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Are you getting out of IT?

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Have you taken a job in another industry because of a lack of work in the tech sector? What led to your decision, and what type of work are you doing now? Do you expect it to be a permanent change? If not, how long are you prepared to stay out of IT? Are you worried your IT skills will become stale?

Topic

High-tech departures

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I myself haven’t gotten out of IT. It’s part of the reason why I still like living and working in Silicon Valley.

However, this has been a growing concern. It’s gotten lots of press coverage, esp. in our local newspaper, the Mercury News. Somepeople are leaving IT because of age discrimination. Others found that the rewards didn’t match all the hard work, demands and sacrifice. It seems rather thankless to those who’ve departed, so they’ve taken this time of downturn to search for careers where they are more appreciated. And they like those where they can have more people contact, esp. with their families after a “smart” (not “hard”) day’s work.

The Merc featured not too long ago 4 people from IT and high-tech who’ve gone intofields such as aviation and wine cultivation. While the pay may not be as great as they once enjoyed, they’re getting something priceless they call “sanity.”

So now I’m at the point where I’m wondering just how I’ll manage my IT career, and how long I’ll stay in it. Something I’ve loved about IT is the requirement to be agile and fast in learning. It has been quite surprising to me, though, that as more people need a 6th bit for their age (like me who recently became > 32), that same fastspeed may propel them out of IT for basic survival.

I am Out and Want Back In!

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I am currently working for a manufacturing company, in a very non-tech sector area of the country (New Mexico). My position is that of IT Support Technician, and sometimes I feel like I do not get enough training in new IT Technology, because that is the last agenda on the minds of all those in control of the spending budget. I was used to working in a complete IT related field through out college, that spawned and flat out encouraged self learning, agressivness, and above all creativity. The Major concern of the company I work for now is to make sure their profits are up, margins of error down, and costs as LOW AS POSSIBLE when getting their products Manufactured and shipped out the door.

I fear that many IT Pros that have left or will leave an IT sector related job are definately not going to get the recognition they deserve, the training they need, and often the peer support that is quite helpful in a tech sector related job. Chances are, many will end up in the situation like I am in, where you and possibly one manager above you is responsible for all IT needs of a Non-Technical Corporation/Company.

The Poll that Techrepublic had on Help Desk professionals to User ratio probably proves the theory for those that answered it, and are not in a Tech Related market.

I desperatly want to get into the heart of the IT/Tech Sector in the Washington state area, and feel that lack of training, and discrimination may hold me back. If I plan on making it up north of where I am now, it is going to be a journey in more ways that one.

Keep the faith!

Paul M. Chavez

I’m Outta Here

In reply to I am Out and Want Back In!

Let’s not fool ourselves. We all know the tech sector is not what it used to be. There is no prestige, challenging jobs, and a steady decline in what IT professionals used to make on the job market, plus less places to pick and choose where to work.

Everytime I tell someone I am in the tech field, they ask, “you still have a job?!” I mean, do I work for the airline industry or something. HELLO!!

As IT pros we work long hard hours and we seldom get appreciated for what we do. If we arenot getting yelled at by end users, our COO still does not know what a Network Adapter is, yet he runs the show.

I’m a network engineer for an ISP, I have my CCNA and CCNP. I love what I do, but from the looks of things, I’d say to all IT pros, keep your eyes wide open, so you can see the early warnings of a dying industry.

As for me, though I love what I do, I’m outta here, to start my own business in something out of the tech field.

Smoke
Network Engineer
CCNP, CCNA, CNA

Wow…can I have your job? :-)

In reply to I’m Outta Here

I totally disagree. If you have the skills now, (especially in networking/routers) this is definately NOT the time to jump ship. Things are just about to get exciting again!

We’ve been through a long streak of same ol’-same ol’, plus a dip in the market and 9/11 which threw a lot of companies budgets in the dumpster, but it’s on the upswing again! Things are changing! New technologies are on the horizon!

In my opinion, now is DEFINATELY not the time to leave…it’s the time to be studying what’s about to happen and planning on the best way to take advantage of it.

Here Here

In reply to Wow…can I have your job? :-)

The IT economy has plateaued, how long can any industry continue to grow exponentially? This downturn in the economy had to happen. We just saw a glimpse of what the internet can do, There will be so much more to come so stick it out, it’s just getting fun.

More inovations will be coming and you will be on the leading edge of the industry, best able to take advantage of the future.

As for your COO, Are you suprised he’s an idiot? He’s making decesions on things he does not even understand. This is a goal for you to shoot for too.

I agree

In reply to Wow…can I have your job? :-)

Although as a Senior IT New Business Development Consultant who was handsomely paid and was forced to take a $50,000 pay cut late last Spring by my established offshore (India) IT/software development full service provider to U.S. companies affording the adavantages of cost-savings that offshore development work offers and later being laid off since June seeking to work for another established offshore (India) company, I strongly believe that anyone in the IT business who stays the course now will reap the benefits down the road!
cjt

Invade success through training

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

Granted the IT industry has and continues to shoot itself in the foot. That, however, is the result of technical community dominance and the use of project management techniques that have not changed since the building of the pyramids.

The technicians created islands and excluded themselves from the culture of the enterprise including creating a work ethic that disturbed the normal operations of a company. A case in point is Customer Service Centers turning into Call Centers because CRM and KM are miserably failing.

Project management presently used is similar to those used to attempt to install MRP I and II. Automating the GANTT technique and adding simulations for ?what if? scenarios and using software that builds skyscrapers for IT is proven to be poor and requires project managers so high a caliber that there aren?t enough to go around.

While problems continue to plague the IT reputation (horror stories of failure, high cost to integrate, changing the core business model, communications difficulties and security dangers) there are opportunities (be they lengthy) to convert old and new customers to the IT world. Using patience while installing confidence through small steps of success can work.

One way to penetrate the disappointed and disillusioned is by training those persons using the basic work effort of the PC and fundamental software applications that use simple networks. This is a vast change from the IT technique to do favors for those executiveswho play the management ‘bait and switch’ game and manipulate the budget to fall into the same ?look what I did for you? mentality.

By increasing an enterprise’s confidence in the ability to learn and implement new mechanisms to solve old problems, the tide can be turned.

You are a product of that environment

In reply to Invade success through training

Jeez what a line of bs – you sound just like the people you criticize.

What kind of crap is this?

In reply to Invade success through training

I’ve tried reading this several times and it gives me a headache. Maybe this is part of the problem.

Synthesizer

In reply to What kind of crap is this?

If it isn’t written in code, the techologists can’t read, can’t understand and, can’t change.

That’s the problem with TechRepublic…

In reply to Synthesizer

…They’ll let anyone in the front door and pretend like they know what the hell they are talking about. 😉

That’s the problem with TechRepublic…

In reply to Synthesizer

…They’ll let anyone in the front door and pretend like they know what the hell they are talking about. 😉

That’s the problem with TechRepublic…

In reply to Synthesizer

…They’ll let anyone in the front door and pretend like they know what the hell they are talking about. 😉

Short Memories

In reply to What kind of crap is this?

Why all the negativity? So there’s a bit of a slump. It’s healthy because it weeds out the cowboys.

Personally, I think we need more regulation in the industry. This would raise the bar and engender a more professional reputation for IT staff.
This industry has been very, very good to many people. I have colleagues who have been painters, lawyers, real estate agents, teachers and travel industry workers. They are all now doing very well in IT despite the downturn. There are still jobs out there for professionals

What a thought – IT for the People

In reply to Invade success through training

It seems that a lot of people in the IT game feel that they should have a priviliged position that is isolated from the needs of the orginisation they support.. YES SUPPORT! In the end, all IT is ever there for is to help someone else do there job,it is rairly an end in its self.

If you are feeling that you are not getting any satisifaction from your job, try talking to the people who use the services you provide. See how they percieve the IT services they use.

Most of us are here to provide a service that helps someone else do a job. Be it manufacture a product or provide a service to the community.

Take a step back and look at the big picture, in the end it’s not about servers, networks or pc’s, it’s about the tools these services provide to help someone do there job. And they rely on you.

Golf Clap!

In reply to What a thought – IT for the People

Well said! Harumph!

Reply To: Are you getting out of IT?

In reply to Invade success through training

Sure…that’s easy for you to say.

Digging in my heels.

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

If I were to relocate about 90 miles east or south, I would have my pick of a LOT more IT jobs than I do currently. However, I’ve been careful not to pigeon-hole myself into one particular language or technology, so I’m more marketable (…I say as I draw my unemployment check…).

I’m trying to keep up my skills, and create new ones while I’m out of work. Instead of reading John Grisham novels, I’m reading Java manuals and studying more COM techniques.

I may end up going back to my old,old job as executive secretary, but not without a fight!

Thinking about alternatives

In reply to Digging in my heels.

As a network administrator right now I feel fairly secure, but things change. I also just turned 50 and I know that IT tends to be preferential to younger souls. At least it semed that way the last time I was looking for a job. I would love to move into management positions, but those opportunities do not come up that often in the small companies I have managed to find work with. We will just have to see. I feel like I have to work extra hard to stay competitive.

I’m with you, brother

In reply to Thinking about alternatives

I’ve just turned 52 and I find it more difficult to be taken seriously. What’s funny is that I can usually walk circles around the person who won’t take me seriously. Go figure …

Yeah…a lot of age discrimination…

In reply to Thinking about alternatives

I’m only 43, and even though I have twice the experience of some of the people I interview against, I’ve lost many jobs to these people just because they’re young fresh meat, right out of college or a year or so experience with some no-name company. It’s disheartening to say the least, considering I put in an average of 15 hours/week of *my* time studying to stay trained on the latest systems, and I’ve spent thousands of dollars of *my* money to earn my MCSE (2000) and CCNA… Of course, you can’t prove anything like that happens, or there’d be a lot of lawsuits, but it happens every day.

I’d Agree…You guys have been there

In reply to Yeah…a lot of age discrimination…

I’ve also just turned 50 this past year. You would be amazed at how a business case for managed services (in so many area’s) is justified. Booking the sales is more important when you have to meet growth and revenue expectations. Revenue from Sales vs. the Cost to deliver and maintain are growing further apart. This produces significate press to bring down costs through more automation of certian functions and down-right lowering quality sometime after the sale.

Turning a blind eye towards cost cutting measures to make up for meeting the real project expenditures is common. Be aware that trying to point any of this out internally when there is pressure to get the revenue on the books may put you at risk. Unless you are on the corporate operations side of things it’s difficult to make an impact.

Thinking about alternatives

In reply to Digging in my heels.

As a network administrator right now I feel fairly secure, but things change. I also just turned 50 and I know that IT tends to be preferential to younger souls. At least it seemed that way the last time I was looking for a job. I would love to move into management positions, but those opportunities do not come up that often in the small companies I have managed to find work with. We will just have to see. I feel like I have to work extra hard to stay competitive.

Go Get it!

In reply to Digging in my heels.

Work out what you want.

Do you want to sit around reading John Grisham?
if so, do it and stop beating yourself around the head feeling gulity.

Do you want to get into the programing game?
then make the sacrifices needed (move the 90 miles) and go for it! No one will ever come and knock on the door and offer you the world, you have got to decide to take it, and take it on its own terms.

Need to make a move

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I am looking at non-technology fields, but am trying to leverage either management skills or organizational skills.

layoff was my early exit

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I had an early exit from my 22+ years in IT and have been laying somewhat low since my layoff notice last july, however a friend of a friend wanted to have his new system installed and set up so I took on a consulting job and the education has prompted further education and setting up my own company…to open soon…I still have the bug for IT.

Steve

Cool, man

In reply to layoff was my early exit

cool, man. I hope you make a zillion dollars …

Tech Republic??? Why are you running the

In reply to layoff was my early exit

I printed 11 of these posts 3 months ago, and you are running them again, with updated dates? Do you really need to canibalize YOUR OWN content to keep reader interest? Shame on you!!!

Good memory huh!

In reply to Tech Republic??? Why are you running the

How did you notice that? You must be very “busy” (oops! I mean idle).

If the contents of the posts still apply to the current situation, why not?

YES!

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I had no choice but to start “temping”. I’m an experienced systems engineeer / sysadmin / tech writer with about 15 years in the biz, Linux guru, etc. but I cannot find work, so I have a friend who referred me to one of the temp agencies in my area.

I’m all tested out now on MS Word and Excel, so now they can send me out to clients. 😉

Now I am working at a major real estate company that manages the leases for many of the office parks throughout the US.

I’ve now had the experience of reading, analyzing and handling the leases for many of the tech companies we all know of.

There’s one IT dude on staff who I steer clear of, and I’ve been made aware that I am not to “help” any end users or “do anything” :).

My day consists ofmaking copies for the administrative assistant to one of the due diligence departments. I have an old PC so I can get into ACT!2000 and get email. They use ACT as a major application to handle customer information – don’t laugh it is really a nice app. Who’d have thought the dbf database format would still be around in 2002?

I am a slobbering end-user. I don’t have to wear a pager and I don’t have to fix any of the server problems. I know how to save them money and make things better, but it’s not my role now and so I chuckle to myself when things are broken, but c’est la vie – they aint payin me to fix anything here.

I must say that this experience is so much better than working in a big IT shop where everyone is all uptight and stressed out. I have found these people to be some of the nicest people I have ever worked around.

The men in this office are outnumbered by women, who are all great looking, have nice personalities, – they look better than any of the women I ever worked around in the IT sector.

The only thing I miss is the money.

Reply To “Yes!”

In reply to YES!

Kudos to you! I am also considering leaving the IT sector and do like the commercial on CNN – where the retired man is talking to a high school class telling them it is his firs day at school. Any way, I am not in IT solely for the money but becauselike many of us – I too, like the fast pace and ever changing environment prompting the need for quick learning. Management type or not- we are all feeling the crunch of the current sutation of the market.

As nice as that is to work in IT- it does add a lot of stress to the nuclear family with a new home (in the Bay area) and a newborn child. We all know how cheap (NOT) it is to live up here. My wife and I have decided to stick around 1 more year out here in the mean time we continue to work on our back up plan if nothing changes.

Go get em

In reply to YES!

You just needed a rest, a sprinkle of administration and the proof that there are nice people out there that can enjoy working together. I’ll bet the underlying value is trust and there is a lot of communication. But, I am surprised with the largenumber of women there. The inherent problem is the “mother” vs structure syndrome.

As soon as you gain enough confidence and desire more money, attack.

Good luck and best wishes, you are a better person and you did it yourself. Quit underestimating your potential.

women….mmmmmmm…..

In reply to YES!

Yeah…it’s hard when you have women and no money…:-(

I *did* read about how to invest a small amount of money and make it big in mushroom farming though…let’s see…where’s that URL?…

At least you’re working!

In reply to YES!

I am 50 and have had only 1 interview in the last 11 months (out of approx. 75-100 resumes/applications/letters of interest submitted). I can’t even get the interest of temp agencies…the response is usually the same: Once they catch wind of my 23+ years experience and past earnings, they drop me like a hot potato. I have even come out and included a phrase on my resume (to them alone) that says, in effect, “I know my credentials are more than are needed for your positions, but I am lookingfor TEMPORARY work while I continue to seek permanent employment.” That finally generated a single call to tell me that it was a good idea for me to include that paragraph, but they STILL didn’t have anything for me. I am getting ready to stand onthe corner in the morning with the other day-laborers, just so I can earn SOMETHING once in awhile.

I have always loved IT and want to stay in it (lower case mine), but quite frankly, I think I may make good on a threat I used to make in jest: That I would quit IT and sell popsicles to kids instead…hopefully, that market here in Phoenix would be more constant!

A Fast Freight Train…

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

IT is, by it’s very nature, a fast freight train to no where. It never stops moving, and you can easily get run over by it.

Further, as others have pointed out, you combine these qualities with top execs who have no idea what you do, and think that it’s “…not rocket science…” – even though they themselves cannot figure out how to use Outlook – and you have the makings for a real mess.

I knew about all this going in – but chose to come in anyhow. We totally changed our company with the work we’ve done over the last five years – and they’ve profited by it – but they still don’t understand the model, nor appreciate the effort.

In the end, IT is a subsection of most companies – as vital as the sewer system, but appreciated about as much. If the culture of your company is engineering or law, manufacturing, or sales, then that’s what they appreciate.

I’ll be leaving shortly to start my own (non-IT) company – however I’ll take the lesssons I’ve learned here – and will always appreciate ALL my employees – especially those who’s work appears to be “…not rocket science”

Yossarian, Admin

Here for now, but one day…

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

Someday I want to do something really useful, appreciated and respected. I want to open a good open pit BBQ joint.

I left and came back

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

Many years ago I was doing software dev work while in the Army. My next assignment was in Recruiting — which had nothing to do with IT. I worked my tail off and I eventually did very well. After almost 2 years of recruiting, I left for the sanity of IT. No job has been worse than that of recruiting.

I had no problems transitioning back to IT. I did not forget what I had learned and I gained some very useful management skills. I feel that my short time away did me wonders. I have had a lot of promotions and have done very well since.

If I felt a need, I would consider leaving again, but not for more than 3 years at any one time (and NEVER back to recruiting or anything that looked like recruiting).

The dark side…

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

Careful what you wish for… I asked for more management responsibilities because I was getting tired of the 24×7 responsibilities of IT after 10+ years in the trenches. I stepped into project management and was doing about 70% technology and 30% people management. Before I knew it, I was bumped to management. Now I spend about 75% managment (ugh) and 25% technology.

I miss the days of working only technology because the hours are longer and the battles more political. All I had to worryabout before was software and hardware. Sure, it sucked working with Microsoft “technology”, but it beats the hell out of working with Microsoft contracts and licenses. I’m currently looking for a way to step back from management and to step forward with technology. I’m worried I’ll soon be asked to go for the lobotomy…

Is this topic intellectually honest?

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

At the point where I’m entering the discussion there are 22 responses on this thread. Everyone of them is from someone who is either involved in IT, or has taken a serious salary cut.

The people who’ve maintained a high salary, and moved on, aren’t in this discussion, or even tuned to this channel.

We’re just helping each other

In reply to Is this topic intellectually honest?

I started out in the 70’s fixing mainframes, moved on to Unix admin, networks, and programming. I’ve got a pretty good resume, but IT isn’t the end-all.

I moved from So Cal to Hawaii 3 years ago. Hawaii has been in an economic depression here for years, and the tourism dropped like a rock after Sep 11. I thought the problem was just local, but this forum has opened my eyes to the fact that the mainland is hurting too! So much for making the big bucks again…

It’s okay to change careers, people do it all the time. I have been involved in many non-IT businesses over the years, importing exercise equipment and precious gems from asia, learned to fly airplanes, taught weekend classes, learned welding, and started writing a book. I always look for plausible business opportunities, I may open a car wash…

I have several successful software projects under my belt, those projects seemed impossible from the start, but anything is possible with hard work.

Quality of life is important too. I hope this helps.

or don’t exist…

In reply to Is this topic intellectually honest?

I suspect the only way to maintain that high salary and get out is to go into sales – and who wants to sell their soul?

I’m of the Consulting IT

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

That scene from the movie Shawshank Redemption of when he stands in the rain with his hands in the air comes to mind. I spent 4 years in the consulting IT arena on the east coast. It was a true challenge to your abilities to adapt to changes.
I found that I never had enough time to spend on one site to really tweak and configure whatever server or software package I was installing that week. I was always on the clock and was always pressured to do the job right, but as fast as you can. Sometimes other factors prevented you from completing both tasks so one had to suffer.

Now that I am out and work for an insurance company, I can actually take the time to do everything the way it should be and research new ways to do things. It is far better than being thrown in one fire after another day in and day out.

I have NO regrets for leaving the Consulting IT fields. The trick is to find a company that is large enough to stimulate your growth.

Some of us are in the tunnel now..!

In reply to I’m of the Consulting IT

Speaking of Redemption..!

WHAT THE F???

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I thought computer guys had it made. Was I ever wrong. I am heading for the hills. I made roughly 3x the money in another industry, got 10x the respect, and had 100x the fun. I think its an industry headed to databse and security (thought that from day one) only! HR depts. at companies…a note to you asses..DONT BE SO F=ING LAZY…LOSE THE “CONTRACTING COMPANIES”..your hiring pissed off people who are hired and paid by losers who should be selling used cars. If these companies knew as much about computers as they do about paying off IT directors and such we’d all be in good shape.

Amen, bruddah!!!!

In reply to WHAT THE F???

I agree with all of this, and, being female, my respect factor in IT is even less than yours…Thank goodness I’m not a blonde, I’d be getting coffee and donuts for my team members, rather than working on servers…

IT is an F*d up industry. These companies expect you to know 5 OS’s, 10 programming languages, 5 DBs, and all manner of WAN and telephone support, THEN want to pay like crap, or they pick the first brown-nosing 22 year old with an MCSE over someone with experience. No WONDER we’re all burned out!

I am actively looking for something different, NON-computer-related. If I had a teaching degree, I might be willing to teach computer skills to elementary students, but that’s as far as I’d go with computers again.

Hmmm, McDonald’s is lookin’ pretty good these days…..

WILLING TO ACCEPT?

In reply to Amen, bruddah!!!!

COMAPNIES PAY WHAT THOSE WORKING IN THE INDUSTRY HAVE BEEN WILLING TO ACCEPT. REMEMBER THAT COMPANIES WANT THE BIGGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK. SO THEY OFFER THE LOW RATES UNTIL THEY FIND SOMEONE WILLING TO ACCEPT WITH THE SKILLS THEY WANT. THAT PERSON THEN SETS THE INCOME STANDARD FOR THE NEXT PERSON AND SO ON.

I AGREE THAT ITECHS CAN END UP UNDER PAID. TRY THIS AT THE NEXT JOB OFFER. HAVE A FIGURE IN MIND THAT YOU FEEL YOU ARE WORTH AND DON’T SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS. JUSTIFY YOUR HIGHER NEEDS BY EDUCATING POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS ON THE VALUE OF OUR SKILLS. MARKET YOURSELF IN A VIABLE MANNER. IF ENOUGH DO THIS A SHIFT OCCURS IN THE THINKING OF THE HR DEPT AND THEY HAVE TO RAISE THE INCOME BAR TO HIGHER LEVEL.

HERE IN COLORADO AN INDEPENDENT DATABASE PROGRAMMER AND TROUBLESHOOTER CAN COMMAND AS HIGH AS $125 AND HOUR FOR THEIR SERVICES. MOST CHARGE A ONE HOUR MINIMUM JUST TO SHOW UP. I HAVE YET TO SEE ONE STAY FOR ANY LESS THAN 2.5 HOURS. THEY ALSO GET REPEAT BUSINESS AND STAY VERY BUSY HERE.

GARY M.

PS
IN EARLY 2000 THE GOING RATE WAS $75 AN HOUR UNTIL THESE FOLKS REALIZED AND CONSIDERED THEIR EDUCATION AND SKILLS VALUABLE AND NEEDED.

I’m with you

In reply to Amen, bruddah!!!!

I’m with you, melelio. And, by the way, a 54 yr old guy like me doesn’t get much respect either. Even though I’ve been in IT 22 yrs, done a wide variety of stuff ranging from programming MFs in many languages, systems designing, consulting, PMing, BPR, QA, etc etc, – it’s become nearly impossible to deal with the age discrimination. It’s assumed that because I don’t have current programming language experience, that I’m out-dated and what could I possibly know.

That discrimination is also alive and well with many recruiters.

Aside from all that, IT has evolved into an unreasonable beast that I no longer care to feed. Getting laid-off was probably a major blessing.

I think IT’ers are among the weariest in this rat race. So many of us want a better life.

Exacikly!!!!

In reply to WHAT THE F???

I’ve been a pc tech/network guy for over 20 years. Do you think I can get hired by a corp it dept WITHOUT going thru a head hunter?
No F^*^&&way!!!! And CRM??? What used to take me 30 minutes to troubleshoot, repair, and do paperwork now takes days of lost/ignored calls to ninkompoops who can’t even understand what the hell we do out there! What an industry!!!

With you all the way…

In reply to WHAT THE F???

The ptential is there.. the willpower isn’t… get off your backsides and do some work – it did it for me.

Good riddance

In reply to WHAT THE F???

If life was so wonderful before IT, why’d you leave your last career?

Your first mistake was thinking IT guys had it made. What or who ever made you think that? Maybe you believed one of the biggest lies ever told– “Get your MCSE and make $70K+ instantly”. Of course, the people saying this are the ones charging $6000 for their courses.

Truth be told, most of us worked, fought, scratched, and crawled our way to the top, often getting no respect along the way. Many of us know what it like to work 24 hours straight, or carry a cellphone/pager 24/7 and be called regularly in the middle of the night to deal with problems.

So why do we do it? Most of us do it because working with computers is something we love doing even when werenot getting paid for it. If you don’t fit that category, then you’re never going to be happy in IT.

Forever

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I work as an independent IT consultant in the UK. With tax law changes (now 52.2% tax over US$45K, 35.2% below), and rates for skilled programming around US$30/hr, 30% of independents without work at any one time, there really is no incentive, even if I do enjoy it.

I’m taking up doing nothing. Apparently here, it pays better than working 14 hour days 7 days a week.

Looking outside

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

After a layoff 11 months ago, I still cannot get back in. Part of me is glad. I got into IT 22 yrs ago for the potential money and respect..both have declined quite a bit. Now I have considered everything from screen-writing to heavy equipment operator! I desperately want a change to something more to my liking even if much less money. But I also need to earn some money soon.

The only area of IT I am still researching as a possible future is security. If I do that, it will be for the same reasons…money and respect. Well, money, anyway.

MAGNETIC ATTRACTIONS

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I have been in IT since ’82 and tried on 3 occassions to leave the industry. My original career was in Engineering where I worked extensively with systems and programming and was always pushed away from engineering into IT. Resulting from a death inthe family I changed into operations management where again I was pushed into the IT field. I took a job running aircraft maintenance but because I had control of the money and my guys were working on the aircraft I got pushed into IT. So then laterI submitted and ran an IT Department for an aerospace manaufacturer and a CPA firm. Both of them drove me nuts because I worked for clueless accountants. So I took a job with the Government where again I ended up running an IT effort, writing 17 papers and briefed the Asst Secretary of Defense on a few concepts. Again I ended up in another technology job after that and I wrote some more papers on knowledge management, communities of practice and leveraging IT systems in support of this. No matter how bad the economy was I always was pushed into IT. Today I am building a business that has nothing to do with IT other than I am coding a website in Javascript and leveraging internet and database technologies myself to get out of IT. I feel like a refrigerator magnet stuck all over something real big.

It in general

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

IT has been very good to me since i started in 1981. I decided long ago to go my own way and be independent and its paid off. I try to avoid getting tech certifications. I let my resume /experience speak for themselves. This started as an independent frontier kinda business and i dislike paper chasers and oem companies dictating my job title. Hell most of the current job titles didn’t start appearing in classifieds until arround 1992. I stayin in IT as nothing else pays as well. You have to stick up for yourself and not sell yourself cheaply and downgrade it for everyone else. If I lost my it job in todays economy, i might consider a career change, i just read that there is a big shortage of sailors, merchant marine anyone?

Here in the UK

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

Things have been very bad in the UK as well. There are other issues to think of like agencies that do not have clue what you talking about when you tell them what skills you have. Although I have excellent qualifications and experience, but the thing is if the agency personel do not know what they are looking at then there is no chance. I still have a buz for IT so I started my business and things have been slow, but I will not give in, I agree things will pick up so keep the faith.

IT blues

In reply to Are you getting out of IT?

I retired from the military with the thinking of making a wholesale change into another job venue. I did just that, graduating from a one-year full-time Network Information Systems curriculum leading to an MCSE in 2000. Well, it’s been a couple ofyears and 12K later beating the doors for an IT job with no luck. Only thing I have to show for my efforts are a bunch of certifications and diplomas along with a student loan of $10K with no prospects of ever paying off. Boy, did this 55 year old get taken for a ride. Looks like a job with Civil Service or the food industry is my only route to a job now.

There are a LOT of folks in the same

In reply to IT blues

boat as you are. Many people jumped onto the IT cert hamster wheel just before the field folded. The pot of gold just isn’t there right now.

I cannot help but feel that the IT sector will pick up again when the economy turns around. Right now, companies are too busy surviving to make capital expenditures.

This being the case, when things do pick up, the IT field will have a lot of work implementing technologies that have been developed during the hiatus.
To point out the bright side, The companies that survived the bust and their CXX level folks will be a lot more careful next time around. Hopefully, the next boom will not be fueled by money unwisely invested in companies without profitability. There is more to a company than thestock price.

WHATS YOUR ANGLE

In reply to IT blues

If a pizza dilevery boy sells himself as a mechanic then he will be out of work. However, if a pizza delivery boy tunes his car and delivers 10 more pizzas than the next guy he is in big demand.

Too many people out there severely lack competent computer skills. Use you skills to deliver far more than the next guy. Become a knowledge worker. You will be invaluable.

A good example, no one knew how to use excel and make good graphics. The task got past around and finally ended up in my lap. While I was disgruntled about doing other peoples work and had to reconstruct the data for over 18 hrs – the graphics were hailed as perfect. I quickly became invaluable and offers poured in for me to become a graphic designer for briefs and presentations.

Yet I have nearly 400 college hours, certified in microsoft and novell and never got a stinking return on my investment. However, I did have job options.

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