Radical new events are strongly becoming the norm in 2010. Everything from new healthcare reform to the worst environmental disaster America has ever seen to the final episode of the ABC hit show Lost. What do all of these big events have in common?  They will all need people with software developments and project management skills to accomplish new goals. All of these massive events call for new or improved infrastructures, both technical and physical.

Hospitals and insurance companies nationwide are dealing with new standards and regulations that will ultimately mean massive change over a long period of time. The disaster in the Gulf has required immediate action across the country calling for people to mobilize supplies and efforts to reduce the damage that is being done. Thousands of new workers have been hired to deal with this very dynamic problem. The end of the popular television show Lost means ABC will need to find a new golden child to produce millions of dollars in advertising revenue that also maintains and grows their current audience.  With so much money on the line you can bet ABC will spare no expense in getting the best in software development and project management to guarantee success.

What does this mean to you? SDLC skills are in high demand and that demand will continue to grow. That being said, what are some of the trends we are already seeing in 2010 for SDLC professionals?

I was speaking with Brian M. Rabon, an ASPE-SDLC instructor who is a CSM, CSP, MSEE and PMP. Brian is also the president of The Briantrust Consulting Group, you can read his blog, find him on Facebook, and connect with him on Linkedin or Twitter.  He shares with us a few of the trends he has seen so far.

• For Project Managers PMP is a pre-requisite today. You won’t even be considered for a position without it. However, having a PMP is no longer rare and doesn’t help you stand out from the crowd
• Reports are coming in that CSM is being requested more and more (salaries are increasing and rivaling traditional PMs too) .
• Scrum is becoming mainstream in tier 1 markets. However in tier 2 markets it has just come out of the chasm (Geoffrey Moore analogy). I believe that Scrum utilization is going to increase (in 2010 keep an eye on Scrum.org and how Ken S. may challenge the Scrum Alliance)
• Lean is hot and will continue to grow; obscure Agile frameworks (Crystal, DSDM, etc) are fading into obscurity
• There appears to be a major shift in what types of projects are being worked on in 2010. There are fewer “re-invent the world” projects being started from scratch. There is an increase in the number of customization/integration projects with COTS. Also, smaller scale app dev is skyrocketing (look at the number of apps in the iTunes store)
• Experience is definitely valued right now, especially in deep verticals (healthcare, etc…). I wouldn’t want to be a new grad right now
• PMI is going to be pushing the CAPM exam for recent grads (because it focuses on book knowledge, not experience) – heard this from the PMI COO

To give people some perspective I’ve included some research we did in 2009. Skills like Domain Knowledge and Business Alignment made SDLC professionals indispensable, while Agile methods skills and specialized certifications made you more marketable. (This is a very small excerpt from a larger article; you can view the whole thing here.)

So far 2010 has had some hard hitting trends that directly affect those in these professions. Considering this subject affects so many people, I’d like to throw a couple questions out there: What trends are you seeing? Instructors and readers who are in the trenches what have you noticed?

[UPDATE: check out the comment section for some great feedback]