Future of Network and Programming Careers 1

[mmt4331]

I have a question here:

I am looking to make a career change (currently, I am a Shift Supervisor in mainframe operations) and I'm trying to
decide whether to go into network or programming (web development).

I heard that a lot of programming jobs will be shipped over seas in the next five years. In fact, just yesterday, IBM announced that they will transferring white collar jobs to India. So my question is this:

How does the future look for networking(Lan Specialist for example)? And how about programming (Visual Basic and web development)? Thanks.

Mark

 

[venkman]

well, I'm no expert, but my guess would be that if you were to choose programming, don't waste your time with VB and web development. It is exactly those kind of lower level programming jobs that are being shipped off. You'll probably have better job security if you learn C++/Java and maybe get a degree (see the thread on higher education for discussions there).

Networking jobs are probably the opposite. The low level stuff requires on site work usually, so it is unlikely to be exported. The higher end stuff can probably be done through remote logins and will most likely get exported.

I haven't thought this through all the way, and I fully encourage others to disagree... or agree, but what's the fun in that.

-Venkman

 

[dvannoy]

You may have a problem trying to jump into the IT field without having experience in the field. But if you still want to get into it, I would have to say security and wireless would be a very good choice. see, since the .COM days when everyone and there mom's were trying to get into IT, it changed things. I think now IT will seperate the BIG BOYS from the BOYS. what I mean is, a company would rather have someone with years of experience then someone without. Unless you get a IT manager that would be willing to give you a break.

as far as exporting IT??? who knows??

 

[dwarfthrower]

If you want to go into the programming side of things, I'd suggest steering clear of the 'bandwagon' environments where everyone has jumped aboard and created a huge glut of programmers (HTML, VB, C++, Java). Have a look at something more esoteric like Domino where people with the skills are hard to come by, but there is plenty of work.

 

[RiverGuy]

He already said he works in mainframe operations, so its not as though he has no clue what IT is.

I think both careers will be around. Yeah, maybe IBM will export some jobs. But the non-IT company who does in-house development/systems design/networking isn't going to pay someone in India to do that. Especially langugues like VB. That's THE language of in-house development.

 

[dilettante]

My view of where things are going is a bit different.

I see the VB/Web level activities being viewed more as a basic office skill, just like everyone is supposed to be fairly fluent in using word processors, spreadsheets, and email/groupware clients. The jobs dedicated to this sort of development activity will still exist in places, but they will become lower and lower paid jobs as time goes on.

More serious development for the web seems to be breaking down to:

* Paper-based "project manager" types of roles (no real web skills at all)

* Some in-house people to maintain static web pages, prepare images for the web, pull reports from web server logs and such at low pay

* Web application programmers (where the programming is shipped offsite if not offshore)

Sort of the same thing seems to be happening in the "tech" arena. A lot of people are moving to preinstalled commodity boxes you just unpack and plug in. Less and less real troubleshooting or repair is being done. The result is that box & cable jockey jobs will also continue to drop in pay. We'll probably see fewer and fewer high-dollar "server admin" type jobs because NOSs and email servers are much simpler to deal with than they were in 1988.

There will still be a good number of higher-paying high-skill IT jobs domestically, but the numbers will be far less than the press and educators led us and "the corporate public" to believe.

The better paying C++/Java jobs are still out there right now, but these require a lot more skills than just knowing a programming language. I think this is why so many such jobs seem to be open compared to others. The shortage we have is in skilled developers, often with specific, intimate knowledge of large, expensive application suites for order-entry, inventory, process-control, CRM, and the like. Employers also want experience in their line-of-biz along with background in UML tools, change-management tools, project management tools, middleware technologies, specific DBMS products, and other things that won't be covered in a semester or two of community college.

A big factor in employer expectations is that they feel they're in a buyer's market. A lot of employers are quite happy to live with the work contracted out until they find the right guy at the right price-point to bring on board.

Other views?

 

[RiverGuy]

I totally disagree with the above post though. Sure, it might be considered a basic office skill in the future to save a Word doc as an HTML page, or create a simple, static page in FrontPage and upload it to a server.

There is no way to even conceivably think that developing applications in languages such as VB will be a common Office Skill. If it did, then it would be a sad day.

If you need a data-aware application, and have the office generalist code an application for you to enter, update and view data, then good luck to all those using it. There is no way everyone in the office is going to know how to optimize connections and statments, classes, collections, etc.

Moreover, the software is requiring more skilled users and/or requirements are becoming more intense. For example: I'm sure someone could could pick up on VB much more quickly than VB.Net if they were required to do so. And VB 6 isn't going to be around forever.

Similarily, the day everyone in the office is supposed to know how to write a web service to use in conjunction with dynamic web pages is the day I find a new place to work.

It is true--C++ and Java jobs do pay more than VB or web development. But there is a lot less of them right now, and there will continue to be a lot less in the future.

It seems to me that the growing perception is that the increasing artificial intelligence in software will negate all special, proprietary and ad hoc development that must occur.

I'm sorry, but there will never be a product where you can pick a couple options and have a robust, streamlined, do-it-all solution for your business. And businesses are never going to start paying people twice as much to code a C++ program that requires 5 times the development time as a VB application just because it might load up a couple milliseconds faster.

You forget as well that development skills--according to you that in the future everyone from secretaries to accountants must possess--do not automattically encapsulate the human foresight as to what is needed, and what a system needs to do.

You may expect office people to assume the role of IT/Systems Development, but that doesn't mean that they are going to know how to solve a problem with a tool such as a programming language.

RAD languages such as VB were never intended to be used by the casual user without and understanding of programming/development concepts.