Should IT managers maintain their technical skills? It is an interesting question and you can possibly guess my answer to it.

My advice to managers is always to keep up with technology and maintain their technical skills. There are two ways I justify this.

Firstly, to supervise an extremely technical activity, an IT manager must understand everything that goes on. There is a danger in relying on explanation. Understanding isn't the same thing as being able to do a technical role, though: that takes an extra level of skill and experience. It helps to maintain a few skills to the level that one could slip into the role, because that gives you an insight into the difficulties and pressures of a technical role.

Secondly, IT can at times be like the game of 'Musical Chairs'. You can tell a IT professional who has been in the trade for decades rather than years. There are wrinkles around the eyes, and not from smiling too much. During the good times, the industry looks to be in permanent boom, and management is the skill to have. However, there have been and will continue to be plenty of downturns in the industry. When the wind changes, and IT takes a downturn, the folks with technical skills tend to be the survivors.

I remember my first spell of unemployment. Agency after agency would phone.

"What skills do you have?"

"Well, I've managed a software house successfully for a couple of years, and delivered several projects on time to several companies including government departments"

Pause. "Hmm, nothing on my list. What actual skills do you have?"

"I've run a specialist company providing database systems for the Stock Exchange"

A sigh. "What was that written in?"

"C++ mostly"

"Ah," brightly, " so you're a C++ programmer?"

"Not really, though I understand it. I designed the system, worked with the users, managed the delivery of the system, supervised the programmers."

"Oh," (disappointed) "I could have got you something there with C++."

I came to appreciate quickly that to survive the bad times, it was not enough to understand development, I had to be able to do it. Yes, it is good to have a range of skills, even though technical skills in anyone over a certain age are regarded as a strange affliction. For me, I suppose, it is just plain refreshing to get stuck into a really tricky technical problem, or tackle an issue that is difficult to fix. For a lot of technically-minded people like me, adopting a management role or some other support task, is like trying to train a dog to sing rather than bark. OK. I'm fairly house-trained, but I still like chasing things.

Phil Factor.