Career Paths: Institutions and Industries

Overview

In the 2015 ECAR IT Workforce Survey, we asked respondents to share information about their past and current careers, as well as about their future career plans (n = 1,188). These data provide insight about the pipeline to key IT positions and the probable career trajectories for the current IT workforce. In this first interactive report, we use data on respondents’ previous two jobs (e.g., at their current institution, in higher education but at another institution, in IT) to identify the general paths they took to arrive at their present positions. Additionally, we also explore the general paths higher education IT professionals expect to take over the course of their next two positions.

Key Findings

In terms of historical career paths, three main trends are apparent in our data:

• A majority of higher education IT employees are faithful to both higher education and IT. Three-quarters (73%) of current employees held positions in higher education IT in their immediately preceding position, and 59% were employed in higher education IT two positions prior to their current one.
• Higher education IT employees appear to be faithful to their institution. More than half (54%) of current higher education IT employees worked at the same institution in their previous position; 39% worked at the same institution two positions previously.
• Inertia appears to be a pretty powerful determinant. That is, you are more likely to have remained in your current sector, regardless of type, than to have come from another sector.

The future career paths of higher education IT employees are more difficult to pin down:

• IT employees appear to be divided between inertia and uncertainty. On the immediate horizon, 81% of current higher education IT employees intend to remain in the IT field in some capacity; a majority (55%) say they anticipate their next position to be in higher education IT, and 27% say they expect their next position to be in IT at the same institution. However, more than a quarter (27%) of current higher education IT employees do not know in what industry their next IT position will be or do not know what position they will next hold.
• Planned retirements will continue to cull the workforce. Nearly 1 in 10 current higher education IT employees expect to no longer be in the workforce immediately following their current position.
• The crystal ball is even more clouded for employees when they consider two positions in the future. A plurality (38%) do not know in what industry they will be working or do not know what position they will hold two positions from now; a full 22% of respondents expect to leave the workforce after their next position. Only 12% of respondents expect to be still working in IT at their current institution two positions from their current one.

EDUCAUSE IT Workforce Research: Focusing on Our People and Professions

This interactive graphic is part of the IT Workforce in Higher Education, 2016 research series, which includes interactive graphics on the career paths of higher education IT professionals and reports on IT leadership. The research helps colleges and universities reinvest in the IT workforce by defining professional competencies and laying the foundation for tools that can guide professional development and career planning.