Prospective college computer majors have been fleeing to other majors, since the real skills associated with a future in information technology look less like those one needs from a four-year or longer computer science program. A recent Computerworld There will also be strong demand for project managers and business analysts, Carter says. "I'm telling my managers if they've got an opening, those are the skills I'm looking for, and that if they need a developer, get a contractor, not an employee." Matloff noted in response that managers once came up through the technical ranks, but that experience isn't even necessary any more. Not all IT jobs are equal, and Matloff pointed out that these types of careers are not going to convince high school seniors to opt for CS majors when a degree in another field will be more applicable to their futures: A job is a job, right? Well, no. First of all, this growth in the "talking" jobs won't induce those students who abandoned Computer Science majors to return... But more importantly, there is the broader implication for the U.S. economy. Technology has been sold to us as the key to a strong economy. Can it really work this way if the actual technological work is being done abroad, and all we do is talk about it? Surely we are not the only nation in the world that can talk. The argument that older Americans in engineering who have lost their jobs due to not knowing the latest software (as well as management's desire to bring in cheap foreign labor) was likewise dismantled by Matloff in a high-tech companies while considering a computer degree as a major. A lot more students may be better off with an econ or business major instead. Tag: Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl Bookmark Murdok: David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
IT Job Future In Talking, Not Coding
3 min read
1 views
Comments (0)
Please sign in to leave a comment.
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!