Career Paths: Higher Education CIOs

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 third interactive report, we use data on respondents’ previous two jobs (e.g., CIO, other executive, information security, academic computing, networks and systems, research computing, administrative IT, service delivery, desktop services, application development, analytics, design) to identify the general paths they took to arrive at their present CIO positions. Additionally, we explore the general paths higher education CIOs expect to take over the course of their next two positions.^*

Key Findings

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

• Leadership begets leadership. Current CIOs are very likely to have held CIO positions or other IT leadership positions in both of their previous two jobs.
• Not all paths to the CIO position are equal. The best odds of moving to the CIO position belong to other executives, followed by workers in administrative IT, information security, service delivery, and academic computing. Few if any respondents moved into the CIO role from research computing, design, analytics, or desktop services.
• The probability of becoming a CIO is increased by previously holding an executive leadership position, the likelihood of which is increased by switching sectors at least once in one’s career. Individuals who changed sectors from two positions ago to one position ago are more likely to currently hold an executive leadership position now than those who remained in their sector. Those who held executive leadership positions were at least three times more likely to become CIOs than those in any other category.

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

• CIOs plan to stay put. Most current CIOs expect to continue working in that capacity for their next two positions.
• Non-CIO leadership positions are the clearest stepping stone for those who want to become CIOs. Current non-CIO leaders have high expectations that their next job will be that of a CIO. Those who expect to be in non-CIO leadership positions in their next job have similarly high expectations that the subsequent position will be a CIO.
• Some higher education IT sectors appear to cultivate interest in becoming a CIO more than others. Those currently in information security and administrative IT positions are more likely to aspire to CIO positions in their next job than those in other IT sectors.

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.

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* The smallest categories—research computing and design—were collapsed into “Other or don’t know” for this graphic. Also included in the “Other or don’t know” category are IT consultant and managed services positions, IT student workers, and non-IT positions. For more information on non-executive positions, see the interactive report on Career Paths: Higher Education IT Sectors.