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Techies Migrate in Search of Work

Posted by michael on from the bytes-of-wrath dept.

prostoalex writes "Tracing the story of one family where the father is employed in the IT field, the Washington Post discusses the current unemployment in the information technology field. For a good reason - for the first time in 30 years the IT unemployment rate exceeded the national average unemployment rate, implying that you have a better chance of getting a job if your field is something other than IT. The journalist does offer a disclaimer, saying that the term 'IT worker' is applied equally to a top-notch scientist in a research lab, to a dot-com startup billionaire, and to a local HTML guru. Relevant employment statistics also shows that layoffs in the IT field were up 60% in the third quarter of 2004."

10 of 873 comments (clear)

  1. Silicon Valley by rackhamh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Here in Silicon Valley, the SJ Mercury News recently put out a report on the "improving economy", as measured by the declining unemployment rate.

    In other news, the unemployment rate in this area is declining because IT workers have given up trying to find work, and are leaving Santa Clara County in droves.

    Thereby reinforcing the finding that 90% of statistics are worthless.

  2. Give me a break by jimbobborg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Having read the article in the Post, the guy the story is about is an ex-mechanic who got into IT during the boom. He live in the Midwest (not exactly a hotbed of IT jobs). A perfect analogy would be someone looking for water in the desert. He isn't moving to one of the coasts, so he's kind of stuck. Living in the DC area, there are loads of jobs, but you have to get here. He'd be better off signing up with one of the big contracting firms (EDS, SAIC, etc.) if he's looking.

  3. That's why I hate "IT" by ivan256 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I hate the Information Technology label. If anybody asks me if I'm an IT worker I say "no". Even data entry jobs are IT. I wouldn't even call myself a programmer, though I write code. People who do hiring know the difference between the types of people that get lumped into the IT category, so why can't the trade rags, marketing departments, and mainstream media figure it out?

    And for the record, even though IT jobs are down, software engineering jobs are up. Especially in the Operating systems and Device Driver areas. If they didn't lump unskilled workers and skilled workers together in the same category they'd be able to tell the difference.

  4. So get a job in another field by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really, there's no demand for people who know how to use a computer. Everyone knows how to use a computer.

    I'm tired of reading "poor me! I used to make 100,000 a year because I knew Lotus 1-2-3, and now the only work I can get is data entry for minimum wage" stories.

    We all know how it works. The IT industry is rife with deskilling. What is today a marketable skill (I don't know, configuring LANs by hand, for instance) is tomorrow a useless one (autosensing switches and DHCP, etc). New technologies are constantly being created to replace IT workers.

    So if you want to stay with the computers, you have to constantly acquire new skills to stay a step ahead. People who think they can just sit back and live the fat life and let their A+ certification take care of them are dead wrong and deserve what they get.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  5. Well many of the people I met in the late 90's... by DebianDog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    had NO business being in IT in the first place!

    They knew what the interweb was and could spell HTML yet, somehow, commanded over 50k a year.

    I was glad to see the "people rake" come through and get rid of some of the dead weight.

  6. Yet still "labor shortage" claims by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    for the first time in 30 years the IT unemployment rate exceeded the national average unemployment rate

    And pro-work-visa lobbyists, such as ITAA, still claim there is a "shortage" of IT people.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  7. Re:Nation Wide Problem by cloveygrl · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's not nationwide. There are definitely areas where the job market is considerably better and there seems to be pockets where certain types of jobs are more plentiful. I recently moved from the PNW to Chicago for this very reason.

  8. What IT Job Shortage? by Wicked187 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I do not see a shortage in IT jobs... I see a shortage in qualified IT workers. I would say a large percentage of the unemployed IT workforce are inexperienced and lack some major backing (like a college degree, certification, job experience/internship). I hear from so many people who obvious do not know anything about IT about how this certification sucks because they got it and they cannot find a job, or how they spent a year in an overpriced tech class that was supposed to turn them into an expert. It doesn't help when the unemployment office gives extra money to laid off airline workers if they take some IT classes. The biggest answer to unemployment problems "Hell, send 'em to some IT training, anyone can do it."

    Oh well, I have a good job now, and I got it because all of the idiots out there made me look so much better. Hell, the guy that I interviewed with left because he didn't know what he was doing, and now I do his job and mine. Maybe if there were more qualified people, I would have a new coworker... because we are looking, we just cannot find anyone who is competent.

    --
    Politics, Life, and More on my Aspiring for the Future
  9. $30 an hour? Whaaaaaaa by shubert1966 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The guy's making good money, it's his expenses that are killing him. Having to move frquently and accepting a motel as a home is a judgement call and it's blowing 1800 a month.

    He should have his 9 year old set up a bank account so he can avoid the check-cashing fee.

    If his wife can work they ought to just move back to Warren and he can commute to Akron, Kent, Canton or the Cleveland area. A three bedroom rental at $1000 and suddenly he's saving $700 / month.

    The whole economy is too darwinian, future generations can't defend themselves if they haven't been born yet, and today's financial institutions just do whatever Washington will let them get away with. Shareholders VS society at-large. Temporal mindsets suck.

    This guy should be happy he's got a wife and kids. Try PLC or truck driving or become an RN. There 'Service Economy' is inescapable - so he should be happy with what he's got. Sorry to be bitter, but I got my own problems, and $30 an hour aint one of 'em.

    'There is only so much room in the economy for business owners - leaving the rest of us destined to being someone else's Em-Ploy-Ee.'
    ~ Ted Kaczynski, The Unabomber Manifesto

    --
    Stuff that matters.
  10. Re:I own a small it company by Jhon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I make decent money. Not great, but comfortable and enough to keep a roof over my family, put money in a retirement fund, private school for the kids, a "saftey net" savings account and we're getting ready to buy our first home. And this is in LA County with a high cost of living and the AVERAGE house runs about .5 mil.

    I have been offered literally triple my salery if I were willing to move/commute over an hour away -- or move to another state all together.

    I've turned them down. I've turned them all down. Why? Because I live in an "ok" area. I live about a 20 min WALK from work. My hours are of my own choosing (mostly) and I enjoy a huge amount of freedom with my employer.

    I actually get to help RAISE my kids -- not just let my wife or some hired 'day care' raise them. Our children have never seen a 'baby sitter' other than grandma. They've never been picked up from school by anyone other than my wife or myself. You cant pay me enough to give that up.