IT Employment
by packratt
Sure...
Try to get into a different field while you're young and able, especially before you have a family.
Good luck!
by dc_guy
This is an excellent time to get out of IT, not into it, at least if you're American. The industry has matured, and the U.S. is a miserable competitor in mature industries.
Quality assurance, incremental improvements -- those are not things we are good at. So mature industries migrate to other countries that are good at those things.
My career has about ten years to run and even I am worried about whether I'll be able to hang onto my job that long. If I were your age, I'd become a plumber. That's a profession that guarantees an astronomical lifetime income and is very unlikely to be automated or offshore outsourced during your lifetime.
The most prosperous self-made man in our town is the oldest plumber.
I may be biased but I continue to earn very well in IT and have several peers who do so as well.
However, the biggest myth of IT career development is that IT takes place in a large IT department and that you start your career there.
I would counsel you to work with IT functions within a smaller company/organization. There are a great many more opportunities, there is a huge need (because they are largely ignored by larger consulting/support companies), and you get tremendous career exposure because you work closely with management and users.
IT Departments are typically very myopically focuses and the staff is segmented with little cross-over. Information guarding often occurs with individuals hording their knowledge and projects due to fear of losing a competitive edge.
It is a silly fear and ultimately a career hinderance since bring the skills of your peers and team up is a truly valuable skill.
In any case, if you are serious, I would focus on that smaller market. Understand enough about hardware to put a system together (pretty simple), understand basic programming automation and scripting (VBScript, MS Office, PHP, Javascript, etc. - these are great small-business productivity tools that are seldom used), understand the ins and outs of desktop software and how to make mundane tasks automated and quicker.
You don't need a certification or career (or permission) to start. These should be added as you prove aptitude and you have ensured that your desire points in this direction.
Good luck!
Matthew Moran
http://www.cbtoolkit.com
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First of all, when someone says they're in the "IT" field, it doesn't tell me anything. That's like saying you're in the "driving" field. Heck, we all are. We could be cab drivers or truck drivers; we could be NASCAR drivers; we could be mechanics; we could work for GM on the assembly line; we could design "driving machines"; or we could just drive to work. And just as we all drive, just about all people and all industries compute.
If your definition of the IT field is limited to working for companies like Microsoft, Dell, Oracle, or some other "computer company", then you're limiting your possibilities.
School districts use IT people. Lawyers, architects, bankers and bakeries. Walk into any business in any town in the USA, and they probably use computing technology.
How do you find a job? Well, help some business improve the way it conducts business. And your particular niche' might be to use computing technology to achieve that end.
A good real estate sales agent, for example, might help a real estate company improve its business because of her excellent sales skills. You, on the other hand, might be able to help a real estate company by helping those sales agents do THEIR jobs by making their computing needs better or more efficient.
So not knowing your particular "IT" skills and/or interests, it's not possible for anyone to guide you into the ideal job. But take an evaluation of your skills and your interests - and hopefully your passions - and find a company (or create your own) where they can be applied.
But whatever you do, don't listen to the naysayers. Because the possibilities are literally endless, and they are limited only by your own ambitions and/or your own self-inflicted barriers.
by packratt
Of course, it's easy to assume that just because your position is safe or even if your employer has not laid off employees or offshored that then this must mean everything is alright with the world... Or that you're own private life is the only world that matters.
Sometimes, though, it does help to get out and read a few headlines...
"IT Unemployment Now Exceeds Overall Jobless Rate" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35193-2004Nov8.html
Not to be a complete "Naysayer" though, there may be a few pockets in the US where IT jobs are still stable, at least for a little while longer.
I read this article too. And not to downplay the recent difficult times for the IT sector or the person identified in the article but the anecdote presented is not representative of the industry - but more a reflection on how people go about getting work.
In the talent hungry late '90s, people only had to mention network adapter and operating system in the same sentence to become one of the over-paid, under-functional "computer guys." At that time, I wrote my first iteration of the article, Why Technologists Must Learn To Speak Business.
I identified challenges in skills and perspective in the industry and as with virtually all industries, a cyclic change would occur. FYI: The IT sector and the economy will cycle again, and again, and again.
By the way, this is a bi-partisan phenomenon that makes each administration taking credit for economic upturns a ridiculous notion.
I indicated that I looked forward to the day that productivity ? not degrees or certs ? became, once again, the defining differentiator in determining who remained hired. That started occurring in mid-2001 and has continued.
Am I indicating that everyone out of work is no good? Of course not. The second challenge is how people go about looking for work. For some reason, people believe the online job boards and want ads are where you find jobs and how you determine the market.
The other problem is that most IT professionals feel that a large company IT department is where you want to work.
I would recommend going back and reading What Color Is Your Parachute by Bolles. While I have my own book on the subject, even a 30 year old copy of Bolles? book identifies the biggest challenge facing the job seeker.
Employers only use want ads and job boards as a last ditch and desperate effort. They want talent through known sources. I?ve worked with many business owners and executive managers who will let a position go unfilled rather than hit the open market. The want-ad/job board market is a high-priced, chancy risk for the employer.
There are other, more direct ways to find work and build a career.
The article sited does correctly identify just in time workforce issues. Bruce Tulgan wrote about this in ?Winning The Talent Wars? ? another recommended read. I view this as one of the most positive developments in the industry. But the article doesn?t identify how you capitalize on this factor. That is the holy grail of long-term career development.
It is the same method used by professionals in virtually every industry. IT should not be immune to it.
The other factor, not identified by the article is that the IT sector was bloated compared to other industries. It necessarily has to have slower-growth and ?higher-unemployment? although I would watch those numbers carefully.
The fact remains that the government ? who does keep statistics and trends pretty well ? even if they cannot track where money is spent very well ? indicates that the technology sector will continue to grow faster and have better opportunity than almost every other industry. Only healthcare and financial services have similar growth forecast.
An anecdotal story about a family living on the road, in a hotel room, is not constructive to the industry. It is just a productive as an advertisement claiming that take this 8 week course, get your certification and make 50, 60, 70 thousand dollars a year. Both might happen rarely but neither is a good basis for making a career decision.
Matthew Moran
http://www.cbtoolkit.com
by packratt
Well, I do have some authority on the subject as well and I can assure you that the person mentioned in the article has read "what color is your parachute" and does do much more than read want ads and put resumes on job boards, but also does a significant amount of networking and face to face time as well.
This person happens to have over 10 years of experience and has a significant number of references from old managers and peers. So hoisting the psuedo-darwinistic "only bad or second rate professionals are unemployed" doesn't fly.
Capitalizing on JIT is great for the spinsters who wish never to have families that depend on stable employment/income. But for people with families who do not have moms and dads who will take them in when things get rough it's not a recommended existence by any means. It is, as a fact, a step towards the third-worldization of the US, as I would like to call it.
It's nice to have a belly full enough to look at the macroeconomics, but try explaining cycles (especially one that is more shallow than any other) to a kid wondering why he doesn't have a place to call home or where the next meal will come from.
Such things are what those who are entering this field must consider... One thing for certain, IT is NOT a career option anymore, it's a temp job.
One more thing we should also consider, I have no vested interest in telling the person who posed the question what it's really like in the current economy... However, it's painfully obvious that you have a vested interest in sugar coating things as you have something you're trying to sell here.
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I would make a wager with you.
I would wager that if you name the city (a major city - 50,000 population or more), I could find an IT job within a 50 mile radius of that city in 5 days or less. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind.
I know that I could find a job in my area. And I know that I could find a job in another area.
I could go to El Paso, Texas, for example, a city to which I've never been, and a city with a relatively high rate of unemployment, and I'm absolutely certain that I could find a job that is IT related, and one that paid me an adequate enough wage to pick up and move there. (And maybe even get them to pay my moving expenses.)
You WILL find that which you seek. If you want to seek limited opportunities and a myriad of barriers, then that's what you'll find. But if you choose to instead seek in an ocean of unlimited opportunities with no barrier to great to overcome, then you'll find that too. It's all a matter of choice.
Why do some people see it differently? Because the difference is, some people just don't believe it. Some people are "I'll believe it when I see it" type people. Others are "I'll see it when I really believe it" type people. And you can choose which type of person you really want to be.
Rules for "finding a job":
* Remain positive, confident and optimistic. But it has to be genuine. It can't be phony. It must be how you really approach the world.
* Be willing to "serve" the needs of others. No one owes you anything. And what you give to others will come back to you multiple times over. Too many people see this in reverse terms. They're "looking for a job"; they're wanting someone to "give them" a job. Instead, they should take the approach of offering a service that's needed, and let the rewards come after the fact.
* Be flexible. The world is not a static one. The only constant is constant change. What was possible yesterday may take a different approach today.
* The only thing a company is really looking for is a way to improve their process, their product, or their profit (and those all go hand-in-hand). No more, no less. If you can, without a doubt, be a factor in making that happen, you'll have your choice of jobs.
* Be confident that you WILL succeed. I don't know of one successful company in the history of the world that became a successful one because they thought they were going to fail. And successful companies are populated with successful people.
* Be happy. The only people that want to be around doom-and-gloomers are other doom-and-gloomers. (It reinforces their doom-and-gloom outlook.) And no company wants to hire negative thinkers who might poison the workforce with their negativity.
* No, it's not easy. And it's especially not easy staying positive in a negative world.
Yea, I know. This is a bunch of bunk, you might say. But I'll ask you this. If two equally qualified people were looking for the same kind of job in the same city at the same time, who would have a better chance of finding it? My kind of person, or the one who thinks this is a bunch of bunk?
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I'm not trying to "sell" anything.
My information and advice (long before I ever wrote about it) was exactly the same. In fact, with enough scanning and searching, you can find old post here, at other discussion sites, etc. that mirror the sentiments. I was asked to right my book by past employees and those I had helped in online discussions. I?m glad I did, it was a great exercise.
Also, I didn?t indicate that the person in the article did not read Bolles book or that he hasn?t looked for a job, really, really hard. I indicated that the story is not a fair indication of the industry ? it is an anecdote. The same is true of my experience. I don?t use the fact that I have and continue to get work as an indication of the industry either.
But I do point to overall low unemployment, rising salaries, and projected growth in numerous studies as a pretty good indication of industry direction and growth.
Also, I would indicate the reading Bolles and acting in the way he contends you should, are too different things.
When I was out of work (my primary and almost sole source of income is technology consulting work ? programming, network engineering, etc.) and in a new city with virtually no contacts, I took what some consider very drastic action. I consider it average/normal action. I printed 300 resumes and visited 300 companies over 6 weeks. I followed up via phone with virtually every company and then continued to follow up until my calendar was booked with appointments.
In the end, I generated about 7 new ? very lucrative clients and turned many others. My first hired me on the spot - on the 3rd day of looking. In working with those 7 companies, not one of them had been visited by another technology professional looking for work. Three of the seven had received unsolicited resumes but no one had called to follow up personally.
Within three months of that period of time, I met two out-of-work technology professionals at an employment support group I spoke to. They both lived within 5 minutes of the area I visited.
I asked how they went about looking for work. While both of them had read Bolles, neither had directly contacted employers prior to our meeting. They were involved in numerous networking and employment support related activities ? just not those that were very productive. They had identified between 3 and 5 target companies and were contacting those companies.
I explained a simple equation I use. Think middle of the alphabet (LMNO). Lucid Message + Need = Opportunity. Very simply, your cover letter and resume are the lucid message (one of value), the need is the employer who needs solutions. When your message reaches someone who has a need, you will find opportunity. Rather than hope, wait, and wish that a small number of identified companies have the need that you can fill, raise the number of potential needs by visiting more companies.
With all that said, I don?t think everyone has to take my type of approach to professional networking, searching out opportunities, and marketing yourself. I?ve found it amazingly simple and quicker than the more passive alternatives. Like my mom has always said, ?I always found work when I knocked on doors.?
Once again, the story not-withstanding. The individual in the story might be doing everything right and just be caught in a string of very, very bad luck. I can?t say and that is not the real issue. The issue is, what will the original poster find more productive for his career aspirations.
I offer one vision, you offer another. Everyone has to decide which vision fits them best.
Matthew Moran
http://www.cbtoolkit.com
I have to demo some software for a client tomorrow.
Last word to tgowdy02...
I could never make enough money selling books off of indivdiual post to make it worthwhile. What you need to determine is why you like IT and what you want to acheive in life.
There will be, in virtually every industry, those who have a negative slant and those who have a positive. I have personally provided assistance as an employer, manager, and entrepreneur to many individual technologist.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to show strong growth in technology careers. I am less concerned with the individual segments in the industry because you can cross-over pretty easily.
Maxwell seems to share my sentiments. If you have a passion for the industry and for providing solutions and value, you can do VERY, VERY, well. If not, I would suggest you find something where you can bring that passion.
In whatever you do, have fun!
Life is too short for the alternative!
Matthew Moran
http://www.cbtoolkit.com
by billmannion
In addition to the wonder full and colorful things that both the naysayers and consayers have said, this little tidbit might help. Try to develop a focus for your profession. IT people could be broken down (mostly in my opinion) into two groups; Technicians & Technologists.
Technicians are those great people that put it all together, make it work and keep it running. Programmers, system administrators, DBAs, and even the help desk people are all examples of technicians. With out them, technology would just be in fancy word.
Technologists are the harder group to be in. They include managers, both project & IT, business analysis and solution consultants. They need a broader understanding of technology then technicians and sometime even more then technicians. These people work on the ?big picture? of technology mostly. Aligning technology to the business, working on strategic technology plans and other things like that.
Within each group there are differing schools. There are the ?Microsofts?, ?Unixers?, ?Open Sourcers? and ?Cutting Edge/Early Adoptors?, just to name a few colorful expressions. Then there is the ?generalist? and may the gods help me, I am one. I typically use any technology that will meet the needs of the company that I am working for.
And that truly is the bottom line. No matter if you are a Technician or a Technologist; a specialist or a generalist; a MSCE or a PMP; always keep the ?Needs of your Employer? the number one reason to keeping your job. You?re a technology professional now, show to a prospective employer or to your current employer that you can, using technology, help the organization meet the needs of it?s customers and you can too can become a technology guru.
by bob_steel
by dc_guy
The so-called "information infrastructure" is not going to survive if we continue to build it out of Grungeware. Entire geographical areas are rebelling against Windows, like the province of Extremadura, Spain, which mandated that all computers for sale have their hard drives wiped and be loaded with Linux.
The human race is going to have to wise up. It may take a catastrophe, such as the whole world being brought down by a hacker finding a wormhole that's left over from Windows 98. Or it may take a massive loss of productivity due to poor QA. Or somebody in Lithuania or Kyrghyzstan may invent a new computer architecture with a secure, robust, user-friendly operating system and sell the whole thing for $150, and we'll watch the entire Third World leap-frog ahead of us.
However it goes down, I would sell Seattle Sludge short and not bet my career on it.
by rcom
Show up every day, on time and do a good job. Learn as much as you can. Check your feelings in at the door.
Expect to work for a days wages and the rest takes care of itself.
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