State of the IT Industry?

[geekender]

Where do you see IT in the next 5-10 years? Specifically what new jobs are emerging or old ones growing?

 

[nageov3t]

you should do your own homework

 

[geekender]

That is actually quite frustrating. Years ago this used to be a great forum for IT professionals to bounce ideas off of. I actually teach CIS classes so I appreciate the fact you wouldn't help out someone with their homework, although I will admit the lack of thought that went into the response did tick me off a bit. Any suggestions for a better arena to discuss this?

 

[hiromizu]

I think e-mail (as in electronic mail) will become the wave of the future.

Workers will likely have an "interface" similar to other program windows that has multiple three-dimentional buttons that will allow you to send and receive these "e-mails" and keep them for later retrieval. Messages will likely be "stored as mailboxes" on a "central database" hosted by a "mail store server" and relayed by the same or even a completely separate "mail relay server" that will function as a mail director of some sort. Experts in the industry believe that a "domain" naming system will be developed to identify organizations and each user will have a "username" associated within the domain. This combination of username and domain will very likely become something called an "e-mail address" which identifies the specific user where a particular message will be sent to. It's been confirmed that they are planning on using a username@domain.com format. I know this sounds crazy and out of this world but you're going to have to trust me on this one.

Also of importance, experts in the industry believe that many "protocols" will be developed to determine how "e-mail clients" communicate with the "mail server" within an "internal network" or over the "internet.." which is also becoming pretty popular as some of us know. Some of the protocols that are proposed include crazy names like SMTP, IMAP and POP3 and all serve different functions. If we look further into the future, "e-mail" may actually end up becoming "mobile" as consumers become more technologically adept and carry "cellular phones" that have "e-mail functionality."

As for the job market, I think it's an exciting time as bigger companies will quickly adapt to this "e-mail" system and will necessitate jobs to provision and manage these highly sophisticated systems.

Crazy times.

 

[jinduy]

the IT industry is kind of shaky at the moment. if you are lacking experience (a newbie out of college), it is most likely going to be much tougher than in recent years. however, if you are seasoned, i hear that the job market is still pretty decent for talented and seasoned IT folks (at least here in los angeles).

lots of large companies are starting to look more into outsourcing (again), so that doesnt bode well for the future of IT.

 

[OnePingOnly]

IT can be easily outsourced. I recommend you get involved in a very specific field such as health informatics as there will be a huge emphasis on electronic health records over the next decade. Another safe bet would be to work in information security for the government or military. This is advice coming from a non-IT guy, though I have an interest in the field.

 

[Descartes]

That is actually quite frustrating. Years ago this used to be a great forum for IT professionals to bounce ideas off of. I actually teach CIS classes so I appreciate the fact you wouldn't help out someone with their homework, although I will admit the lack of thought that went into the response did tick me off a bit. Any suggestions for a better arena to discuss this?

Agreed. This used to be a great forum for professionals in general, but now much less so. This is especially true with IT as most people that respond know nothing about the industry.

First, I'd suggest stop thinking of IT as one giant umbrella. There are a ton of subdisciplines, many of which have tremendous opportunities. Specifically:

1) GIS folks are still in demand
2) Mobile apps devs are in demand
3) Healthcare is huge: BI, interoperability, dashboards, compliance testing, etc.
4) Accounting and auditing industry offers a lot of opportunity with changing compliance requirements (SOX, AICPA, etc.)

That's just a few thoughts that come to mind. You can't talk about opportunities in IT anymore than you can talk about what to do in medicine. You have to be specific.

 

[BoberFett]

Descartes, don't forget security.

 

[spidey07]

It couldn't be better. It's Like 1998 but much better.

Edit
posting from mobile. Otherwise I would explain.

 

[Pantlegz]

It couldn't be better. It's Like 1998 but much better.

Edit
posting from mobile. Otherwise I would explain.

Maybe for you, or people at your level. Entry level is absurd. I graduate in 3 weeks, I've gotten all of 2 interviews and I've been sending out apps since October. Most places 'entry level' want AAS +5 years or BS +2 for 30-40k?! they've lost their freaking mind. I'm already thinking that I'm going to be going back to school in January for IT management.

 

[Mide]

It's not very good. I know if I lost my current IT job I'd be fucked for a good amount of time. Descartes + BoberFett are correct in that if you are experienced in any of the listed 5 sub-disciplines things will be better than most. I would add web-apps to that for example flash + actionscript and a great programmer behind it all can also find employment.

Most specialties from the past have been turned into a commodity. For example take hiromizu's asinine comment. For a small/med sized company...instead of finding and paying for an Exchange guy, they will find some service company, pay them $x per month, and use that money that could've gone to a person's salary someplace else. Same goes for an in-house webserver admin + security. The company can just find a hosting service and not worry about maintenance, upkeep, and security. Things change when you have a larger company because usually they can afford having a dedicated security person, email person, sys admin, etc. All I know is that IT is not a stable occupation anymore...if you find a company in need of your services then that's awesome for you but if you can't it's getting harder to find a company in need or is willing to pay.

 

[timosyy]

Maybe for you, or people at your level. Entry level is absurd. I graduate in 3 weeks, I've gotten all of 2 interviews and I've been sending out apps since October. Most places 'entry level' want AAS +5 years or BS +2 for 30-40k?! they've lost their freaking mind. I'm already thinking that I'm going to be going back to school in January for IT management.

Hm, opposite experience for me. I've had ~6 interviews (I only applied to 6 companies, so I got every interview I asked for... a few companies also called to ask me to interview with them), and have already accepted a job offer (I graduate in Spring). Salary much higher than what you listed, too.

Asking around campus this seems to be more or less the norm for my major, with a 90%+ employment rate before graduation and average of 5 interviews per person. My major is basically IT, but in the Business school, so it's like "MIS" (Management Information Systems) or whatever the common acronym for that is nowadays. We just call it Business IT.

Edit: Most people seem to be going into auditing/consulting fields (the Big 4 and companies like them are pretty big employers). And the major covers web/application development, networks, databases, IT security, project management, etc.

 

[Parasitic]

Basic IT will be outsourced to China and India almost completely over the next 10 years, as more of them reach college age or the end of their college career and are willing to work for peanuts.

I think the "real" corportate IT will be what you ought to focus on if you're an American or European perspective in the field. Now though I don't honestly now what that entails, but it's probably stuff like improving efficiency and designing infrastructure.

 

[Bateluer]

Maybe for you, or people at your level. Entry level is absurd. I graduate in 3 weeks, I've gotten all of 2 interviews and I've been sending out apps since October. Most places 'entry level' want AAS +5 years or BS +2 for 30-40k?! they've lost their freaking mind. I'm already thinking that I'm going to be going back to school in January for IT management.

I agree, ran into the same problem myself last year when I graduated, had an AAS and some core certs, but no real experience. People wanted these crazy degrees and experience and were willing to pay peanuts. Part of it is that the hiring individual probably has absolutely no idea what the job and training entail though.

 

[rh71]

how does one get their foot in the door with Health IT / IS? Doesn't appear to be a certification line or anything either.

 

[Platypus]

If you're specialized I think IT is a great place to be right now with lots of opportunities. If you do something that 10 other people will do for cheaper then you're going to be hurting right now.

 

[Descartes]

Maybe for you, or people at your level. Entry level is absurd. I graduate in 3 weeks, I've gotten all of 2 interviews and I've been sending out apps since October. Most places 'entry level' want AAS +5 years or BS +2 for 30-40k?! they've lost their freaking mind. I'm already thinking that I'm going to be going back to school in January for IT management.

You think that going straight into management is going to be any better? Most managers come from a background of practical expertise; it's hard to manage something you understand only tangentially, and almost all mid-level managers have a background in executing what they're supposed to be managing.

30-40k doesn't sound absolutely terrible, considering where so many other industries start. The beauty of IT is that if you can produce you will advance VERY fast. There's no artificial ceiling or lockstep (like most law firms) approach, so if you're good... you'll prosper. If you're not, you'll lose momentum and never make it.

Though I think it goes without saying, IT is an industry that rewards talent and punishes everyone else. If you have a passion for the industry, or some area of the industry, then you're rewarded; if you thought it was just a good career path and a stable job for growth, you're going to be disappointed.

 

[vshah]

I think e-mail (as in electronic mail) will become the wave of the future.

Workers will likely have an "interface" similar to other program windows that has multiple three-dimentional buttons that will allow you to send and receive these "e-mails" and keep them for later retrieval. Messages will likely be "stored as mailboxes" on a "central database" hosted by a "mail store server" and relayed by the same or even a completely separate "mail relay server" that will function as a mail director of some sort. Experts in the industry believe that a "domain" naming system will be developed to identify organizations and each user will have a "username" associated within the domain. This combination of username and domain will very likely become something called an "e-mail address" which identifies the specific user where a particular message will be sent to. It's been confirmed that they are planning on using a username@domain.com format. I know this sounds crazy and out of this world but you're going to have to trust me on this one.

Also of importance, experts in the industry believe that many "protocols" will be developed to determine how "e-mail clients" communicate with the "mail server" within an "internal network" or over the "internet.." which is also becoming pretty popular as some of us know. Some of the protocols that are proposed include crazy names like SMTP, IMAP and POP3 and all serve different functions. If we look further into the future, "e-mail" may actually end up becoming "mobile" as consumers become more technologically adept and carry "cellular phones" that have "e-mail functionality."

As for the job market, I think it's an exciting time as bigger companies will quickly adapt to this "e-mail" system and will necessitate jobs to provision and manage these highly sophisticated systems.

Crazy times.

vbulletin haz time warp??


and job wise its fine. I went to a good school, had a shit GPA, and had 3 $60k+ offers before graduation.

 

[JS80]

Define "IT"

 

[Platypus]

You think that going straight into management is going to be any better? Most managers come from a background of practical expertise; it's hard to manage something you understand only tangentially, and almost all mid-level managers have a background in executing what they're supposed to be managing.

30-40k doesn't sound absolutely terrible, considering where so many other industries start. The beauty of IT is that if you can produce you will advance VERY fast. There's no artificial ceiling or lockstep (like most law firms) approach, so if you're good... you'll prosper. If you're not, you'll lose momentum and never make it.

Though I think it goes without saying, IT is an industry that rewards talent and punishes everyone else. If you have a passion for the industry, or some area of the industry, then you're rewarded; if you thought it was just a good career path and a stable job for growth, you're going to be disappointed.

Agreed.. if you don't have real talent you're going to be sorely disappointed. A lot of people think that it's 10 years ago where you can just walk into an IT job and make lots of money without having any real marketable skills other than the fact that you can fix someone's computer after googling around for a problem. I'm not saying don't try to get into IT but in this current economy you're competing with people who might have 5 or 10 years on you because they got laid off. You better be able to bring something unique to the table. And for the sake of the rest of us, don't get into management without any real world experience...

 

[Descartes]

how does one get their foot in the door with Health IT / IS? Doesn't appear to be a certification line or anything either.

No, there's no real certification that will help. The only real way to break into healthcare IT is to work for a healthcare provider or healthcare IT company.

The healthcare industry is immense, and you could literally specialize in a ton of different areas: At the payor side, the provider side, hospitals, clinics, large physician practices, with small physician practices, integration, clinical operations/workflow, administration, etc.

I can tell you a couple of very specific areas that aren't being filled right now:

1) Support for smaller physician practices. There is a void with respect to support, and a "normal" IT team won't do. You need to understand the healthcare space and how to help manage the technology to run a practice.

2) With EMR vendors and large providers that are working to realize "meaningful use" objectives over the next several years

The trouble with healthcare IT is that it's highly consolidated now and will become more so. The big guys are gobbling up the smaller guys with an attempt to gain more market share. As they succeed, they'll be less able to serve those smaller providers. There's your opportunity.

 

[Modular]

This is the field I wish I was in, but threads like this make me wonder if I didn't make the right decision after all. 60k+ a year just out of school is awesome though.

 

[Platypus]

No, there's no real certification that will help. The only real way to break into healthcare IT is to work for a healthcare provider or healthcare IT company.

The healthcare industry is immense, and you could literally specialize in a ton of different areas: At the payor side, the provider side, hospitals, clinics, large physician practices, with small physician practices, integration, clinical operations/workflow, administration, etc.

I can tell you a couple of very specific areas that aren't being filled right now:

1) Support for smaller physician practices. There is a void with respect to support, and a "normal" IT team won't do. You need to understand the healthcare space and how to help manage the technology to run a practice.

2) With EMR vendors and large providers that are working to realize "meaningful use" objectives over the next several years

The trouble with healthcare IT is that it's highly consolidated now and will become more so. The big guys are gobbling up the smaller guys with an attempt to gain more market share. As they succeed, they'll be less able to serve those smaller providers. There's your opportunity.

Also very true. I would also add that I know a lot of people who just get burned out on the politics in the healthcare field and end up leaving entirely. It seems to be quite the revolving door based on the experiences I've heard about. YMMV of course.

 

[JS80]

ab

 

[Descartes]

Agreed.. if you don't have real talent you're going to be sorely disappointed. A lot of people think that it's 10 years ago where you can just walk into an IT job and make lots of money without having any real marketable skills other than the fact that you can fix someone's computer after googling around for a problem. I'm not saying don't try to get into IT but in this current economy you're competing with people who might have 5 or 10 years on you because they got laid off. You better be able to bring something unique to the table. And for the sake of the rest of us, don't get into management without any real world experience...

All true, but also consider that many companies, especially SMBs, have experience a contraction of budgets in all areas. Despite what many (non-IT) people on this forum think, IT is not something you just toss over the pond to some random firm in another country. Statistically, only 20% it outsourced at all, and upwards of 10% of that is with onshore firms (that might be augmented by off-shore resources).

As people cut costs, the top guys are having their compensation cut or they're cut entirely. I can think of at least 5 very large companies that have removed their CIOs and mid-level management entirely so they can hit end of year numbers. But guess what? The work still needs to be done. They're going to look for more junior to mid-level people.

So: If you're just getting into IT, NOW IS THE TIME. The dot-com days was the time, early 2004 was the time and now it's the time again. It goes in about 5 year cycles for reasons unknown to me.

Hit the smaller businesses where you're not judged only by the words on your resume and thrown into a pigeon-holed role. Focus on experience, meet the right people and grow. Now is the time.