Posted on 05/02/2003 1:58:28 PM PDT by Mini-14
When I changed my college major from mechanical engineering to computer science in 1998, I had few reservations about making the switch. After all, the salaries of the two professions were comparable, and IT seemed to be thriving. Unfortunately, my graduation in December 2000 roughly coincided with the crash of the dot-coms and a dip in the economy, which made job searching much more difficult. No fear, I thought, I have an academic record that will impress employers and help me stand out among job candidates. I had graduated magna cum laude, made the dean's list multiple times, won awards for academic excellence -- and no one seemed to care. The liability of my inexperience seemed to outweigh any advantage that a solid academic background provided. The slowing of the economy has left many experienced IT professionals looking for jobs, and companies have their choice of workers with proven track records. This means decreased opportunities for entry-level programmers with resumes heavy on skills and education and light on job history. Illustrating this fact are the employers and headhunters who call to express interest in the skills I have listed on my resume online. One of their first questions is, "How much experience do you have?" Answering this potentially damning question with honesty usually ensures no future correspondence. The lack of opportunities made me increasingly worried, and in September 2001, I committed an act of desperation. I had been job searching by myself and through employment agencies for almost eight months when I accepted a knowledge management position at a government agency in Washington, where living expenses are high and the pay is low. The job was part intern/part employee and kept me on the periphery of working with IT (checking e-mail was my sole interaction with computers). After six months in the program, I decided to return home and earnestly look for opportunities in software development, the area of most interest to me. Searching online job sites yielded few possibilities for someone with my level of experience; I fared better by contacting hiring managers directly. After three months of research and many phone calls to managers, I landed a job as a Web developer at a struggling e-learning company. But after being told almost every week for six months that the office might not be open the following week, I was searching for another job by December 2002. During this time, I had also enrolled in a graduate program, thinking that another degree might help me find a job. However, since starting the program, I have considered the possibility that even this move may not help, because there are factors affecting the job market that are beyond my control. For instance, the controversial H-1B and L-1 visa programs exacerbate the situation by importing foreign IT workers, placing them in direct competition with American workers for jobs. This, by far, is the most disturbing discovery to me. Abuse of these programs is obvious, and their necessity escapes me. My heart sinks when I read stories about IT workers such as those at Siemens in Lake Mary, Fla., who were replaced by L-1 visa workers and made to train their replacements. The matter is compounded by the trend of sending IT jobs offshore, as summed up in the ominous proclamation of Ann Livermore, HP's services chief, when she stated, "We're trying to move everything we can offshore," in an interview in a December 2002 Forbes article. Taking these things into account, I am convinced that the IT industry is being undermined. This point was driven home as I sat with the head of the computer science department at my university and we spoke about the scarcity of IT jobs. "I shouldn't be saying this, because I am from India," he said, "but India has really prospered through this." I told him that I was aware of all the outsourcing, but he explained that companies such as Microsoft were going a step further and setting up shop in India. Then he reassured me that creative IT jobs such as research would be safe in the U.S., but he corrected himself midstream by saying that GE was in the process of constructing a research center in India. Finally, he punctuated his remarks by saying, "It's been a tough three years," an understatement with which I emphatically agree. Donald Finley is a computer science graduate student and a graduate assistant in Tennessee. Contact him at dcf1922@yahoo.com.
Start you own firm is probably the best advice.
My main gripe is I don't think corporations should able to use residence (if not citizenship) as a perk to attract everyday talent. If were talking top of their field guys that's one thing I suppose, but average talent, no way.
As for Donald's plight, even without H1B or the sagging economy, the programmer market is unusual in that anyone (who has the $ and desire) can get a PC, buy a book and a relatively cheap compiler (if not free) and teach themselves. Even after he get's his first real IT job, he'll have to keep re-training to keep up with the latest stuff or risk being pushed aside by someone who has. You basically have to make your own oppotunities and even more so in the current environment.
As someone mentioned, maybe he should've been a plumber. Once you learn $#it runs down hill, you've got it, right? No offense to that profession intended ;-)
You don't like management deciding to spend an extra 300 million dollars on stock buy back instead of buying a new ACD phone system. "I"m sorry Raji, but we can't renew your visa, you may have to go back to tim buck 2. Now, what were you saying about that ACD system again?"
leverage.
it's all about leverage. price (cheaper) and power (more of it).
Remember, we are talking about vertical applications - these are not programs like Microsoft Word, but software that is customized for the specific needs of a given company.
An example: changes in the law. Programs that calculate tax payments or human resources forms often have to be modified many times a year to keep up with legislation that the Barbara Boxers of the world implement without even considering their impact. The Patriot Act mandated the development of a huge amount of new reporting software for most financial firms. Changes in the law amount to a huge, hidden tax on many companies, because they have to adapt their IT infrastructures to accomodate new legal requirements.
And of course there is the routine stuff like growth in the size of the business that has to be accounted for.
Programmers displaced rooms full of clerical types in the 60's and 70's, now we are ourselves being displaced by foreign labor. Everything has its day in the sun, and the generic IT professional's day is coming to an end.
And what about taxi drivers? With all the foreigners driving taxis, what's a new philosophy Phd supposed to do?
The jury is still out on that one.
Did the US citizens turn in equal or better work than the foreigners?
Until the move to outsource to cut costs gained steam in the year 2000 the US IT worker had the reputation of producing a far superior product that was worth teh higher cost. the conversion of many systems to handle the Y2K problem was outsourced for much of the scut work and it was deemed of sufficient quality that adequate code (product) could be gotten by moving offshore. Now, since companies see the cost cuts for the low end work and they hear promises about the high end work they are moving their systems work now plus with the H1b workers they have far superior control over these employees because if they were to let one go he/she is out of the country.
H1B workers who had been continuously employed find themselves looking for work when they get a green card.
If education can't get you a job, who needs education? If Republicans don't want Americans to be employed at a decent standard of living, how long before Republicans are the most hated of all earthly creatures?
Hillary will ride in as president and she will do it on the jobs issue. You can't debate free-trade economics with a voter who can't pay the rent or buy groceries.
Talk about irony .... I think my friend actually turned that job down :)
You might want to consider the possibility of her lying to get your vote.
I remember someone asking me that same question 20 years ago. A lot has changed though some things have not. There are many companies still running 30 year old mainframe programs. One of the biggest reasons for software changes is to meet customer requests. A return on investment is not a factor, making or stealing sales from a competitor is the point. Another big reason is when software and hardware vendors stop supporting old versions to force an upgrade and more sales. These same vendors sell buggy products on purpose to plant the seeds of future sales, Microsoft being an example. Sometimes a company upgrades to prevent a competitor from gaining a possible advantage, or to support an executive's ambitions, marketability, or ego. Many IT workers want to play with the latest toys, want themselves to stay employable since few new projects involve old technology. Dirt cheap hardware increases demand for doing more and more with computers. On the other hand there are a large percentage of IT workers that build job security into their work. They make systems overly complex which then break a lot and require constant attention. Often the oldest systems are the worst, no one can figure out how they work so they don't get upgraded. There are many forces going on why IT workers stay employed.
Damn, I would have taken that job in a heart beat!
But they wouldn't have hired me because I am--(one of those ethnic/racial/religious/gender persons that they don't allow over there)
Why can't I sue for discrimination?
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