The demands of the evolving technology world are growing rapidly. The number of roles that will need to be filled by highly trained individuals is a major concern on the horizon; another concern is the continuing education needed to keep old hands competitive with new grads. We spoke with a technology pioneer about how we might address these IT personnel issues in coming years.

Myra Strober, professor emerita at the School of Education at Stanford University, was one of a handful of women in her graduating class at MIT. She told Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-host of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, she still sees deficiencies in the way tech companies approach inclusion.

For example, she said, they may send the same employee to conferences repeatedly instead of spreading this important learning opportunity around. If someone is perceived to be below par, she argued, “How about giving that person some extra training so that she becomes really good at presenting?”

Living on the learning curve

Strober also had a lot to say about the unique educational needs of tech professionals. “It is true that certain skills, particularly some skills that are valuable in Silicon Valley, do depreciate over time. So if you got your computer science degree in 1990, by now, you probably need some refreshing,” she said.

“So somebody who got their degree in 1990, who’s now got a family and kids — they can’t just take off and go back and get another master’s degree for a year,” Strober said, arguing that new mechanisms for refreshing skills must be built around the lives of working adults.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Future of Innovation: A Peek Inside Stanford GSB’s Crystal Ball event.

Photo by SiliconANGLE