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Not Your Daddy's IT Force Anymore
Quill345 writes "The days of high-paying technology-based jobs right out of highschool are over. As writers for ACM report, the skill-sets required for jobs have grown over time. Academia has responded to the evolution with novel programs recruiting women and integrating IT into MBA programs. And as technology finds its way into every aspect of business life, the NSF is creating a grant program to fund service science, a blend of IT into other industries. Researchers at City University of NY are working on an NSF-funded project to infuse technology into Liberal Arts courses taken by students who are in primary tech-producer or tech-consumer majors. What are these crucial modern skills? Knowledge of laws like the DMCA? Interpersonal and group work skills? Experience with different technology platforms? The ability to discriminate between useful and useless information sources?"
We've seen that tech is being more and more commoditized. Pretty soon, tech jobs will be no more than plugging in parts. We will become plumbers.
All those guys that landed cushy, big-dolloar jobs out of high school often failed miserably. IT projects are notoriously risky. So many have failed, and many of them have failed spectacularly. As a result the IT community is now looking for seasoned techs. Guys that have some experience and wisdom in the fiels. Its a good thing. I know where I am, the easiest way to scare the hell out of management, is to tell them we are rolling out a new application. This is based on past experience.
An IT force with more robust backgrounds can only be a good thing. sweet hacker skills are of still relevant, but there needs to be more.
Women are pushed into the workforce instead of being pushed into the kitchen. Instead of breaking the cycle and pushing women to rationally choose what they want, based on comparative advantages and disadvantages, things have just shifted from one sexism to another.
I'd like to call academic feminists "useful idiots" in that respect, but that'd be letting them off the hook as they have often whole-heartedly promoted the idea that women have no legitimate right to choose a traditional housewife role.
We aren't much closer to a culture where women choose the lifestyle that fits them. The pendulum has just swung from one extreme to another.
That depends. At my last job, managers were respected, and any developer over 30 was seen as past his/her prime and was the first to go. Maybe it's different now, but that wasn't too long ago. Development is seen by many as a young-man's sport (sorry ladies, you do good too) but once you're past a certain age, it is expected that you've moved beyond that point and are looking to management.
Well, at least that's how it is here on the east coast in the NY/NJ/PA area. I could see it being a different mentality out west.
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
It really isn't just the Tech Industry that has raised its standard. Almost everyone has. The problem for most, however, isn't the lack of certifications or education, but the lack of experience pertinent to individual positions.
My girlfriend is a university graduate and holds a pharmacy technician certification and license. She got them (and about 500 hours of experience in a pharmacy) because she planned on going to pharmacy school. Then, considering she wasn't happy telling people, "Sorry Mr. Goldman, the insurance company doesn't feel as though your Alzheimer's is worth treating. You got $283.43 on ya?"
So she's on the job market again and has been for the last 2 months. Bachelor's degree, high quality experience in --AN-- industry and nothing. Why? Because companies and organizations no longer gauge the value of applicants by their credentials or educational degrees. All they want to see is hard experience directly working with the company database or "... at least 3+ years working knowledge of ".
Why? I dare say as an educator that it's because the market has been flooded with bachelor degrees and MS Certification, and this certification, etc.
How can we remedy this? Make it standard for companies to supply their applicant pool with training software. You want your applicant pool to be qualified and to integrate, achieving 85%+ productivity, within a week? Then you should really post downloadable software on the website from which you advertise jobs.
Bsck to my girlfriend, she's applied for many positions at same University at which I work. She's no longer looking for something that will "stimulate her mind" as she's willing to work in the payroll department-- "entry level". But, of course "Required: 3+ years of the *** payroll system including , , "
Save your time, with the education, guys. Graduate high school, get a couple certs just to make your resume a bit more full, and make a friend on the inside. Connections really do seem to be the only way to get a job today. =(
I'd say that finding oneself a job where it's even *possible* to do these things is key. For example, I've worked as a computer technician before in jobs where it was taken for granted that I was going to be holed up in the "back room", doing my thing. I enjoyed it, because I was free of much of the "office politics" and could just concentrate on getting the work done. But ultimately, you don't advance that way. You're generally never given an opportunity to lead a group, because nobody in the company views you as suitable for that role. You might get a raise based on your performance, but that's only because they're treating you as a number. "How quickly are we getting broken PCs turned around with this guy working here? Do we have X percentage more capacity to take on additional repairs now?"
Even after you leave that type of work, it's rough finding something with more room for growth. Your resume says nothing about your potential ability to work with groups or lead one. Several buddies of mine tried to "get a foot in the door" of an I.T. career by starting out on a help-desk or as a PC tech. - and except in one case (the guy got a government job as some type of PC support person), I don't think it gave any of them much of an advantage. If they spent the time as a manager of a retail store, I suspect those skills would have worked just as well for them.
That seems to be the first question I am asked in a technical interview. Why would an UNIX admin/manager need to know the 7 layers? 2 or 3 of them, sure but all 7?
/etc/inittab!"
/opt dir.
The truth is, The degree does not mean squat! Heck the experience does not even seem to mean anything. If it did (with my 15 years in the field) I would not be asked to name the 7 layers of the OSI model. The certs do not seem to mean anything. So what is left? HR people just call one of there technical people in and have them quiz the new applicant. The technical person seems to take the stance of "Lets prove I am smarter than the new guy" and add questions like "In Linux what is init level 3?" and does not accept "Anything you set it to when you edit the
More recently I was asked "Where is Apache installed on Solaris 9?" I responded with "The install is a compile time option, so it is where ever you set it to be." I was told I was wrong because the package they get from their packaging department always installs in the
The issue is that HR departments and hireling managers (non-tech) have no way to judge an individuals skills. They have found that the guys with degrees do not always know what to do, Resumes are faked or fudged, and certs can be made with a good laser printer. What is left? They start to look for people that have experience in just the apps and hardware they have then have there existing guys judge there skills. Is there a better way? I really do not know, although I would start by teaching the general IT people how to interview. It mite make it a little easier.
"False."
... tables created around different projects."
... need A..Z."
Thanks for that objective evaluation. I agree that a skill that an engineer or tech employee should have is project management. However, they are being hired for a tech skill, if the company wants a project manager, they will hire a project manager.
"Projects could work this way if they started with extremely
Riiiight...like I said lots of crappy management going on. This is a project management issue.
"Most Engineers understand you need to have marketing sell products and
1) I agree with your overall point that marketing departments can get in the way.
2) I wasn't referring to marketing as what is being misunderstood by engineers.
"IMO. The most efficient method of managing teck projects is to have teck people, working all other departments involved in the project, "
Not sure if I am understanding this or not. If you are implying that tech folk should be doing things other than some project management and actual technology-related tasks, I would have to disagree. There is no way that tech folk should have anything to do with the preparation of marketing or advertising, as one example.
"...create a detailed plain of action which is then vetted though upper management to align it with overall strategic planning. "
(which may change the plan/product/timeline entirely)
"Management then oversees this project to keep things going and keep Engineers focused on creating adequate if not perfect solutions to the problems at hand."
Agreed.
"...management is unable to determine how complex changing "small details" is..."
That's correct, managers dont understand. Because they are not working with techies who explain it to them. You have to communicate the issues to the manager without sounding like a 5 yr-old complaining about beans for the 80th time.
Good points, and like I said, there is a ton of garbage management going on out there. My "perfect world" examples are from a company that has its shit together (and yes, some actually DO).
Cheers