Which IT Careers Are Hot and Which are Not?

necromante asks: "I've been working on different IT positions through my career: support; some networking; DBA; web development; project management; even working on the client side for a little while. However, I don't feel like I am really a specialist on any of those subjects and I feel I need to focus on a particular field. So, I decided to ask for some feedback before making my decision. I understand that this depends everyones tastes, likes and dislikes. However, I would like to have a better idea of which are the available options, and I hope the results of this discussion can benefit other readers. Is there any IT career that I should consider more than the others? Which are the emerging fields? Is there any industry I should focus on in particular? Which careers on IT are actually more in demand and which ones not? Is it a better path to focus on moving into management?"

Comments

Re:No Future in IT in USA

[BadERA]

Somebody's bitter.

I was bitter once. I got laid off after 9/11, couldn't find a job to save my life ... or, rather, my car.

You have to bounce back -- if you don't, you shouldn't be in the field to begin with. Same thing applies if you can't find a job today -- you probably need a new profession. IT is booming, the Internet bubble was a temporary setback. Not all IT is INTERNET.

Not everything can be offshored -- I've seen successful offshoring, but I've also seen a large number of disappointed businesses who feel they were overcharged for sub-par return on investment in off-shored projects.

There is always a need for business analysis and system architecting. Someone thousands of miles away is going to have a very difficult time truly knowing a business, and understanding its needs. There is ALWAYS going to be a need for capable, creative people who know the technology AND the business to be local.

Re:The Fields You Love

[gfxguy]

I disagree. I'm a "jack of all trades, master of none" and I'm well paid. That means I'm pretty much stuck in my job unless I want to take a huge paycut.

It started off as a specialty position (graphics), and I was well paid for it. But it turned into a position where I was responsible for a lot of other, varied things, like the intra-departmental website, and eventually my grasp of modern graphics technologies started slipping.

Now, because it started off paying so well, I'm still paid well... but now my raises are crap, not enough over cost of living to make any difference. I while I like the company I work for, I hate the location, and would take an equally paying job (adjusted for location) just about anywhere else.

The problem is that when I look at available jobs, the ones that pay even moderately close to what I'm getting now require a specialty.

This really kills me - because I'm sure I could get a great raise here if I threatened to leave, but I wouldn't threaten to leave unless I could follow through on it (I'm not good BSing with empty threats).

So, OK, I'm giving my annecdotal experience, but I find it's true elsewhere. I've had this conversation with my manager and he agrees, and he'd like to see me be able to get back into graphics 100% of the time, but the company won't budget for another programmer (I'm in a unique position here). I like all the things I'm doing, but I wouldn't mind dropping the variety and concentrating on being great at one or two things, I'd still be happy and I'd be able to demand more at a different place.