Technology a Dead End Career? No Way!
Technology a Dead End Career? No Way!!
According to the US Labor Department, the demand for IT professionals has returned to levels last seen in 2000 at the height of the dotcom boom. Concurrently, the importance of information technology as the underpinning of corporate life has become obvious even to the most strident corporate Neanderthal. More organizations like Google are seeing that technologists with good technical underpinnings and business savvy can create wealth.
At the same time this is going on, fewer computer science graduates are coming out of America’s universities because students learned through what happened to their parents in the last recession that technology was no longer the fast and secure path to happiness, prosperity and wealth. That’s what happens when all those stock options became worthless and hundreds of thousands of IT professionals lost their jobs and new ones were created overseas.
O unless more people enter the labor force, more jobs will shift overseas to lower cost centers and America’s intellectual capital and advantages and technology advances will expire in a fit of outsourcing not caused by cheap labor but by lack of talent sources.
A number of things need to occur concurrently in order to stem the tide and get US students back in the game.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Time is running out/ unless we take action in the next few years that lack of supply will send all the jobs overseas . . . and once that happens, what had been US businesses will follow.
Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2005 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com.
To subscribe to Jeff Altman’s Search e-zine, send an email to jeffaltman@cisny.com and write EZINE on the subject line.
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
According to the US Labor Department, the demand for IT professionals has returned to levels last seen in 2000 at the height of the dotcom boom. Concurrently, the importance of information technology as the underpinning of corporate life has become obvious even to the most strident corporate Neanderthal. More organizations like Google are seeing that technologists with good technical underpinnings and business savvy can create wealth.
At the same time this is going on, fewer computer science graduates are coming out of America’s universities because students learned through what happened to their parents in the last recession that technology was no longer the fast and secure path to happiness, prosperity and wealth. That’s what happens when all those stock options became worthless and hundreds of thousands of IT professionals lost their jobs and new ones were created overseas.
O unless more people enter the labor force, more jobs will shift overseas to lower cost centers and America’s intellectual capital and advantages and technology advances will expire in a fit of outsourcing not caused by cheap labor but by lack of talent sources.
A number of things need to occur concurrently in order to stem the tide and get US students back in the game.
- Every child in every classroom in America must have a computer or Internet accessible device with full features to help them learn and explore. We all know the stories of the music protégés and young athletes who took up the game very young and were able to achieve greatness because a violin or tennis racket was put into their hands when they were very young. Let’s have kids learn computer basics as they learn to read and play age appropriate online games until then.
- Make computer science a required course for every major in the universities. Te Despite George Orwell’s fears, technology has become a liberating path
- Why can’t students spend an additional year in universities interning between their junior and senior year? It makes more sense to me than the programs that send students abroad to study at foreign colleges. Social work students spend 20 hours per week doing field work at social work agencies, providing a source of cheap labor. Why are university students in computer science incapable of providing a comparable contribution?
- “Code monkeys” or people who program in a vacuum are a dying breed. Make sure that even the most junior staff learns the importance of programming in the context of a line of business.
- Finally, and what may be most important, the industry has the reputation for drudgery—for being the modern day equivalent of factory work. We have to re-think the industry and make it fun again!
Tick. Tick. Tick. Time is running out/ unless we take action in the next few years that lack of supply will send all the jobs overseas . . . and once that happens, what had been US businesses will follow.
Jeff Altman
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com
© 2005 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, has successfully assisted many corporations identify leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines as employees or consultants since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
For additional job hunting or hiring tips, go to http://www.newyorkmetrotechnologyjobs.com.
To subscribe to Jeff Altman’s Search e-zine, send an email to jeffaltman@cisny.com and write EZINE on the subject line.
If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).
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