Contrarian computer careers viewpoint
This updates my article at:

Computer Careers for Not Yet Techies

Since IT employment has been in a terrible slump the last
three years or so, a lot of people may be asking whether or
not it's still worthwhile to pursue computer careers.

Let's think about it this way. The automobile quickly replaced
horses and horse-drawn carriages as the primary mode of
local transportation in the world. (And in a broad sense
I am also including buses, taxis, tuk-tuks, jeepneys and
the other variations of vehicles with engines that exist in the world.)

Yes, horse-drawn carriages still exist. Tilles Park here in
Ladue in St Louis operates carriage tours to see their
decorations in lights every year around Christmas time.
But none of those drivers make a full time living at it.

Probably a few drivers living in tourist attractions such as
Williamsburg VA and maybe even more in Europe make a
full time career out of driving such carriages. Heck, there
are even still men who pull rickshaws in Calcutta India,
but it's obviously not a lucrative or booming career.

So cars are now a huge piece of our daily lives and therefore
the national economy. They have created many thousands
of jobs from sales people to mechanics to gas station clerks etc.

I'd bet that if you could go back to the very early 20th
century you might find many young men pondering
whether it was worthwhile to learn how to fix cars for a
living or to work on Henry Ford's assembly line.

Obviously, although the economy in general and
automobile-connected jobs in particular have gone
up and down, the industry is providing a huge
number of jobs to Americans and others all around the world.

Yes, many auto assembly jobs have been lost from
Detroit, St Louis and other traditional areas to Germany,
Japan, Korea, Mexico and other places. Yet you can't fill
up with gas in Pakistan or get your oil changed in Romania.

Do any of you doubt that there will still be automobile
jobs in the near to fairly distant future? Yes, mechanics
in your grandchildren's old age may have to know more
about how hydrogen-powered engines work, but there's
still going to be a need for mechanics.

I submit the same thing will remain essentially true for
computers. They're going to continue to get smaller and
more powerful and to take on more chores and become
ever more present in our daily lives.

Do you doubt that there are going to be computer careers
available when your grandchildren turn 100?

If not, why worry about them now?

Yes, supply and demand and the general economy will
affect the labor market for techies. It will go up and down
many times. So what's new?

But people not even born yet are going to have great
computer careers, so there's no reason for you to wait for yours.

The best time to get into a field is when it's out of favor. When
the covers of TIME and NEWSWEEK are talking about the
next boom it IT in a few years -- guess what?It'll be too
late then. You need to get in now, get trained now and get
experience now.

That way, you'll be in good position to take full advantage of
the next boom in IT -- before the masses of wannabes.
- posted by RickStooker @ 10:37 AM