Engineering Careers Short-Circuiting

8BitWimp writes "Today's edition of the Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article discussing the current plight of the U.S. engineering profession. One 29-year-old engineer recently caught in Nortel Network's layoffs said "I spent seven years in school, and it resulted in a six-year career." The article goes on to say a California computer science professor has statistics to show that a programmer's career is not much longer than a pro-football player. What do other Slash-Dot readers think of this situation as related to their programming and engineering careers? Would you pursue the same career path again?"

Comments

Sounds like a licensing problem

[SteweyGriffin]

I sometimes wonder if it weren't for all the free software GPL stuff if Linux could have been profitable and we'd all still have jobs now.

Couldn't Linux as we know it have instead turned into what MacOS X is today? I certainly think so, but it's just not possible with a free-for-all licensing scheme. How are we supposed to pforit?

To a large degree I think the FSF, and particularly Richard Stallman, are responsible for the current economic downturn that much of information technology communities are currently experiencing.

I mean, just read the GNU manifesto. That Stallman prick clearly has an agenda, and it's not just about computer software.

Re:Programming "Career"

[richieb]

I enjoyed a programming "career" for 5 years following high-school. I am self-taught, and managed, developed and implemented databases at an ISP, a TV Broadcast Company, and for a Freight Brokerage.

I'm happy that you found a new career. Please leave building software to people who were trained how to do it. Would you go to a "self-taught" surgeon?

Re:If you're out of work, ask youself this...

[Junks Jerzey]

Like atheletes, engineers are born. If you picked the field for the big money and not getting your hands dirty, you will never be able to compete against those of us who were born to it.

Wow, is that pretentious or what?

Re:Programming "Career"

[spectecjr]

How many would even know why Lisp is important?

I don't think programming Emacs plugins is all that important personally. Lisp is only really of use in the AI field.

You're talking esoterica and dusty cobwebbed corners of the field -- not anything that 99% of engineers will ever need to know.

Simon

MOD PARENT UP

[corebreech]

Remember how they sold us NAFTA? That for every low-paying job that went overseas the economy would create a well-paying job to replace it?

I always thought that jobs in the IT industry *were* those well-paying jobs.

But look at what they did with the H-1B. I think it's funny that the name sounds so much like what you'd name a bomber aircraft, because that's exactly what it did to the hi-tech job market here in America.

Bastards!

Re:Well, I've already noticed...

[grammar fascist]

That's called a "Straw Man" argument. This line is especially telling:

Your suggestion? Deport the curry eaters. Brown faced little bastards are taking jobs away from good ol' American boys.

In case you missed it in whatever fine school you were educated at, here's how it works:

1. Joe makes an assertion.
2. Charlie casts Joe's assertion as something else.
3. Charlie's cast of Joe's assertion is wrong, therefore Joe's original assertion is wrong.

You're Charlie. Good day.

Non-western Immigrants Causing Autism?

[Baldrson]

You think the IT job shortage is bad?

Take a look at this highly significant (p less than .01) correlation between autism rates in the year 2000 and prior immigration from non-western nations into industrial states.