Discussion on:

10 IT job roles that are hardest to fill

I agree that there aren't that many scientists who display this sense of not knowing the truth. It depends on the discipline, from my experience. I think that is a common human failing. It's a lot easier to talk in terms of "facts" than "given our current state of ignorance, what we think we know is...," though the latter is a lot more realistic to what science expresses. I have seen some scientists who are very conscious of this, who talk about the fact that science does not deal in "truth," but rather probabilities, which reflect how close scientists think they are to the truth. Where what I said about "they never reach it" comes in is that the probability never reaches 100%, though science has achieved probabilities with some models that are *really* close to that, 99.9999...%, again, that is, within the limits of those models.

I heard one scientist make an analogy that human perception is rather like being inside a transparent, hollow ball that has a coating on it that makes what's outside of it difficult to see. Practicing science is like wiping away some of that coating in spots, and being able to see the outside more clearly, but only so much (that's the limit). It's not that scientists limit themselves. It's that they start from the assumption, which is well founded iMO, that humans are flawed observers of Nature, and that the best way that's been found so far to get around that (but still does not offer 100% total understanding) is to follow certain principles and processes. I wouldn't necessarily call it a way of life, though some of its concepts can be incorporated into common everyday existence. I don't think it can teach us (yet, anyway) how to live in harmony with one another, and how to live good, fulfilling lives. That I think is a gap that religion and philosophy fills to some extent.

I think what science can offer is, ironically, "good enough" knowledge. You don't need to know with 100% certainty that one model or another will tell you that doing some action will give you a desired result. If you know that a model is 95% reliable or better, based on experience and comparisons with the experience of others, those are very good odds. Where science has been important is in improving engineering, and the methods of practitioners in various vocations. This has led to an improvement in our quality of life where it's been applied with a conscious understanding of its limits.

What is that? Christians speak a plethora of languages - as do the other religions, including the christians in India, who speak hindi, urdu, and other languages - as do all of India. I guess the closest we can come to "speaking christian" is either hebrew ( old testament ) or greek (new testament). Do you understand either of those? Kinda exposing yourself there.

In my over 5 decades on the face of the Earth, I have learned that those who tell me to be open-minded and accept the facts are usually going to try to feed me a crock of bovine excrement that contains nothing remotely resembling fact.

I'm not saying that's what you're going to do, but that's what I'm expecting.

I'm from the USA, and that is not an idiom with which I'm familiar - nor will I adopt it's use! Good grief, how insular.

The only references I could find regarding "speaking Christian" is a book that presents an argument regarding the narrowing of the meaning of specific words and phrases from the Bible and how it has distorted the overall message presented. I found nothing anywhere after scanning over 2 million hits that has anything to do with American English. So it does beg the question: Is this idiom localized to your individual address?

No offense Justin, but the only jobs you didn't mention are analysts and admins. I think they need to be added to the list so we can clearly say: "Filling all jobs in IT is hard these days".

Back when the IT field started (1970's) the promise was if you wanted a fast growing, high paying future go into IT. Forty years later most of the IT jobs are overseas. It???s a good career if you want to relocate to India. What jobs are left in the United States, with a few exceptions, are jobs that have been commoditized and therefore are compensated poorly. I have met a lot of technicians that make less than $30,000 a year. That???s a far cry from the living wages that were promised two decades ago.

Did you run out of ideas when you decided to put "IT Author" on the list? You completely overlooked database administrator (DBA). Those are the people who can write their own tickets.

You are correct; however, the DBA has to work with the SysAdmins in order to be effective as they do not have the root password to do many things and so they need the Sys Admins. Now days, companies are looking for SysAdmins to even do the DBA work and the way they do it is to come up with the title of ???Engineer??? regardless if the individual has an engineering degree or not. It has been my experience that most IT people do not have an engineering diploma from a university and what they have done is to get a DBA certification and that is it; however, when it comes to troubleshooting a problem they go to the SysAdmin???I have been there. The sad thing is that even SysAdmins are not engineers but merely have a certification or have learned the OS by experience. Also, most companies in the USA use non-engineers for support but they get the ???Engineer??? status.

Currently PMP certified - Don't want the head aches and company maxed out salary - went to Site IT management

Was Pre Sales Engineer - the Sales managers and business owners were rats and only interested in pimping me out to their clients. Took my product certs with me to a new firm and left them with zero product margins to work with.

Was Tech Writer - dead end job - not worth using up my MS and BS on


Getting out of IT in the next year or so and heading into new field. 25 years is enough!

In 1997 tech writers in my geographical area were getting $30 an hour and diesel fuel was $1.25 a gallon. That's 24 gallons per hour. Now I'm turning down tech writing gigs at $28. Diesel is $4. That's 7 gallons per hour, less than one third the previous rate, measured in fuel.

Last supposed tech-writer gig I investigated wanted me to take a typing-speed test. Huh?? The pay? $13 per hour. I can't afford to do that.

Why diesel fuel? That's how everything moves. It's a good substitute for gold as a standard for comparison.

Just for fun, let's look at tech writer compensation in gold for 1997 and 2012. Gold was roughly $350 per troy oz ($11.25 per gram) then and $1600 per troy oz ($51.50 per gram) now. Compensation in 1997 at $30 per hour was about 2.7 grams of gold. Now at $28 per hour it's 0.54 grams of gold, or about one fifth of the rate 15 years ago. Nobody that I've run across pays $150/hr for tech writing.

There's no reason to bother with tech writing any more. I can make more money working and selling horses.

Helpdesks in IT came to exist because in the early days the regular users did not have any IT experience. These days, most users can solve their own problems or will at least try and only call the helpdesk when they are really stuck or need Helpdesk to perform some policy related action such as unlock account. Going forwards, I see the helpdesk role disappearing completely in the not too distant future as modern self service architectures completely replace the need for first line Helpdesk. Instead we'll have business/IT service centric help functions. I have seen for myself how most big businesses these days no longer need users to contact a helpdesk to request password resets or request new software; it's all automated, self service, linked to automated notifications and approvals for cost tracking. It's IT doing what IT is intended for: simplifying and automating aspects of business.

With regards to outsourcing/offshoring: "jobs" are like products and services and just as products and services are exportable, so should jobs be. A business should not be constrained economically simply because some people feel jobs should be located where the core business is physically operated. In a global village it's also unavoidable when businesses need to operate 24/7.

No matter how simple or how automated, there will always be users who don't get it. Does that mean that they're really stupid at what they do? Likely not. They just don't "get" computers like IT people do. I'm sure that an accountant would think I'm stupid because I don't understand things that are so obvious to them. Some people will avoid calling the help desk and some want to talk to another actual living, breathing person to get done what they need done.

The biggest issue to me about calling India (just because I've never gotten anyone in Australia) for support is that for many of our support contracts, we pay a significant amount of money and expect someone to handle our support issues who not only speaks English (or whatever language you do business in), but understands it and actually knows something about the product you're calling about. I do make an effort to make sure that I have done everything correctly and that if I have to log a support call, that there really is a product defect, not a misuse or misconfiguration on my end. It's really frustrating to know more about the product than the person on the other end of the phone.

I've had this from helpdesks whose staff speak flawless English as their first language, simply because their employer doesn't believe it necessary to fill their first-line jobs with expensive technical staff. Instead what you get through to is a person with little skill or experience, and they have a script to read through to everyone who calls.

Yes, I've rebooted it.

Yes, I've reset that.

Yes, I've checked that...

Look, the problem is that a router somewhere within your infrastructure has either fallen over or got its routing table in a tizz. I can ping beyond my router and onto your network, so the problem is not at my end. You need to escalate this internally to your network team...

No, I am not rebooting it again!

Actually you would be surprised that a majority of the general public is still as ignorant as it used to be at the inception of the industry. Just because they are on the Facebook and they update their LinkedIn account the end user sometimes thinks that he or she is an IT specialist. And we are here to prove them wrong.

diman75, you are so correct and that is why I mentioned the same word in here in reference to outsourcing but some guys got pissed because I used that word (ignorant); however, that is reality...a simple certification makes them engineers but in fact they do not even know what a differential equation is for that matter.

None of that matters. Offshoring is driven by cost reduction. It's the quest for cheap, a mindset that guarantees you get what you pay for.
Hard to fill positions everywhere in the business filled by incompetents.

I'm not sure legacy programmer is perfect for outsourcing since such programmers normally also need to have in-depth knowledge of the specific business domain which is not always so easy to fill.

I worked my way up to Manager in seventeen years, made Administrator three years later, balanced budgets, analyzed and assessed infrastructure throughout my entire managerial tenure, however,because the 'tech' I was working on was being 'pushed aside' due to the 'Net boom, to then discover that the 'tech' was in fact being adapted to the 'Net, firms started "downsizing' by the bushel-load to be 'innovative' in the "New Millennium" (remember the "trend' in the late '90's about "paperless offices"?... How's that going, nowadays?). I went back to College, received my BSCi (which in of itself increased my value, b/c instead of "first College, then Career", I did Career first, then College. So I have the experience, the Degree, and the foundation. SInce then, I've made more resume revisions than the Yankees have World Series rings, joined 'social networks' when they were simply job-boards, stayed abreast of all relevant tech to the measure of "bring it down to earth" in explanation, necessity, P&L, and overall impact on the business, but now because I've been "on-the-bench' too long, I'm not "hirable"?!?! C'mon, folks, let's cut it to the chase. No "experienced IT Managers" out there? Where are you looking, Antarctica?

Hey guy, be careful what you say in here, someone from Antarctica might get pissed at you.

Unlike you, people from Antarctica know their shilt.

I have all ten of the skills you listed and they are all referenced on my resume. I have not had a consulting engagement for 6 years. Does that mean that people doing recruiting cannot read? That they have insufficient attention span to read a long resume? Or is it only that I have hit the age descrimination barrier?

It is age discrimination all the way; however, you should not have any problems getting a 3 month contract as companies now days are doing that as a mean to get someone to do everything under the sun and save 2 or 3 salaries. Also, if you have been out of a job, for whatever reason, for more than 2 years or even less they do not want you. As stupid as it seems that is reality here in the US of A. I know what you???re coming from and it is sad; however, in about 5 years companies with those policies will be crying for good people and brains but there will be none and that is part of the fall of the USA and the emerging countries such as China and Brazil. Russia has always been good technologically and still is in spite the fact of the collapse they had.

Recruiters, by and large, do not know what your technical skills mean. They just compare it to the list of requirements from their client, and if you have written "Network Infrastructure Manager, Router Configuration, Cisco IOS 11 upwards", they come back and go "The client wants someone with TCP/IP, sorry".

My CV now reads like it's been written by a five year old, because recruiters are incapable of understanding that you do meet the client requirements unless you point it out in big, bright crayon.

And my apologies (and sympathies) go out to the small number of actual Tech-specialist recruiters out there who do have a clue. We need you. We wish there were more of you.

The moral of the story is if you're going to just "throw your resume into the ether," you need to make sure it does not require technical interpretation. That's a challenge, because we assume so much about technical work that's just common knowledge among our peers. When we see a technical ad, we assume the people who submitted it know their stuff. Since they're usually submitted by an HR department, they usually don't. In fact, it might even be best to leave certain details *out* of your resume, as they can be distracting. For example, if the ad asks for Java, don't include the fact that you've worked in C++. Remember, it's not that a technologist at the other end would look down their nose at you for working in C++. It's that an HR person will see it and ask themselves, "What is See-Plus-Plus??"

I remember when I was applying for work in my last year of college, I got an interview with a large company. I had on my resume that, among the languages I knew, was ANSI C. The interviewer asked me at some point, "So how long did you work for...Ansee-See?" My first reaction was, "Huh??" I didn't say that, but I had to compose myself, because I realized, "Oh my god. She really doesn't get this!" I tried to explain to her without giving her the impression that she was out of her depth that ANSI C was not a company, but a programming language I was skilled in. I even had it categorized under "Languages" right on my resume.

I had another experience similar to this years later. I had signed up with a headhunting service. I responded to one of their listings. It turned out to have a typo in it, listing "C+" as one of their languages. The headhunter called me and was mindful enough to ask, "The ad is asking for C+. Do you have that?" I said, "What they're asking for is C++. It's the same thing. It's a typo in their listing." I remember her asking me about that a few more times, and I had to keep reassuring her it was a typo. She eventually believed me. I don't recall getting the job, but I think it was because it was a bad fit.

Dealing with HR/headhunters is a crapshoot. I think a good rule of thumb is you can talk about your responsibilities, what you worked on generally, but maybe keep the technical details focused on what they've asked for in the want ad, trying to match them as closely as possible. Asking them to interpret the fact that since you've been a network engineer, that you naturally understand TCP/IP, is a bridge too far for most of them. Personally, I think a better solution is to try to find contacts within the companies in which you're interested, since then you can pass off your resume to someone who will actually understand your technical skill, kind of going around HR. That doesn't mean you avoid headhunters. I have occasionally found them useful in the job hunt, but it's good to try to go the other route as well.

Oh wait, that's a construction company

In addition to the pay issues mentioned above, there's another challenge that IT trainers face: when you're training, you aren't doing. It's difficult to keep your skills current, if all you do is deliver training. Technical audiences expect trainers to be subject matter experts as well as trainers, and that combination is very difficult to find. So most training is delivered by SMEs who don't understand adult learning and classroom dynamics, or by experienced trainers struggling to establish their credibility with a new/updated subject that they haven't done real-life projects with in the field.

Teachers are fleeing in droves as their salaries shrink, their benefits are slashed to the bone, and their profession is maligned non-stop by a certain media-noise-machine which shall remain nameless to avoid a flame-war.

A great many of them have strong technical aptitudes--I personally know half-dozen teachers under 35 who have left teaching because they want more respect, reasonable hours, and better pay. Almost all of them have "better than average" ability to teach themselves technology--start recruiting them, test them, and groom a few to do what you need.

What the hell does this have to do with teachers and the way the media portrays them?

NT

Companies want to reap what they haven't sown. They don't invest in employees that work there or in any way to alleviate the problem. All we hear are the cries for more L1B and H1B visas. I think these companies are parsimonious, short sighted and ungrateful. I wonder if things will change when they outsource C level positions.

The PMP certification does not require that one be managing projects, or even that one has managed a single project, successfully or otherwise. There is no "road test" as there is in roles like CPA (a simulated audit must be performed), pilot (supervised flight training), driver (written, vision, and road tests), or mechanic (diagnose and repair a damaged vehicle). One needs to document a sufficient number of hours "leading and directing project tasks" including loosely defined self-directed tasks. Approximately 10.4% of employer posted PM roles require a PMP (per job aggregators), and that drops to about 6.3% in IT (per Dice). It is essentially a four-hour multiple choice PMBoK-derived knowledge competency test taken after a crash course, not in project management, but in how to pass the exam. It does not test what project managers actually do as much as it tests their knowledge of a particular reference guide. The surveys that indicate PMPs make more money are biased in to whom they are issued and scientifically unsound. You will not find the same variance in comparing job postings. The mythology surrounding the PMP certification is pervasive but does not hold up to scrutiny, as every PMP certified PM who fulfills their agreement to abide by PMI's code of ethics (which mandates openness, transparency, honesty, truth-seeking, and mutual accountability) will attest. There is nothing related to project management a PMP-certified PM can do that a non-PMP cannot. There is no secret knowledge. There is, despite many studies using a range of metrics, no statistically significant difference in performance, effectiveness, or results between PMPs and non-PMPs. There is also no evidence showing PMPs have a higher employment rate than non-PMPs.

The biggest problem in hiring project managers is assessing their soft skills and their cultural fit with the enterprise. A good many people who would like to be employed as project managers simply aren't equipped to deal with upper level management or to navigate the social and political culture of an enterprise.

Out of the 10 jobs listed I qualify for all but 1 yet I cannot find a job in my home town. I travel 95% of the time and I do not consider my compensation no where hear what I do

I've been a programmer for over 30 years. Most of that time I've been maintaining (and frequently documenting for my own reference) old code. Pretty much any code is old the day its author steps out the door, 'cause every programmer has his own foibles, and absent really heavily enforced standards, no one writes nearly as much documentation as is needed for the next guy to come in and pick up where they left off.

That's not to say I haven't gotten to write new applications from scratch, and It's not like I've been using COBOL w. ISAM & CICS all these years, but I consider old code is anything left behind after its creator is gone.

My experience has been that for every man-hour of new development there are hundreds or thousands of hours of work maintaining old stuff and modifying or adding new features to old programs to meet changing user requirements.

I keep running into companies that don't want a specialized person, they want someone who can do it all. They want a single guy who can do help-desk, network, applications, web development, install everything and only work 40 hours a week. 'The IT guy' has to know everything, be able to implement the latest thing anyone else in the company has heard about lately.
Oh and there was this contractor that made us this application and there's a bug in it and we want that fixed. No we don't have the source code... (This happens, I've had to do this twice now.)
Oh and the CEO, his home computer is acting up so can you drop by the house after work? (And not exactly a small company either, manufacturing with hundreds of employees, over 100 have computers, anyone could have a mobile device.)
(I do not have this job, but I am friends with the guy who does. It could be worse, he could be a consultant.)

....the trouble is they don't work for crappy pay. The last line in that part (#9) says it all:
"Book authors are even more difficult to find, since the role combines the details needed for a technical writer with the ability to produce a multiple-hundred page tome, typically for just a few thousand dollars."
A few thousand dollars? Seriously? For several hundred pages of work researched, edited, and rewritten to the customers desired text?
As an author (The Geek Gap) and a tech writer (Computerworld, Inc, others) and also the husband of an even more prolific writer/author, I can tell you it's not the lack of talented individuals able to do the job, but the fact that companies think they should work for extremely low pay. This has been a growing problem in the writing industry for a while now. As other pay scales go up, for the last 20+ years writers are expected to work for lower and lower pay rates, while providing more and more text.
That's not to say all companies try to cheat their writers. There are still some who recognize the experience and high quality of work a professional writer can bring to the task, and do pay accordingly. And these companies are not lacking for talent.
If your company is seeking good writers, and you're willing to pay a fair wage, try contacting the American Society of Journalists and Authors (www.asja.org), an organization of highly skilled professional writers. They can also help you understand the proper pay scale for a professional writer.
Unless you simply want to hire a kid out of college to thumb-type your pieces in txt 4 U. Srsly!