What is Digg?187 Comments
- Noncentz, on 07/21/2008, -5/+98Oh well if all else fails I can go work at Geek Squad.......
- rearlgrant, on 07/22/2008, -0/+62Would Computerworld make up it's mind.
Study: Six IT fields in top 20 recession-proof professions
With the economy in upheaval, here are some areas where you may want to polish your job skills
July 15, 2008
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?com ... - ironeus, on 08/01/2008, -1/+4348% does seem high considering it's only 1 year away ('09). The survey seems very speculative and we already know what that did to the oil industry. Hopefully these specs won't execute in the IT world.
- DesolataX, on 07/22/2008, -3/+41The only real way that IT jobs would drop is if we stopped using computers and the internet. In my opinion, IT jobs are the one recession-proof jobs since our lives now revolve around computers and the internet. It really depends on how they defined IT jobs. If you include programmers and web designers into the definition, yeah, those areas probably will decline due to the economy, but if you refer more towards network administrators and pretty much anyone who is involved in the maintaining of the systems we use, there is still going to be plenty of work around.
- Bukowsky, on 07/21/2008, -3/+27or move to India.
- linagee, on 07/22/2008, -1/+22Taking away IT is a bit like cutting your hand off to stop the cut on your leg from bleeding.
- AlbinoRaven, on 07/22/2008, -0/+20I remember reading this exact same article 8 years ago except it was different technology. I also remember reading this exact same article 16 years ago except it was different technology.
Been laid off 3 times, built 5 startups, get two certs a year (techie not PMP/SAP *****), run a crew of contractors under my flag, involved in about eight 50 million a year projects.
Haven't gotten rich, bills get paid and it has always been fun. So far I havent noticed the drop in business. It could have something to do with I dont charge 2400 a day as a contractor (Redhat, Sun, Oracle, HP, IBM, CGI, CNC, etc). I charge 650 per head and my company takes 5% so we have something to pay the accountant to do our books collectively for tax time. The contractor on site gets the rest.
My problem is finding bodies to fill positions that do their jobs. Life aside, everyone has something they need to do everyday (kids, older parents, sick, whatever). So long as work gets done and delivered on the date on the project plan I wouldnt care if the crew showed up in viking hats and wet suits. Unfortunately I have a real tough time finding those people. Not the viking hats mind you, the delivery folks. - inactive, on 07/22/2008, -6/+26No. Stop mindlessly regurgitating protectionist propaganda. The H1-B program was made the scapegoat to distract you from a WAY bigger problem: OUTSOURCING. Notice how this topic magically went away? Well, THE PROBLEM DIDN'T.
The number of IT jobs that were sent offshore by just a few major companies dwarfs the TOTAL number of H1-B visas available.
Also, H1-B holders must be paid a competitive wage, and that wage must be posted for public viewing at their place of employment. Can you say that about the people you lost your job to in India? You sure as ***** cannot.
H1-Bs are an easy target, since no one is willing to face the REAL problem. Don't be stupid. - clogmoney, on 07/22/2008, -1/+16The trouble is there is a huge range in the I.T field. I can see how support technicians and help desk staff will be streamlined, but developers and engineers? Nope just don't see that one happening, even as people get more computer literate, the majority will never have the desire to learn to program.
Saying that, my friend is convinced he is now a programmer as he knocked up some html in front page..... Oh dear.... - Murdats, on 07/22/2008, -0/+13he said heads towards, if you are in a car that is heading towards a tree and someone shouts "argh we are heading for that tree" are you going to say "I doubt you can predict the future you pathetic mortal"
- anxcaptain, on 07/22/2008, -0/+13Those people are my bread and butter!!!!... Yea Ill show you how to log in*
- hwy9nightkid, on 07/22/2008, -1/+13Communications is a useless major..now instead of a shrinking job market with your degree you will have none..
- kurupttek, on 07/21/2008, -3/+15The economy heads towards a recession why are we so surprise
- diadem2, on 07/22/2008, -0/+11when in doubt, backup the shortcuts and reformat the drive.
- Jynx97, on 07/22/2008, -0/+11IT doesn't just mean Help Desk.
My company has 1000's of IT workers, and about 20 Help Desk Technicians.
It would be scary / irresponsible to have end users responsible for my work. - cablecanuck, on 07/22/2008, -0/+10i think his thinking is that the baby boomers who are more likely to be computer illiterate are retiring and baby busters/echo boomers are slowly are taking their place.
but IT is still extremely important, if not more then ever. Just not conventional "fix your computer" IT. More like securing data and making sure networks are safe IT. - katierosekills, on 07/22/2008, -2/+12Female IT worker right here. Hopefully your said words will follow through.
- inactive, on 07/22/2008, -2/+12"fill intimidated"?
I hope you switched your major to Spelling. - CobaltBlue, on 07/22/2008, -1/+10CIO's are always talking about cutting staff. It's in their blood.
- Renton, on 07/22/2008, -0/+8In the future... the value of money will decrease. And... the population will rise! Wait, I think I'm getting one more... faster micro chips will be made!
- Sihing, on 07/22/2008, -0/+8You're exactly right. These are just speculative. Did you see the jump in decision making to remove %'s of in house employees? The number jumps all the time depending on a LOT of things.
I've worked in IT and software development for a long time to know that in the coming year, more baby boomers will be leaving technically related jobs, and our competitive generation with degree's and technical knack will fill the gaps. I buried it as inaccurate, these sort of articles only serve to worry employee's and keep them on edge for no reason. If it improves your productivity to be scared, fine, but I know a lot of IT guys who are lazy and SHOULD be fired, but are kept around for their expertise or creativity. Just keep that in mind gentlemen (and women... in the off chance that there is a female digger reading this ;]). - zadadka, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6We're a short way down a road of "economic downturn", and this is pure knee-jerk speculation to that.
Companies will continue to need IT staff, and continued expansion of IT systems and projects to retain or gain competitiveness.
The only thing that's really going to be affected is large scale capital re-investments (company-wide desktop replacements etc), and even this will be simply postponement. - scamper22, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6Rule Number 1: Don't get a job you think you 'want' to do. That's like taking your favorite hobby and making it your boring job.
Rule Number 2: Get a job you can stand doing every day that pays decently
Rule Number 3: Ignore sarcastic, digg browsing, disgruntled employees like myself :P
I kidd. But seriously. If I had to do it over again, there's no way I'd choose engineering. - piper999, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6Nice theory willy.
I've sponsored H1-B IT staff many times over the years. Around 2001 they were paid 50% of what Americans were paid for the same job. Nowadays they get paid closer to what Americans will expect to be paid however the effect of this going on for years is that IT salaries are the same they were eight years ago, i.e. much less after accounting for increased cost of living expenses. In other words the objective of making IT staff cheaper has been achieved.
Anyone not believing me may want to apply for a job at for example Qwest in Denver. Ask them about starting salaries there and why almost all IT staff there are Indian. It is the same at all major employers at least in Colorado the state I live in.
Working in software development is nowhere near as lucrative as it was. The H1-B program was designed to turn software developers into a commodity and it worked. - lucidguru, on 07/21/2008, -8/+14It's about time people learn how to use a computer and stop relying on the IT staff to do everything for them... hopefully this will help make the public a bit more "computer literate."
- DentThat, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6what major are you now and why? And what proof do you have that companies won't really need IT people anymore
- Archer007, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6or move to China.
- Ebulating, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6Yeh, just what we need, another advertising *****.
If you really like computers but hate to program, like me, you could try networking. Cisco has a very clear career path laid out with the CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE (with dozens of variants) certifications that are genuinely valued by employers (partly due to the fact that Cisco gives discounts to companies that higher certified employees. Cisco's got your back!). CCIE's average $110,000 a year and are in such great demand, companies come looking for you.
Or, you can try SAP, the huge enterprise resource managment sofware that can run every aspect of a giant mulitnational coporation. Needless to say, the software is very complicated to install and there aren't enough people who know how to, so the pay is excellent.
Finally, you could do database administration. Oracle offers multiple levels of certification and the pay averages $85000. - mudgie, on 07/22/2008, -0/+6I think anyone who doesn't need to work physically on machines (server admins, tech support, help desk monkeys) are in trouble not because of this recession, but outsourcing. My company's sending everything over to China, the Czech Republic, and India, land of the $5-an-hour worker.
- xxxkrogoth, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5Don't forget to learn Chinese
- captaindigger, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5GF Brother just got laid off of his 85,000 per year job in IT last week. Was there 7 years. Not a very good sign of things to come.
- ndelp, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5of course companies will initially think IT would be a prime area to cut jobs, until the first crises occurs and they have to hire back everyone that they just cut. its kind of how it goes no? people try to cut too many corners and end up spending more money instead of saving it. IT is easily overlooked, but not dispensable.
- aadsfasdf, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5They're trying anything to stay afloat, hell, they had to fire their webdesigners 5 years ago.
- gyrfalcon, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5Yeah, companies perform so much better when critical systems & infrastructure are put on the side burner along with the people who support them.
- tomarocco, on 07/22/2008, -0/+5And if you do a good enough job you can piss everyone off and you will still be fine.
- jkca1, on 07/22/2008, -9/+14So the next thing we do is get rid of the H1-B Visa programs since it's obvious that there will be US workers without jobs.
- Aeric, on 07/22/2008, -1/+6Me too :(
- ChayD, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4Dugg for honesty
- Nightfall, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4I have to agree rearlgrant. Seems that a new study comes out showing one profession or another is speculated to be cut back in the next few years. In a sense, they are right because companies will not be hiring more in a down economy with sales and profits down. However, they are wrong as well because there are a lot of IT jobs that are required in order for businesses, especially large ones, to run day to day.
The 6 IT fields that are recession proof I have to agree with though. I really think that the article will be at least partially correct. There will be a downturn of IT jobs next year, but it won't be as high as they make it out to be. Probably about 10 percent. The amount of jobs won't grow too much either because companies will be looking to not hire in a down market and baby boomers won't be retiring. - soupdawg30, on 07/22/2008, -2/+6Communcations because of all the different jobs you can get. I had noticed less jobs in the area and friends who were looking for jobs in IT were not able to get any.
- jaikob, on 07/22/2008, -2/+6Wow, are you that bad at computer repair? I'm sorry. =[
- rearlgrant, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4Logan's Run
- mwalker05, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4the reason why companies employ IT and IS solutions in the first place is to save money. So you are telling me companies want to stop saving money while there is a possible recession in the brew?
also what is up with this sub title: "Cloud computing may get buzz, but it won't get spend"
yea, sort of like how this article might get read, but it wont get sense. - AlbinoRaven, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4No it doesn't impact engineers or programmers. Honestly how big was your graduating class? I had a talk with one of the university graduating classes last summer, the faculty/pro students outnumbered the under grads. The IT paper mills are gone the way of the dodo as of 8 years ago.
If you are looking. Government of Canada puts up postings for CS1's (Eng/CS designation). They are currently looking for roughly 800 people. So far with the lack of people interested in CS work they've had maybe 24 applicants mainly because they are totally ***** about the french requirement.
It's an entry level position and it's 50k a year. now in USD that's 50k with the exchange rate.
In Toronto/Ottawa/Calgary/Montreal programmers and engineers are always sought after. And if you want to live in a really cool place, check out St Johns Newfoundland, so long as you know how to drink, ***** and fight.
If you are worried about your prospects in the US, check out the Canada Monster jobs. Tonnes of positions in the junior/intermediate range.
For a US citizen, it takes the job offer, then you go to the consulate (Seattle, San fran, NYC, DC) and apply for a work permit. The company can pressure the consulate to fast track the application because you are desperately needed. They you get your passport stamped and move in with twenty room mates and save your pennies.
Ive been hired in the US (Yay NYC and Seattle!), and I'm got people from the US up here. It's easy enough so long as you understand you are dealing with government agencies (US and Canuck) and they sometimes don't move that fast especially during summertime. - returnofthemac, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4working at a publishing company for a cooking mag/show/etc I can tell you that even though these people have been using computers for word processing for 10+ years - they'll never be able to live without a help desk tech. Yesterday alone I answered at least 6 tickets from users ranging from "whats my password?" to "my screen is broken".. and no the screen wasnt broken- the brightness was all the way down.
I'm not scared AT ALL. - o6uoq, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4..suppose this is from the same report by the people who said in 2004 that Bird Flu would kill 350,000 people by 2007? hmm..
- inactive, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4IT isn't just the service desk or service catalog support. It's about offering services to the users, supporting, maintaining, and implementing those services. The support is just one piece of the puzzle. The average user cannot install software, they cannot maintain Active Directory, and they sure as hell cannot setup a router.
Hell, I'd go so far as to say the average user doesn't have a clue, nor should they, in the difference between authentication and authorization. - inactive, on 07/22/2008, -0/+4Cool! right when I was beginning to study for IT.
- donkevin, on 07/22/2008, -0/+3Why? Just cause he used a sentence fragment?
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