Title: Executive vice president

Company: Hudson IT & Telecommunications North America

According to Kevin Knaul, corporate IT departments are shrinking and will continue to do so over the next few years. Companies will be boosting their IT investments, however, with CIOs increasingly filling internal positions with project managers and business analysts, two critical roles that can't be outsourced. Knaul expects that few people will be able to submit a resume to a company and land a job. Instead, they will turn to firms that specialize in placing skilled IT talent. Long-term employment with a single company is going to be a thing of the past, he says. While the work will be there, professionals may be placed on multiple projects with a number of employers over the course of a relatively short period of time. Computerworld's Jamie Eckle spoke to Knaul about what the future may hold.

What is driving the change in IT departments? IT departments are increasingly being expected to impact the bottom line and support overall business objectives. To ensure that happens, there is constant collaboration and communication between the tech department and the business to manage the progress of these projects and to make necessary adjustments as the business strategy evolves. With that, CIOs are reporting to the CFO rather than the CEO, and professionals who can translate business strategy into IT solutions are essential.

Hudson describes what sounds like a nomadic existence for IT workers in the years ahead. Will this lead to further decline in computer science enrollments? While some individuals with certain skill sets, such as software developers, will have to cope with a "nomadic existence," professionals can align themselves with a service provider to gain an in-demand specialization. Also, by getting fully entrenched in an organization and learning to bridge the gaps between business strategy and IT function, professionals can take their careers down a path that is anything but nomadic.