Two important problems have been noticed quite often regarding the information technology (IT) professionals, namely: the turn-over - in which the IT professional moves to another company but still remains in the IT arena - and the turn-away - in which the IT professional abandons this area in order to play a role in a different area in either the same company or in another, sometimes going to a managerial function. In which concerns to this problem, few research papers were found both in Brazil and abroad. Then, the main target of this work is to understand how and why the IT professionals abandon this area, identifying typical characteristics in this career transition. Thus, from a literature review about career development, research hypotheses were developed in order to be analyzed by the researchers. A multiple case study method with several unities of analysis was applied into two large companies, one in the IT services business and the other in the energy business. Interviews were conducted between May and July 2010 with IT professionals who had migrated to other areas within their organizations, being them considered the unity of analysis. The results accrued from this research unveil that the IT professionals need to have more growing opportunities than either their companies have being able to offer them or it is possible to be offered within the technical arena. Besides, this research points out for the organizations that the IT professionals willingness to move to a non-technical area is more related to a lack of professional challenges and new experiences than to a lack of satisfaction with their professional technical duties. Thus, companies interested on retaining these IT professionals are supposed to present them these opportunities.
Information technology professionals; Turn-away; Technical career; Managerial career; Career transition
