thefirstbruce said:
I'd be interested in hearing from IT pros as to where all the jobs are and what the pay rates are.... some ppl consider the lad at Harvey Norman selling printers to be in IT. And I hear so often that IT ppl are hard to get....but often that is because employers don't want to pay much....
the jobs are the traditional jobs, development, adminstration, consulting etc. the money is there in all of them, if you are good at what you do, and by good i do not mean average, i mean really good. being average is no crime, you can make a comfortable living as a bog standard developer working for an insurance company or something.
i know sysadmins, developers, consultants, pre sales techs, all of whom are on 6 figure salaries, most of them under 30. they are all really good at what they do, and have a genunine interest in their fields. from what ive seen, the people who do it for the money know enough to do their jobs (in general, anyway), but thats about it. they have only as passing interest in computing, and if they need to learn a new technology their company will pay for them to do training and they'll accquire new skills.
and there is nothing wrong with that. there are a lot of jobs out there that just need a lot of legwork done, and these people are happy and able to do it. they do not pay a lot, but still pay pretty well (maybe around $70k). maybe they have families/mortgages and like the regular hours and security, even though the work may be a little dull at times. and maybe over time they will rise through an organisation to higher pay and more responsibility etc.
then there are peope who end up being really good. IT is a large part of their life, they are constantly keeping up to date with whats going on, many of their friends work in IT as well and its what they talk about when they are at the pub. they spend a lot of extra time and effort learning things to a level of detail far beyond what they need, and as a consequence become very valuable in their companies and their salaries reflect that. they are the ones that get the hard stuff done and can solve the hard problems. they have a genunine and deep understanding of computing, because they are genuinely interested in it. i do not think its anything special to IT either, im sure the top 5% of plumbers would make a reasonable amount, and they get paid that much because they know a hell of a lot about plumbing.
these are massive generalisations though, and its not all like that. sometimes people think they are really good at IT, but in reality they are fairly average (i find this common in slashdot/linux fanactics crowd). like anything in the real world, sometimes some people inexplicably rise to levels they are probably not really suited for, but if they do their job, and the company is happy with their performance, who am i to say whats right or wrong.
i dont really think there is a right or wrong, as everyones needs and desires are different. im a single guy with no dependants, so if i want to stay up till 2am reading kernel source code i can. when im 40 with 2 kids, i probably would just want a job with regular hours, good security and ok pay, so i can spend my time with my family. im hoping though that my hard work now will help me end up somewhere interesting with good terms, but i would also be quite happy just doing a job to provide for my family and spending my time with them.
i see the outsourcing to india as somewhat equivalent to the introduction of robotics to car assembly lines. a lot of people lost their jobs when that happened, and they found work elsewhere. you do not need a degree qualified computer scientist to answer your tech support calls and read through the helpdesk troubleshooting script.
there are things its ok for companies to outsource, and there are things that aren't ok, for some of the reasons -T- pointed out above. some software companies may have 5 or so developers who come up with the design and do the tricky bits, and the bulk gets outsourced as its all fairly straightforward to implement, and cheaper and faster to have done in india. you still see people working in car production plants though.
i guess with outsourcing, you get what you pay for, and theres always going to be cases where "good enough" is good enough. outsourcing cuts both ways too. theres plenty of non-IT companies who outsource their IT stuff. theres the obvious huge support/contracting companies like EDS, but smaller businesses like real estate agents or other small companies might have an "IT guy" who looks after their server once a week and does their tech support. you can make a decent (6 figure) living doing this, as long as you have the customers, but its the sort of work you'll only really get through word of mouth.
as for training, i do not really agree with how degrees are treated in computing, an apprenticeship type of training might be better, or something akin to the college of law. to be a lawyer you do your theoretical law degree, then spend 6 months at the college of law learning the actual ins and outs of lawyer'ing. experience is all that matters really in IT, but if everyone else has a degree, the reality is you need one to be able to compete for jobs. i started out and did ok without a degree but saw the writing on the wall so went back to uni to finish up. its made it a lot easier to sell myself. and noone has ever asked me where i got my degree from or what my marks were like, its just not relevant as its an academic qualification that really just means i am motivated enough to work unattended and meet deadlines.
certs come and go, trends come and go, you cant just do a cert and make a lifelong career out of it. though if you are really motivated and canny, you probably can through networking and contacts, etc. certs are products for sale, the people who offer them make a lot of money out of both the courses and the course materials. like any product or trend they can be "hot" and can also fall out of favour. they can be a good foot in the door though. also, sometimes like degrees, if everyone in a certain field has a specific cert, you ended up needing to have it, otherwise people think theres something wrong with you.
anyway, thats quite a long ramble, im happy to expand on any of the points, and i hope i havent offended anyone, it is my honest opinion of how things seem to be in IT. IT is everywhere, show me a modern business that does not use computers. hmm, i dont think my local fish and chip shop does, but from the real easte agent in the corner store down the street to the biggest investment bank in the world, it is everywhere now and there is always demand for good people.
i guess from this i could summarise by saying: instead of chasing the money, find something you really like, and are really passionate about, and let it consume you, be it programming, plumbing or lawyering. things will always change and progress, and maybe your skills become obsolete, if you have a genunine interest in the area, you'll have the motivation to move along with the industry. im sure theres experts on slide rulers who made a good living working on calculators
and theres probably some that could never let go and got left behind. if you find something you personally like, and work hard at being on of the best at it, in the end you'll be a lot happier, and the money side will probably work itself out. and if it doesn't you'll have the motivation and courage to find a way to make the money side work out, because of your inherent passion for it.
