what does the future hold for you in IT?

Snow.bros

Just wanted to find out if many of you have find a home in the IT industry as a career.

There is no doubt that IT is growing and expanding as time goes and that there are many job opportunities for anyone in every field of IT and that there is high demand for it in the working environment.

But in my own point of view I think in the next 9-12 years this industry will have less job opportunities, I think this industry is getting over crowded and will affect our employment opportunities in the future.
We are still looking at the issues of fake certs, paper certs and all the illegal ways of obtaining certification, when I think of these kind of issues the question that comes to my mind is, doesn't make it easy for anyone with zero qualification to get job a over a person who is in fact qualified for the job?

Are we going to be fighting to keep our jobs and fighting to stay employed with the fact that if you lose your job it would take you months or years to find the next job or you might not find employment ever again?

I just think if somethings pays a lot of money and its easy to get into don't you think that many people will want to get into it?

What's your own point of view, do you think I am over reacting or I am putting too much unnecessary thought into it or I am just not informed enough?

I don't know what you think but I think the future of IT does not look good at all.

networker050184

I definitely think you are over reacting. The days of a certification alone getting you a job are over. People are easily weeded out with technical interviews. Technology moves so fast there will always be a need for smart people staying on top of their game. If you sit stagnant with the same skills you learned 10 years ago then of course the jobs will pass you by.

zxbane

I agree with networker, while certifications help with employment opportunities, they aren't the only variable involved. Experience comes into play and is often verified through technical interviews and reference/employment verification. I think your concerns are a bit unfounded.

Asif Dasl

I personally think the future for IT is bright. The population is growing in most parts of the world, therefore we need extra people in all types of careers. We need lower skilled people just as much as we need higher skilled people. But everyone has a choice to be higher skilled and achieve a higher wage.

If people braindump exams they will get caught out in the interview process when they meet higher skilled workers. Choosing to be higher skilled directly benefits yourself, so I would ignore the fact that people braindump exams because there is nothing you can do to stop it but "outgun" the opposition with your knowledge.

Employers will always want competent individuals, certified or not, with a degree or not. But competition is the name of the game for any job you go for, and lower skilled jobs have significantly more competition for jobs than higher skilled jobs.

So I think you are over-reacting a little, keep steady on the course towards MCSE & CCNA and I think you will find many opportunities open up to you.

Snow.bros

I have read a post about HR people not employing the qualified people to do the job, isn't that one of the issues we are facing?

I have never been in an interview but I get the idea that an interviewee has to do whatever necessary to sell himself/herself but I have met people who a a little research and if you would ask them to sell themselves the only offer you would have would be buy.

And people with people skills over technically skilled peoplo are more likely to be employed because the technically skilled person has the inability to sell himself/herself.

networker050184

HR people aren't going to be doing the technical screening. They may do a personality screening and background check, but that's about it.

gorebrush

You have to make your own way in this career. I think if you are someone who likes to bumble along just doing it as a day job then you'll be ok, but I think competition is far more fierce in the IT industry than it was say, 10 years ago.

Personally - I don't just have an IT career - it has been my life! I've been into IT since I was 4, and I'm 31 now. I've got years and years of experience and a drive to progress forward. Becoming a Network/Systems Design Architect is kinda where I want to head, covering Servers, Networking and Virtualisation platforms. I'm an MCSE of 8 years, and currently going for the CCIE which rounds off two expert level qualifications.Well, maybe not the MCSE so much but I did invest a lot of time and effort into that

People who are just sat down waiting for things to happen may well find opportunities passing them by - but those who keep up with technology and are good at it will always have a job in my opinion.

puertorico1985

Paper tigers are still around, but I believe that employers are catching on to what is really happening in the IT industry. Employers are now using technical interviews to weed out those that appear to be qualified but are only so on paper. This is a step in the right direction and this method will need to be employed industry-wide to begin to make a difference in IT. If all employers would start to use technical interviews, we would see individuals cut down on getting certs without the knowledge or experience that the piece of paper allegedly brings.

philz1982

I think the future of IT is non-traditional roles. IT is becoming centric to Smart Systems. As such, I meet with IT folks who now need to understand how their HVAC, Security, and Lighting Systems work. The traditional career paths will still exist, but the easy way to money will be converging two focus areas and building a SI (System Integrator) role for yourself, although not in the traditional SI role we all imagine.

E Double U

Future of IT...outsourced to Brazil and India (well at least my former employer).

I've been in IT for a decade now and it has been good to me. Went from building/installing pc's to working in a NOC, config/migrations, SOC, and now Info Sec at a bank. My current employer has invested in me allowing me to complete CCNP Security and now working on CISSP. After that I'm considering CCIE Security or CEH. I plan on moving up in the field like I've been doing. I'm not sure what the future holds, but I'll still try to prepare for it the best I can.

philz1982

E Double U wrote: »

Future of IT...outsourced to Brazil and India (well at least my former employer).

It's very hard to outsource ideation, and consultative solutioning. Anyone can turn a few hundred programmers loose on a problem. It takes local presence, with relational skills to understand a problem and create a solution. If you can build your career around being consultative and customer focused your job will have a higher chance of surviving change.

Jon_Cisco

Snow.bros wrote: »

We are still looking at the issues of fake certs, paper certs and all the illegal ways of obtaining certification, when I think of these kind of issues the question that comes to my mind is, doesn't make it easy for anyone with zero qualification to get job a over a person who is in fact qualified for the job?

People have always and probably will always ****. That has never made them better in the long run it simply gives them an advantage at that moment.

If you are going to look long term at your IT options you need to compare them with your alternatives. I am making a choice to switch into IT because I believe technology will only advance. Companies will always need good employees that work to achieve the desired results. Be good at what you do and you will likely find the opportunities needed to get ahead.

Good Luck

pinkydapimp

philz1982 wrote: »

I think the future of IT is non-traditional roles. IT is becoming centric to Smart Systems. As such, I meet with IT folks who now need to understand how their HVAC, Security, and Lighting Systems work. The traditional career paths will still exist, but the easy way to money will be converging two focus areas and building a SI (System Integrator) role for yourself, although not in the traditional SI role we all imagine.

This. I think too many IT folks focus on the traditional roles when there are so many "non traditional roles" out there. And this where IT is headed. Internal IT staffs will shrink as companies become more dependent on highly available systems and the vendors that sell them. The roles that you should be look at now are those roles with the companies that sell technology. Thats the area thats booming. And you can find a software/hardware company in every area from networking, to mobile, to cloud to security.

These roles pay very well to boot and in such a role working with many different organizations you learn the best and worst practices and start to become the subject matter expert to the organizations you support. Now, most of these roles do require some sort of soft skills so while you dont need a cert in it, i think one of the best things you can do is to improve your speaking ability, and learn to explain technical details to non technical folks. Having those soft skills with strong tech skills will keep you in high demand.

There are many job titles that are in this realm: consultant, field engineer, solutions architect, post sales engineer, pre sales engineer, systems engineer..... And some or more technical, some are less.

And as for those that say, you always need IT in house. thats true, you will need someone in house. but those people will be people that can manage these vendors well and again can do the tech stuff but also understand the business side and how IT presents value to the organization. I dont think IT is going away though. I just think that the days of a traditional IT department are dwindling and those that are just starting in IT need to start investigating other ways to use those tech skills to avoid being stuck in low paying jobs with not much job security for a middle aged IT vet.

Snow.bros

Your points are valid guys thanks for the inputs, my perception about the IT environment have changed now.

Though the main reason for this post is that, I am witnessing a lot of qualified IT professionals with or without experience struggling to find jobs for quiet a long period with no luck and many of them decide to change careers to avoid unemployment plus more people are already moving in into the industry and I am also worried not about applicants only but the HR people who silently employ on the criteria of race, culture, religion (how can we make sure that these factors don't affect your chances of getting employed especially in countries with multiracial, multicultural population like SA and I assume the US as well) and issues such as nepotism, I don't know what your country's policies regarding employment are but you do find some type of corruption within the company sometimes.

Note I am not trying to be negative but I am trying to evaluate what my chance could be if I or someone comes across such issues.

LionelTeo

There is other alternatives to outsourcing, such as relocating and offshoring would yield a balance between control, service and cost cutting. An outsource may suffer from lack of control or plunge of service; relocating part of the business would help in cutting cost but still within the organization control on their employee directly.

In regards to struggles finding jobs, it got to do with individual willingness to upgrade. If one keep upgrading themselves instead of expecting their job to teach them, they would have a better chance; its important to increase oneself flexibility in ability to move between industry, either horizontal or vertical career growth.

In regards to IT Jobs, headcount, from IT Security standpoint, its still growing, with exception that IT shifted around. In the 90s Nokia was the leading phone distributor, now you can see how the game had shifted. The same goes to different fields in IT; programming, networking, database, VMS, IT Security, system administration, and the new mobile programming/security hybrid possible making its entry as a new field along with cloud.

And we should agree that most organization requires IT in some ways, especially banks. Due to the 90s move towards online banking through web application would requires involvement from teams from programming, database, network, system and security team.

The game shift, if the people don't shift to how the new game is being played, they will get outplay by others. You can't possible used the skills learn in the 90s to apply straight on, although there is still legacy system that require them.

One other factor could possibly contributed to employment difficulty would probably due to the number of IT graduates as compare to the number of jobs. While IT is a thriving industry, schools and government may had gauge the number of IT jobs open far less than they expected. Though, we do not have actually statistics to be able to prove that, on overview, automation and technology growth may mean that less people are require for the same job than it used to, but new areas are still continue to expand horizontally in IT where it would requires the organization or individuals to upgrade to fill up the respective areas.

pinkydapimp

I think also adding to the trend of unemployed IT workers is the fact that many dont have a college degree. I get that many folks in IT think "just get certs thats all you need," but that mentality can really hurt you later in your career if you arent careful. And i think we are getting to a place where you need to continuously be learning so many new things. This is why folks want people with a Comp Sci degree as it exhibits that you have the ability to learn and you also have a strong foundation of computer knowledge. There really arent paper comp sci majors.

So want to add some longevity to your career and hedge against having a really tough time finding a job late in your career, get a degree.

philz1982

pinkydapimp wrote: »

Now, most of these roles do require some sort of soft skills so while you dont need a cert in it, i think one of the best things you can do is to improve your speaking ability, and learn to explain technical details to non technical folks. Having those soft skills with strong tech skills will keep you in high demand.

The best 120 dollars I ever spent was for a year membership to Toastmasters. Learning to speak on my feet, and to shift based on the conversation was invaluable. Not tooting my own horn but I had a guy say to me you're one of the few super technical people I have met that can carry on a conversation. Now the reality is I'm really not that great of a speaker, but the good news is my competition, on average, are really bad at speaking and carrying on conversations so improving just a little bit has worked wonders for me.

I will tell you that with 7 years experience I am pulling in a good six-figure income and cert/education-wise I have entry level certs and BS in business.

What Pinky said is vital! I see sooo many organizations, outsourcing IT, and using IaaS or PaaS for their solutions which greatly reduce the need for infrastructure resources.

When I meet with clients, my clients are Fortune 100 businesses, I traditionally see the themes around IT security, Architecting, Consulting, and SI (system integration). There always seem to be a few Sys-Admins, DBA's, and Network folks in the room, but they are paying us big money for (IT security, Architecting, Consulting, and SI (system integration)).

Look at things, like GIS, IBeacon, RTLS. I was on a call with a leading technology building rennovation yesterday. They want to use IBeacon to track tenants via their cell-phones and to use smart plug loads to determine power. They would feed this information into a GIS offering and then use analytics to pinpoint high occupancy areas to drive increased space utilization (more revenue) and to drive tenants to optimizing their use of meeting space. Additionally, as tenants move about the space they could be engaged via geo-location enabled data prompts that drive behavioral and cultural engagement leading to high tenant retention.

Think about this for a second! You can use your IT knowledge to coordinate these systems. Even the really big SI's don't know how to do this very well so the competition and barrier of entry is low, you can learn everything you need to know with google and wikipedia!

Around smart buildings look at these three links:

This is the largest Commercial Real Estate Project in NA EVER and our company, my business unit actually, led the technology contracting.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/14/huge-new-york-development-project-becomes-a-data-science-lab/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
New York's next big neighborhood is its smartest
NYU’s CUSP to Turn Hudson Yards into New York City’s First Smart Development - News - Greensource Magazine

I post these links not to brag, but to educate around some areas you all might want to look into.

philz1982

Snow.bros wrote: »

Your points are valid guys thanks for the inputs, my perception about the IT environment have changed now.

Though the main reason for this post is that, I am witnessing a lot of qualified IT professionals with or without experience struggling to find jobs for quiet a long period with no luck and many of them decide to change careers to avoid unemployment plus more people are already moving in into the industry and I am also worried not about applicants only but the HR people who silently employ on the criteria of race, culture, religion (how can we make sure that these factors don't affect your chances of getting employed especially in countries with multiracial, multicultural population like SA and I assume the US as well) and issues such as nepotism, I don't know what your country's policies regarding employment are but you do find some type of corruption within the company sometimes.

Note I am not trying to be negative but I am trying to evaluate what my chance could be if I or someone comes across such issues.

The best thing, I ever did was to build out a mind map of my internal and external networks. I figured out who I needed to connect to and (this is the key point) how I could help them! As I began to help people, with the intent of simply helping, (I run my blog because I like to educate people), I found that I was getting invited to meetings and being involved in complex projects. These led ultimately to me getting a call December 26th for an internal job interview because one of the people I helped (albeit I didn't know it at the time) was a high-level VP. He essentially sponsored me into my role and the rest is history.

I CANNOT, over-emphasize the criticality of relationships, internal sponsors, and social media influence! If you have any questions around building out a blog or building out internal and external relationships send me a PM I'd love to help where I can.