Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.141 2023.07.01 Takahashi Minoru

What qualities are required in a system developer?

Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


The role of an in-house IT specialist varies from company to company.
Sometimes they are simply seen as “the guy who knows the most about computers,”
or they may be responsible for selecting and implementing solutions, software development, and obtaining and renewing third-party certifications,
and managing complex tasks with a large team.


In any case, the work of an in-house IT specialist involves
・Standardization (defining rules for evaluation and troubleshooting, establishing work procedures)
• Training (communicating the above to other employees, creating manuals, etc.)
・Automation (ensuring work runs smoothly without needing sudden assistance from others)
Therefore,
the more skilled an in-house IT specialist is,
the less anyone will rely on them.


The closer the rules are to being perfect, the more anyone can do the work,
and as manuals become more comprehensive, problems decrease
As proficiency increases, the help desk becomes unnecessary,
and eventually, the in-house SE finds themselves with nothing to do.
Herein lies the tragedy of the in-house IT engineer: the harder they work, the more work they lose.


The path that individual in-house IT engineers then follow is
・Continuing to energetically identify areas for improvement and challenges
・Deliberately creating unnecessary work for themselves (to protect their job scope)
・Taking on additional responsibilities in other roles
These paths vary depending on corporate culture and the individual in-house SE’s personality, but setting that aside


When hiring or assigning a new in-house SE,
please keep in mind the potential “plights of in-house IT staff” described above
and we recommend that you make decisions in line with changes in the company culture as needed.


That's all, Thank you for reading.

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