Exploring the skill and career development expectations of mature IT field engineering personnel - a Grounded Theory approach

This study aimed to investigate the skills and capabilities and organisational support required by older or mature IT field engineering workers to remain effective in the changing information technology industry. The purpose of the research was to equip CompanyX, a leading information technology organisation who employ a population of ageing IT engineering workers with an understanding of the career development activities that will benefit the personnel they employ as they move into a later career stage.

The research was undertaken as a grounded theory study of CompanyX and qualitative in nature utilising constructivist grounded theory methodology (Charmaz, 2006). Semi structured interviews were used to capture and create data from a sample population aged 45 and over. The analysis highlighted the mature IT field engineers benefited from a vast amount of accumulated skill and knowledge by virtue of their long tenure in the IT industry however their ongoing value may not be fully understood by their resource managers and the organisation. The research presented the mature IT field engineer’s realisation of the need for new skills to remain productive and effective in the future workforce and the importance of a job with the flexibility to accommodate the demands of external life factors that may change their work life priorities.

The research identified two significant contributions to theory. The emergence of the importance of understanding the mature IT field engineer perception of self-worth and value which was historically positive earlier in their tenure due to the high demand for their original technical skills and the job they performed but found to be diminished in recent times because of both skills and professional obsolescence. The research indicates it will be beneficial to change the resource manager style from an authoritative approach to a collaborative coaching style focusing on value over productivity metrics, to redesign jobs to minimise the impact of ageing and increase work life flexibility in addition to investment in future focussed skills to ensure the IT field engineering career remains relevant which will contribute to the mature IT field engineer’s perception of self-worth and value and meaningful contributions.

The second contribution to theory builds on the initial contribution and positions the emergence of self-worth and value as the primary consideration when seeking to understand the mature IT field engineers’ professional identities, in favour of perceiving value as the accumulation of technical certification and accreditation positioned within existing research (Tsakissiris,2015; Smith, 2016; Rahmatika, 2022). The findings reinforced technical training and certification remain important to mature IT field engineers as evidence of competency, however the debilitating effect of skills obsolescence even with a vast array of existing IT technical certifications has repositioned the importance of understanding the engineer’s perception of their self-worth and value.

Several contributions to practice were recommended by this research. However, the most significant contributions include a suggestion for the British Computer Society (BCS) to apply greater focus to older IT worker skills development and elevate the value and perceived status of professional membership, CompanyX to reward mature IT field engineers for knowledge sharing and reuse, the need for mature IT field engineers to take increased responsibility for their own skills & career development and for managers to assist the mature IT field engineers with the adaptation of their historical engineer professional identities.