Slashdot Mirror
Lifetime Careers in IT?
CyPlasm asks: "MSN Careers had this article posted the other day that asked about a "Lifetime Career in IT: Is It Possible?" Does the average Slashdot reader think they will retire (with a pension, benefits, etc) after a long and successful career in IT?"
pention and all that? no. But i make enought that i should be able to put some away(401k?) It will be all my own money.
Lifetime in IT? Yea, i will be old and grey before i would do anything else.
RTFA!
Had to be done. :)
Indeed, my dad is a lifer (same systems for 25+ years even). Doesn't know many (modern) languages, but has been keeping the system he's worked on up, running, and maintained to modern needs while the company cycles through less competant engineers (and managers).
According to this and this article, close to half of all IT workers could be displaced in as little as two years. International outsourcing, contractors, part-timers and consultants will do most of the work. If you want to work in IT for the rest of your career, you need to be planning your strategy now. So quit munching pizza and watching cartoons and figure out what you want to be when you grow up.
Maybe the analysts are wrong, but do you want to bet your career on it?
The warning signs are out there.
Engineers are destined to get fired. Engineers including software engineers typically work on a project, which means that once the project is complete, they don't have to be around. Of course, some people need to be maintaining and debugging, but roughly 90% of engineers can go. I am not just talking about IT, but engineering in general. Let's say you are a construction engineer and designing a building. Once the construction is over, who needs you? We've got to move around and keep finding new projects, and that's the nature of our profession. Sounds kind of like prostitution, but it's not. Prostitutes might have regular customers, but we (real engineers) don't. If you feel OK about it, you'll have lifetime career in IT, if not, you'll find some other job. Simple is that.
You'd be surprised, a good mechanic and a body technician (repair wrecks) can make really great money. It's really hard work but good mechanics can make 65K and body guys can top 6 figures and that's just working for a shop. Most of those guys get paid by the bill hours and the job hours aren't how long it actually takes. There's a big book with how many hours it takes to do EVERYTHING but if you can do it in half the time that's twice the money.
When you retire you can sell the land and if you're over 59 you can skip paying the taxes (this is a one-time benefit).
One that the IRS doesn't know about, apparently...
The SCO lawsuit makes me wish my company were in Utah. We need a new building.
Hey I'm going to school @ UTI. The web addy is like www.uticorp.com . You go to school to learn like your basics, if you have good grades you can go to the manufacturer's programs. Not just BMW, but Porsche, Mercedes, Volvo, VolksWagon. The fun part of going is the few classes that add up to make hotrod u : power and performance classes, street/hot rodding/ NOS ... I'm taking Diesel as well and industrial which adds refrigeration and hydraulics.
BMW's by the way use fiber optics to drive all sorts of systems. The courses I believe take 22 weeks.
I used to work in computers. Overclocking just doesn't feel the same when you tweak an engine and hear it break class and make car alarms cry.
If you have any questions or would like to know more about UTI , the BMW manufacturing program, let me know. I'll be glad to help. email: crea5e AT yahoo dot com.
you blow your brains out at age 30. This is the only industry I know of that eviscerates itself every few years and rejects the knowledge of its senior experts.
That's graphic but well put. It's (not) funny that the IT-heavy companies are all run by old codgers who think that anyone over 35 is a has-been (except for themselves who are all eternally brilliant because of the MBA, of course).
After 40, I've found the only way to get an IT job is to know someone in the company who is willing to present in your resume (many times a company won't advertise a position - they just ask for recommendations from current employees). Once you're hired and working, they're thrilled.
It's bad. Just keep talking to anyone and everyone who might turn up a lead. Good luck.
Many people (including myself) would offer the opinion that you've been given a highly propagandized, idealized, and distorted version of reality. Getting career counseling from a tenured professor is like asking Michael Jordan if a professional basketball career is worthwhile. The professor's opinions may also be strongly colored by a desire to have low-cost slave labor to build his research empire, regardless of the actual chances you may have pursuing an eventual career on your own.
Where, oh where to begin? You can start by reading a recent Slashdot thread.
Other points to consider:
It should be noted that retirement is actually only a relatively recent idea. Chancellor Bismark introduced old age pensions at the age of 65 about 100 years ago. Why 65? Because he looked at the numbers and found that only about 10% of Germans would actually live to that age.