IT Jobs - Is It As Safe A Profession As It Once Was?
- Thread starter Lord Shanghai
- Start date
Not in the IT business, no. I spent a number of years working with IBM and there would be staff cuts ('resources actions', for those in the know), whereby the order would come from overseas that we need to reduce staff in a certain part of the business by, say, 20%. Doesn't matter how busy they are, doesn't matter about client workload, just get rid of them. And they did.
Sim
Administrator
Interestingly in the last couple of years, I have seen a big split in the skill requirements in the web development space (specifically, LAMP and related stacks).
There are millions of people out there with enough skill to churn out massive volumes of simple WordPress sites. You can buy this skill for a couple of dollars an hour.
However, if you are after experienced developers who can architect and build complex web applications (not brochure-ware websites) and can scale to handle very large volumes of traffic - it seems very difficult to find suitable talent right now.
I know of at least a dozen different companies around the world (AU, US, UK, Europe) looking for talent right now - and many of the jobs can be done remotely. But the skills and experience required are pretty specific and quite cutting-edge, you need to be up with the latest technology in this space - this is not something you can learn from university or any course. The technology is literally changing daily and requires constant attention and skill development to keep up.
An Australian guy I know who runs a software development house in London was looking for an experienced developer earlier in the year and had literally hundreds of applications from an advert he placed - none of whom was even remotely qualified. I think he ended up finding someone by word of mouth - but it took over 6 months to find the right person.
But this is like most things - the simple stuff is easily outsourced. The complex stuff, especially anything which requires regular contact with the customer or business or a specific set of skills, not so much.
We do seem to be going through a bit of a tech-boom at the moment anyway, with startups in (and out of) silicon valley getting throws silly amounts of money to develop their "next big thing" (many with the hopes of being bought out by Google, Facebook or even Yahoo).
There is a definite skills drain happening - lots of demand out there right now for the right skills.
But in answer to the original question - no, IT is not the "sure thing" it once was - it has become like most other industries.
There are millions of people out there with enough skill to churn out massive volumes of simple WordPress sites. You can buy this skill for a couple of dollars an hour.
However, if you are after experienced developers who can architect and build complex web applications (not brochure-ware websites) and can scale to handle very large volumes of traffic - it seems very difficult to find suitable talent right now.
I know of at least a dozen different companies around the world (AU, US, UK, Europe) looking for talent right now - and many of the jobs can be done remotely. But the skills and experience required are pretty specific and quite cutting-edge, you need to be up with the latest technology in this space - this is not something you can learn from university or any course. The technology is literally changing daily and requires constant attention and skill development to keep up.
An Australian guy I know who runs a software development house in London was looking for an experienced developer earlier in the year and had literally hundreds of applications from an advert he placed - none of whom was even remotely qualified. I think he ended up finding someone by word of mouth - but it took over 6 months to find the right person.
But this is like most things - the simple stuff is easily outsourced. The complex stuff, especially anything which requires regular contact with the customer or business or a specific set of skills, not so much.
We do seem to be going through a bit of a tech-boom at the moment anyway, with startups in (and out of) silicon valley getting throws silly amounts of money to develop their "next big thing" (many with the hopes of being bought out by Google, Facebook or even Yahoo).
There is a definite skills drain happening - lots of demand out there right now for the right skills.
But in answer to the original question - no, IT is not the "sure thing" it once was - it has become like most other industries.
Sim
Administrator
Yup, this happened to me 7 years ago. The decision was made overseas that we had a "hiring freeze", and since I was in a specialised team which was disbanded after a year, I ended up being without a role and was eventually made redundant.
This was at a time when the IBM software business locally was booming and they were desperate for staff. I had several different departments tell me they would put me on their team instantly if they were allowed to - but they weren't because they were not allowed to increase headcount.
It's quite demoralising to local staff when the decisions are made offshore without any consideration of local needs of the business. I know it was a tough time for management locally trying to meet the demands of their customers with fewer people than they could reasonably deliver with. Customer satisfaction ends up taking a dive, and you potentially lose business - just compounding the problem that the original decision to freeze hiring was trying to address. Very short sighted in my opinion. But such is life working for a global business
My husband works in IT. He's at a company where his position is relatively safe, though they're currently in the process of offshoring many other IT positions.
He'd like to get a job closer to home (spends hours travelling everyday). He hasn't been able to get a closer job and even if he does, the fear is that the job may not be as safe as his current one. He feels stuck
He's also limited in the roles he can apply for on account of not having a degree. Some employers are flexible about this, some aren't. He couldn't get an interview with the local council even though the position was identical to what he does now because he didn't meet the degree criteria.
If he could start life from scratch, he says he wished he'd went into a trade.
He'd like to get a job closer to home (spends hours travelling everyday). He hasn't been able to get a closer job and even if he does, the fear is that the job may not be as safe as his current one. He feels stuck
He's also limited in the roles he can apply for on account of not having a degree. Some employers are flexible about this, some aren't. He couldn't get an interview with the local council even though the position was identical to what he does now because he didn't meet the degree criteria.
If he could start life from scratch, he says he wished he'd went into a trade.
I work in IT, currently developing Android applications. There seems to be a fair demand for my skillset, but the job market has had a few down years recently.
I'm not convinced that all the work is going to get shipped off to India, China, or wherever the currently fashionable low-cost environment is. I suspect that the reason is that outsourced code has a reputation for poor quality, and a lot of people who're now in more senior positions will have been through the initial cycle of shipping projects off to India a decade ago.
That said, I'd agree that taking on more of a business role would make sense. There are relatively few engineers who are interested in non-technical positions, and being able to speak to managers as well as developers would make you a valuable asset.
I'm not convinced that all the work is going to get shipped off to India, China, or wherever the currently fashionable low-cost environment is. I suspect that the reason is that outsourced code has a reputation for poor quality, and a lot of people who're now in more senior positions will have been through the initial cycle of shipping projects off to India a decade ago.
That said, I'd agree that taking on more of a business role would make sense. There are relatively few engineers who are interested in non-technical positions, and being able to speak to managers as well as developers would make you a valuable asset.
I've been in IT for 16 years now and must admit the job market is quieter now than during any other time I've seen it.
First it was outsourcing, then Virtualisation and now it's Cloud (virtualisation on steroids) which are the main factors for less jobs being around now.
Job insecurity is the new norm, it's the nature of the beast now if you work in IT.
First it was outsourcing, then Virtualisation and now it's Cloud (virtualisation on steroids) which are the main factors for less jobs being around now.
Job insecurity is the new norm, it's the nature of the beast now if you work in IT.
