Is It Time to Get Out of IT?
IT pros continue to gripe about the career landscape. Going out on your own is one option. But how easy is it? |
We've been writing a lot lately on IT careers. Most of it hasn't been very cheery.
Take this analysis of the current IT job market, and what it means for IT pros. The gist is that so many factors are in play, but most of them don't portend well for the U.S. IT worker's future.
An anonymous reader responds with this:
I left IT some years ago and, while a scary decision at the time, has turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I'm finishing med school next year and can't wait to (re)start in a truly professional career.I pity those of my friends that remained in IT—unfortunately most have ended on the scrapheap with very poor prospects for their futures. They and theirs have suffered terribly.
So, no matter what age/stage you are, LEAVE and don't look back.
We've heard that before. Ellen, a self-described "C-level IT manager," had this to say to our blog post about the disconnect around government IT jobs data and the realities of those in the field:
My advice is if you are young, get out of IT. My son is finishing engineering at university and I have actively discouraged him from going anywhere near IT. There are better options.If you are older, like me, well you just have to hunker down and survive while recognizing that the industry the U.S. created is now going elsewhere and soon the U.S. will slip behind (though I doubt whether there will be much innovation offshore).
So what's a techie to do?
Noam Wasserman, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, touches on one potential choice: leaving the corporate ship and set out on your own.
That decision can be rife with trouble, particularly if corporate workers wait too long, he explains. Simply put, delaying an entrepreneurial shift can leave you too comfortable with a big-company infrastructure. And that won't bode well for your new enterprise.
While his piece doesn't focus specifically on IT pros, the lessons are the same.
With so many IT pros griping about their careers, is entrepreneurship an option many are considering?
Comments (5)
I'm a director of IT and recently finished my MBA. I'm taking my MBA and going out into the non-IT market to see what is available. A lot of research and case studies I discovered as part of the MBA program suggests that the IT industry in the U.S. has been shifting and will end up like the manufacturing industry where jobs will continue to be offshored. As part of a market economy, you can't blame a company for wanting to reduce expenses and if it is cheaper to outsource or offshore; you better believe that management will do just that. Praise be to the free market....well, until we all lose our jobs because of it.
Posted by John Doe | September 11, 2008 9:11 AM
For the past 10 years I have seen the IT industry in the U.S. dissolve. No job is safe where even the top performers are outsourced. I instructed my oldest daughter to major in business and not IT.
Permanent jobs are no better than consulting positions. I have friends that have been outsourced on an average of every two years. So, when you get a new position in a new company, you will probably be hitting the job boards again in a year or two.
Like I told my wife the other day, There are four courses at Harvard Business School:
1. Beginning Outsourcing 101
2. Intermediate Outsourcing 102
3. Advanced Outsourcing 103
4. Advanced Outsourcing and collect your bonus 104
Good luck, you're going to need it.
Posted by Michael Bingle | September 11, 2008 9:26 AM
It seems like the programming jobs have been and will keep going offshore. However, IT jobs such as ERP process reengineering and teaching information systems in business schools will stay here.
Posted by Dean | September 11, 2008 10:03 AM
When you hear: "Well, you'll just have to be creative..." or "Well, you'll just have to be an entrepreneur..." Those are code words for your career is becoming a dinosaur. You never hear this applied to MDs (entrepreneurship is an OPTION; not a necessity), or nursing, or other professions that have not been so aggressively outsourced.
Question: So when we have lost IT & computer science (to India, China, Russia and Ireland), manufacturing (to China, Mexico, et al.), regenerative medicine (to Singapore and Korea), green technologies -- solar and wind (to Europe and India), space travel (to China and Russia), high-speed rail (to Japan and Europe), fuel cell/electric car (to Japan, Germany and Canada), fusion (to Europe) and the rest of our 1st-world 21st century skills and technologies, what exactly do we "trade" with the rest of the world?
Unfortunately, ya need them computers to drive technological/scientific innovation.
Posted by DB | September 26, 2008 4:58 PM
IT runs just about everything in the U.S. Given this factoid, it is strange that the industry does not want to spend any money on such a critical function.
I envision a situation where the offshore providers will not be able to communicate with the systems -- either willingly or unwillingly. Everything in the U.S. grinds to a halt. Why? Because we will have no local talent to manage and support the systems.
Finally Wall Street's computers will crash and then maybe we will see some investment in IT. By then it will be too late, the U.S. will be a fourth-world country.
My nephew wanted to go for IT. Given my experience I convinced him to go into a totally different profession. The heartburn is not worth it. Given Wall Street's love of money (LOL), it is better to take up something like plumbing rather than go into engineering or similar professions.
After all it is difficult to outsource plumbing and my plumber makes a lot more than I do.
Posted by Joe Dobson | October 16, 2008 2:42 PM