I hate to tell you this, but that's true of every job out there that is a commodity.
By definition, a luxury job is just that - it adds an extra "WOW" to a company.
IT has moved into the commodity market. You might argue there are the few interesting overachieving individuals, and I'd point you to the Lamborghini, the Ferrari, and possibly the Rolls Royce's of the world. And then I'd tell you that will find achievers in every field.
That doesn't change the fact that IT is a commodity. Every company must have it to survive, and just as someone else said, by and large most all the tools you'll find are no more "specialized" that a ball-peen hammer in a carpenter's belt.
I have no fantasies. I am a mechanical engineer (a good one) and am in the same position. I see positions being filled by any type of engineer, when the best person to fill it would be mechanical. Why? Because engineering isn't a luxury. We're a dime a dozen, just like IT Professionals.
Don't fool yourselves. The number of incredibly talented IT folks any one company needs is extremely low. They need a large group of people with diversified skills for IT MAINTENANCE. Not IT Expertise.
The sooner IT "professionals" realize it, the better. 10 years ago, it was a luxury. 5 years ago, it was still somewhat a luxury.
Now? Sorry guys - it's a commodity. The supply of IT workers is much higher than the demand, and that leads to dropping prices and an empahsis on cost and output.
If you want to look at the king of commodity production, look at what the auto companies of Japan have done. Standardization, minimization of cost, outsourcing of all possible components to low cost suppliers.
If you think the Information Technology industry is somehow special, or that it requires some exceptional level of expertise, try again.
Thirty years ago, engineering was a luxury as well. Not any more.
Boy are you full of yourself. Just about any mechanical engineer you can throw a stick at has programming knowledge, and can pick up and program just about anything they need by themselves.
Take a group of CS majors and you'd be lucky to find 1 that has any mechanical common sense, and it'd be a miracle if you found one that design even a simple spaghetti bridge.
Computer programming is EASY. There are branches of it that are more difficult, but those are the branches that are more scientific than anything - test engineers, design (3-dimensional solid and fluid modeling, aerodynimic modeling) etc.
I'm sorry that you don't like hearing that, but it's the case. Yeah, there are some crack programming folks out there who can do some pretty revolutionary things like bit-torrent, etc. But when 99% of the programs that need to be written are the equivalent of batch files and database management.... woo boy.
Mechanical engineers have to take 3 years of computer programming at the school I came from. C, C++, Visual Basic/Delphi, then a number of scripting tools for simulation.
How many heat and mass transfer and fluid dynamic courses do they teach in CS?
Does this mean that people who write "standards", or even specifications that become standard through use, can suddenly patent the whole thing 20 years down the road? I'm thinking CD standards, etc?
And what about cross compatibility of file formats? Can Microsoft force companies that have programs capable of opening, using, and saving in their file formats to pay licenses? Open Office, and others, for instance?
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I hate to tell you this, but that's true of every job out there that is a commodity. By definition, a luxury job is just that - it adds an extra "WOW" to a company. IT has moved into the commodity market. You might argue there are the few interesting overachieving individuals, and I'd point you to the Lamborghini, the Ferrari, and possibly the Rolls Royce's of the world. And then I'd tell you that will find achievers in every field. That doesn't change the fact that IT is a commodity. Every company must have it to survive, and just as someone else said, by and large most all the tools you'll find are no more "specialized" that a ball-peen hammer in a carpenter's belt. I have no fantasies. I am a mechanical engineer (a good one) and am in the same position. I see positions being filled by any type of engineer, when the best person to fill it would be mechanical. Why? Because engineering isn't a luxury. We're a dime a dozen, just like IT Professionals. Don't fool yourselves. The number of incredibly talented IT folks any one company needs is extremely low. They need a large group of people with diversified skills for IT MAINTENANCE. Not IT Expertise.
The sooner IT "professionals" realize it, the better. 10 years ago, it was a luxury. 5 years ago, it was still somewhat a luxury. Now? Sorry guys - it's a commodity. The supply of IT workers is much higher than the demand, and that leads to dropping prices and an empahsis on cost and output. If you want to look at the king of commodity production, look at what the auto companies of Japan have done. Standardization, minimization of cost, outsourcing of all possible components to low cost suppliers. If you think the Information Technology industry is somehow special, or that it requires some exceptional level of expertise, try again. Thirty years ago, engineering was a luxury as well. Not any more.
Boy are you full of yourself. Just about any mechanical engineer you can throw a stick at has programming knowledge, and can pick up and program just about anything they need by themselves. Take a group of CS majors and you'd be lucky to find 1 that has any mechanical common sense, and it'd be a miracle if you found one that design even a simple spaghetti bridge. Computer programming is EASY. There are branches of it that are more difficult, but those are the branches that are more scientific than anything - test engineers, design (3-dimensional solid and fluid modeling, aerodynimic modeling) etc. I'm sorry that you don't like hearing that, but it's the case. Yeah, there are some crack programming folks out there who can do some pretty revolutionary things like bit-torrent, etc. But when 99% of the programs that need to be written are the equivalent of batch files and database management.... woo boy. Mechanical engineers have to take 3 years of computer programming at the school I came from. C, C++, Visual Basic/Delphi, then a number of scripting tools for simulation. How many heat and mass transfer and fluid dynamic courses do they teach in CS?
Does this mean that people who write "standards", or even specifications that become standard through use, can suddenly patent the whole thing 20 years down the road? I'm thinking CD standards, etc? And what about cross compatibility of file formats? Can Microsoft force companies that have programs capable of opening, using, and saving in their file formats to pay licenses? Open Office, and others, for instance?