IT Jobs - Is It As Safe A Profession As It Once Was?

L

Lord Shanghai

I have always had the utmost respect for IT professionals. More than any profession, these guys have changed the world in a big way.

These days, many of my hard-working IT friends (some have been working continuously for as many as 30 years) are out of work. The people I refer to are not dunderheads - they constantly update their skills and are able to think laterally. So why is it they are out of work?

If you work in IT or HR, I'd be interested to know your views. I have many close friends who are struggling to find work once their contracts are over. Many are depressed and feel like their entire world has ended and that companies prefer inexperienced young uns over more experienced personnel.
 
I was like that the last 12 months... I can say now, look at roles offered by CBA. you might find something that suits. The company has a huge IT and technology focus, spending about a billion dollars on IT. (That's what I heard anyway). And working for a bank gives you easy access to loans and loans without LMI for purchases up to 90% once you qualify.
 
Just like any other industry...

- actual human work is being replaced by software (Eg: Network optimising software)

- software are getting smart which cuts down any delivery time.
In my line of work I started using a software called Tableau. It practically cuts down 90% of time we used to spend on 'presentation' side of it.

- Outsourcing
Any repeated or heavy coding tasks are being shifted to overseas. Many IT areas have only 'project managers' now.

IT is no different to any other industry. Nothing is permanent :)
 
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Working in consulting for a vendor is ok.

Consulting is a very face to face people oriented IT job, and can't be outsourced. If there is alot of coding we sometimes send it overseas but for small amounts that's more trouble than its worth so I still get to do some.

I wouldn't say my job is project management at all, and is not at risk either.

There are still many great options for the IT professional. Just don't get tied down with an internal "IT Department" job.

The other thing I'm lucky in being a specialist not a generalist. Knowledge management and business process is less popular than being a Microsoft or Java guru, but there is less chance of being replaced as it's a risk to the business.

Also knowing all the partner companies keeps a huge list of contingency plans if one was to go redundant.

Don't write it off as a profession, just stay people focussed and business oriented instead of technology oriented.
 
As everything is heading "into the cloud", is that also a factor?

Not as much need for network and database engineers, as its all maintained for you elsewhere? Still need them, but not as many.

Of course, you pay more for it, but eventually prices will come down.
 
me personally, I think IT staff are ridiculously overpaid,

some of the salaries I see are just silly, for what I think they do, wayyyyy overpriced
 
I get paid more than my boss and I work part time ...

Go work in government where they are more reluctant to outsource anything and have budgets for delays and overruns and doing things twice and ...
 
I work for an Aussie company and am currently assigned here in Asia to manage the offshore staff in my area. Bottom line is, coding is now a commodity. At least the usual Java / .NET systems where there is nothing too complex or special about them.
Operations is also a commodity. More so than coding.
Operations came first, systems development came next.

Asian universities send thousands of professionals capable of writing code into the market every year. Me coming here opened my eyes to the fact that, if you want to stay in the IT market, you have to be in areas that are harder to offshore. Management is one of them. Technical team leadership is another. Consultancy work is probably another one.

Other than that, if you want to remain technical, make sure you are the best in what you do and have something in your CV to differentiate you from the other thousands of developers around the world.

Working in niche markets may also help. Working with some vendor products where specialist knowledge is required.
 
The pay has been very low for years. The company my hubby works for has very few permanent staff now because they, the company, supply contracts which are not necessarily going to be renewed. Therefore their younger staff are all on contracts related to the contract they work on. Hubby has been on the same pay for six years and the new people all earn lower still.
 
If you're doing a commodity service job in IT then I'd be worried. If you consult at the divide between IT and business, and know your stuff (ie both enterprise IT AND business) then you can do very, very well.

In IT, there is no job security.
 
The only thing safe these days in Australia appear to be trades, any consultancy type work, project management and areas where it is difficult to outsource - generally work that is either localised, needs face to face meetings eg. Accounting or Legal work.

Having said the above, I can seriously see lower end of legal work (e.g. Conveyance work being outsourced or under cut by Indians or Chinese residing in Australia)
 
IT jobs haven't been safe for the past decade. Australia has adopted overseas cost centers comparatively slowly compared to other western nations but we're kinda there now.

I have a very hands-on role. Yes someone can do the bulk of the work off-site but there's always going to be a need for someone to physically do something. This is where IT guys need to be to have a job in Australia.

I'd avoid:
Programming
Designing and planning (all areas of IT)
Project Management
Remote Help / Service desk

The company I work for is doing an update of our private cloud ( about 40+ servers nationally) and the project is entirely managed by a team in the Czech Republic. They visited each site once and got the local site info. Planning, assembling and deployment is done overseas. They literally ship out the assembled servers fully configured and we just plug them into the power / network and we're good to go. That's my job, I plug in **** and get paid sweet coin for it.
 
TMNT said:
dont get me started on them

i think teachers should be paid more
same with hospitality,
gps
Click to expand...

the market is the ultimate judge of worth (where it is allowed to operate - clearly distorted re trades. I think there will be a day of reckoning eventually with that too... unsustainable)
 
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