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Not always that simple

By IT Lifer ·
It's just too easy to write short articles that state an existing problem many are facing - then give the ingenious and clear-thinking resolution. Truth is, there are often complications involved that these quickie "solutions" conveniently ignore, otherwise we would not have 100s of thousands of unemployed IT workers in the USA. After all, most US IT people are smart enough to have figured out that multiple skills makes sense. Duh. In fact, that was THE wisdom of the 80s - diversification. Trouble is, in today's market even that is not enough. Then, if you add age (defined as over 40 in some organizations) to the equation (and you WILL add age to your equation eventually), chances of re-employment can be diminished to near zero - depending on yet other factors. Young ITers often don't believe this, but "older" job seekers come face-to-face with that hard reality daily.

There are other factors, such as location, ability to travel, physical impairments, etc., any one of which can be seriously problematic. But perhaps the single most important element is the question of "who-you-know". Without some inside connection it can be literally impossible to be seen or heard, but even that does not always help, as some companies now mandate all inquiries pass through HR's "normal" channels.

In any case, please do not think that the thousands of IT careerists who cannot find new employment are simply not doing things right. That might be true for a very small subset, but most are intelligent and creative and able and are doing the "right" things already. There's more to it than the bumper-sticker solutions so glibbly oferred by many on these forums.

As for me... my 25 yrs of broad scope IT experience in public and private sectors apparently counts for very little with employers today - so I'm off to other endeavors. Believe me, there are less stressful, and more fun ways, to make a lot more money in this world!
iLionheart@usa.com

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Hear hear!

by DC Guy In reply to Not always that simple

You said it. The IT industry is migrating offshore just like autos and photography and electronics and steel, and for the same reason. America is a culture of innovation. We're great in fields that are just starting up and need a lot of new ideas. But we suck when what is called for is incremental improvement (which bores us to death) and QA (which we can't even spell). That's where IT is today, which is why it's increasingly not here.

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