problems in real time, making business rules easier to update and implement. That gives companies more control over their processes and solutions, while still benefiting from software engineers expertise in system architecture and design.But the embrace of genAI, while good for companies, might not be so good for entry-level developers.That pure practice of coding is going to become less and less relevant, said IDCs Dayartna. Its going to be developers who are able to spend more time on thinking differently about what theyre building, about how to create better applications, about better designs and architectures, which is a higher-level skill. And, theyre going to have to take on a role more around the quality of code the quality checking role making sure that the code is doing what you want.A rush to learnThe pace at which new courses in AI and other emerging tools are being devoured by technologists and business-side workers alike is unpreceded, according to Jenni Troutman, director of product and services for AWS training and certification. Among all AWS Certifications, the beta exam for AWS Certified AI Practitioner drew the largest number of participants ever 20 times higher than the historical average for new beta courses. And for the AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer Associate, the company saw a tripling of the number of beta participants compared to the past average.While some employees are embracing the change brought by AI and other tech advances, others are swimming against the tide.You see people who are skeptical, who are going to say, Hey, its not ready for me to use, yet. Its not really going to affect me, and [will] take longer to come along. Troutman said. What were finding is [workers] that are in that place are starting to get nervous and realizing that people are serious [about this].I think were probably further ahead [at AWS] than a lot of users, because we build the technology ourselves, and so we need to be demonstrating that were using it, she said. So people are already realizing, If Im not figuring out how to use it, Im going to be in trouble, and its going to be a risk for my career.Essentially, Dayaratna said, IT workers need to master the fine art of prompting writing clear, specific natural language commands to optimize AI outputs, a skill similar to whats learned in a liberal arts education, where clarity and precision are key. They also need to be able to quickly assess and evaluate AI outputs for accuracy and figure out how to integrate AI into their daily tasks.Beyond technical skills, the IT worker of the near future needs soft skills that allow them to adapt to the breakneck speed at which tech and business environments are changing. They need better communication skills. And its crucial they collaborate well with colleagued so that entire teams, not just a few individuals, are using new technology tools. Otherwise, productivity and quality will become uneven.The challenge: organizations can only control this integration to a limited extent, Dayaratna said.Every developer is going to have to become a manager, she said. And the reason that theyre going to have to become a manager is theyre going to have to become very effective at managing the output of AI-assisted or AI-first technologies, which means theyll need to acquire skills specific to getting these tools to do what they need to do.Beyond just developers, that kind of flexibility will be required of IT workers more broadly. Learning from your peers about best practices with respect to how these tools enable you to more effectively complete the work that you need to do will become central to the success of this new generation of of workers, he said.