Slashdot Mirror
IT Job Hiring Slumps
snydeq writes The IT job hiring bump earlier this year wasn't sustained in July and August, when numbers slumped considerably, InfoWorld reports. 'So much for the light at the end of the IT jobs tunnel. According to job data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as analyzed by Janco Associates, the IT professional job market has all but lost the head of steam it built up earlier this year. A mere 3,400 IT jobs were added in August, down from 4,600 added for July and way down from the 13,800 added in April of this year. Overall, IT hiring in 2014 got off to a weak start, then surged, only to stumble again.' Anybody out there finding the IT job market discouraging of late and care to share their experiences?
IT Job Hiring in the USA Slumps
FTFY
Philosopher (n) - a wise person who is calm and rational; someone who lives a life of reason with equanimity
Finally, somebody cut to the chase rather than going off on some other tangent. Glad I read this far to find your post.
Little hiring occurs in the summer. All the decision makers are on vacation or taking half days. Project money (and, hiring money) from the budget is getting low. Projects started when they had money are established.
Come autumn, there is a need to burn off excess budget moneybags- use it or lose it. Lots of little projects are started, projects get defined at a high level and budget requests for the next year are made. If a department does use their allocated budget, they will see a drop for the new year without extenuating circumstances.
Early winter, there is a flurry to hire people, likely contractors, to do the little stuff. Real hiring starts at the beginning of the year and runs through the remainder of the quarter.
We aren't seasonal workers like retail. Our work force isn't returning to school creating a need for immediate hires. Where we run into problems is when management treats employees like disposable contractors only to find they need to hire later rather than pace the work and retain their workforce.
While it is more likely that your job problems are caused by something you aren't aware of or aren't forthcoming about (like your previous network admin job being little more than first tier tech support), if the job market is really that bad then you really have to move. There should be hundreds of companies hiring in your region unless you live in some rural town in Kentucky. If there are really just a few companies hiring for IT positions, then this is not the best place to live as an IT professional.
I was living in a small semi-rural college town when the first company I worked for as a programmer when bankrupt in 2008. I tried for two years (starting before the company went under) trying to find work in the same area with no luck. Not a single phone interview even. So I finally gave up and moved to the more heavily populated suburbs outside the largest city in my region. I didn't have to move to an area with high rents, just a place where I could have an hour or so commute to the city.
After moving I found a job in three weeks. This was after two years of no luck in my rural town.
My 'network admin' job was the sole IT person for a charter school with several hundred people. I did the job of a director of technology, a network admin, and a support person all in one. Maybe you should stop being condescending?
My region (Northwestern PA) has had a handful of job openings at any time and a population of 908,367 people. Some of those jobs I really don't have the skills for such as requiring experience in SAP/SME, Sharepoint, Webfocus, SAS, etc which basically require that you've had a job working with those technologies to get them. I could lie, but frankly while I know what those technologies are, I certainly couldn't answer questions about them. Some I couldn't get right now because they have a hard requirement of a Bachelors degree. What is left I often have been applying for, degree be damned.
I could move to Pittsburgh or Philly except I really cannot afford to move. I've been living on ~$500/month for four years. I have no funds. My relatives who have money aren't giving me money. I cannot get a loan as I defaulted on all my debt when unemployment ended and I simply couldn't pay them anymore. I simply have no way to move. I couldn't live there a day, let alone a month. I've talked to a few companies in Pittsburgh offering jobs and they won't give me an interview until I move where they are. They most certainly don't have any desire to help me.
There are far more than a half dozen cities with a large number of IT jobs. Any city with a population of at least 300k is going to have a lot of IT jobs, and there are over 50 of them in the US. Any of the 10 cities with at least a million population is also going to have a thriving IT job market in its suburbs.
The fact that you said you are more than 100 miles away from a decent IT job market either means you are restricting yourself to San Fransisco, Seattle, etc. or you really do live in the middle of nowhere. You don't need to restrict yourself to the major IT hubs in the US. You could move to Raleigh NC, Nashville TN, Salt Lake City UT, San Antonia TX, Indianapolis IN, or whatever major city is closest to you and find plenty of companies that are hiring in IT.
I live just outside of Erie PA to be bluntly specific. Nearby are Cleveland, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh all roughly 100 miles away. But even those cities only have 3-5 times the jobs of my own region. I wouldn't call that 'thriving' and Pittsburgh and Cleveland are both over 300k. The bulk of IT workers are tied up in places like Seattle, So Cal, and Austin. Those places truly have an 'IT industry' like it tends to be thought of.
we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
Reading these comments I see a lot of frustration and anger. Rightfully so, in some cases, but I think everyone needs to understand a few things.
1. World is changing. Right now, there are millions of technically-literate, hard-working Polish and Chinese (as examples) ready to jump at the next opportunity. This wasn't the case 100 years ago because of wars, lack of global media, and education (among other reasons). Today, they know they can learn Java or C# and get a decent-paying job.
2. Who can blame them? The tribal part of me wants to say, "Keep the immigrants out!" because, by definition, more competition will lower my own wages. However, the global citizen in me says that, yes, I might make $10K less a year in five years, but at least some hard-working people will get a better life. Totally worth it, IMHO.
Please note that because the United States does not easy visas for high-skilled workers, the companies will outsource to India instead of hiring them out-right and bringing them and their families over to the United States. That means no income tax, Social Security tax, even though these folks are being hired by American firms indirectly.
3. If my post seems contradictory, it's meant to. Economics and immigration policy are very difficult to get right. There's a million ways to get it wrong, and only a few ways to do it right. Every country wants to get all the benefits and none of the costs, but it doesn't work that way.
150 years ago, raw sewage was flowing down the streets in NYC and London. Back then, if I told you I used Italian olive oil, drank French wine, and ate imported cheeses, you'd think I was a king! Nowadays I can get Greek feta for $5 a pound and get a bottle of French wine for $20.
Why? Globalization, that's why. My only message is that we have to start thinking and acting like members of the human race. Ask hard questions, don't take shit for granted, and look at the beautiful world around you. What do you want the world to look like another 150 years?