Director of Cloud Transformation.  Data Scientist.  Augmented Reality Specialist.

No, these aren’t the titles of characters in a new science fiction movie; they’re next-generation IT job titles - except they are jobs that are in-demand now, in 2012.  In other words, if recent articles are to be believed, the future has already arrived.

By “the future,” we mean the commoditization and proliferation of technologies like cloud computing, social media, and data analytics, all of which are quickly conspiring to change the face of IT.

But don’t be fooled: these technologies will not replace typical IT roles like information security, project management, network administration, and even the Help Desk.  Rather, IT applicants can expect a scenario where these two worlds – old and new – merge.

Take cloud computing, for example.  The technology is mature and the cost-savings are evident.   But at the end of the day, implementing a cloud solution is no different than any other type of IT project.  To put it another way, the principles of IT project management – budgeting, value demonstration, training – still apply.  They’re timeless, and an experienced project manager will always be in demand.

So what does this mean for the IT job applicant?  Well, before you take a crash source in cloud computing, take a step back and assess your current skill set and where you want to be in five, ten, 20 years.  Understand what your current strengths are and how they can be leveraged to support new and emerging technologies.

And most importantly, work with an IT professional staffing firm to understand the types of businesses who are hiring, the kinds of skills they’re looking for, and formulate a development plan to get there.

As the Presidential campaign unfolds, both candidates understandably talk about the importance of US manufacturing.  After all, over two decades of outsourcing and globalization has seen America turn into, to a great degree, a more service-oriented economy.

The bad news about this trend is that in many industries – think, say, heavy manufacturing – it is very difficult to bring those jobs back home.  The good news, however, is that in other industries – think IT support, software development, and call centers – it is perfectly possible, if not likely, that those jobs can return home.  That’s the gist of this fascinating article in Infoboom examining the push-and-pull dynamics of IT outsourcing.

There are dozens of reasons why bringing IT jobs back to the states makes economic sense, but for today’s purposes, we’d like to briefly look at three.  First, as standards of living have improved in countries like India, the cost-benefit of outsourcing has diminished.  Second, some companies are reporting that the outsourced work is of low-quality, requiring fixes that negate any cost savings.  And lastly, companies are still struggling with the challenge of securing corporate data across geographically dispersed networks.

And there’s an additional trend here that is good news for IT workers here in the States.  The emerging importance of skills like business intelligence and data analytics, in many ways, simply can’t be outsourced.  Talk to your IT professional staffing agent to see how you ramp up on these types of skills and become, in essence, “un-outsourceable.”