Delete comment from: Captain Capitalism
Well, I agree with the concept, but, the last damned career you want is an IT career. Sure, it paid pretty darned good in the 90s. Too good. So, I was a bit disappointed when I went to it in the 2000s. You see, a bunch of companies got together and decided Americans were getting paid too much. So, they told congress they needed to import help because Americans were too stupid to be IT people. Forget what we did in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. We were now too stupid. So, MS, IBM, HP, and the rest told congress and INS that we needed to import about 100,000 people a year specific for computer related jobs. H1Bs in visa vernacular. I've heard about, but have never seen, some of them going back home. So, now, over the course of time, if you're in the computer biz, you're competing with an additional million people for a job. Which is fine. If you're any good, you'll have a job. It just won't pay anything. Simple supply and demand.
Mind you, this isn't a career where you just get a degree and call it. You can't. The crap you learn in college was dated the day you learned it. First of all, those who can do...so consider what your instructors teach. But, secondly, you can't print text books fast enough to keep up. So, any degree is either worthless, or simply a validation of knowledge one already possessed. But, again, that's not nearly enough. As an IT pro, you're expected to be on the cutting ... bleeding edge of tech, and be an expert at it. From how come the latest I-gizmo won't do something to how come the DBIV database won't talk to the Oracle db, and how oh how are you going to, once you get that fixed on a Unix box, are you going to get it on a Win server with MS sequel so all can play with it? And, how come when I put the latest Win OS on my box my screen won't scroll when I touch it like it does on TV?
In the mean time one of the H1Bs wrote a really cool program which he needs some help with.... too bad you don't speak his dialect of English. You can't understand a damned word he says. But, his buddy back home does and he'll work for 1/2 of what you are. Did I mention H1Bs are obligated to stay with their sponsor company?
If you want a wonderfully challenging career which constantly keeps you on your toes, and expands your knowledge exponentially, with almost no financial reward beyond a factory worker, with no job security, and when you do gain great victories and innovate, no one will remember beyond a few months, because what you did then, everyone is doing now, then IT is for you!!!
Okay, because that sounds bitter, I'll leave this with any wannabe IT person. It's simple but, worth keeping in your mind. As an IT person you will constantly be asked to fix things. In all things techy, in order for them to work you must have two things. Power and data. Know both. Where they both come from and how they matriculate through the system. If you do, then you can identify the source of every problem.
Jul 4, 2013, 6:52:12 AM
Posted to From Our Father Agent in the Field