Sad state of IT industry

[ramirami]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/techno...,7973267.story

Article from todays chicago tribune.....


Computer education is losing some of its class

By Colleen DeBaise, Special to the Tribune. Colleen DeBaise is a freelance writer
Published July 18, 2003

It's not sexy to be a computer geek anymore.

Joelly Serafin, a 31-year-old Web designer, recalls a time in the late 1990s when she was lured by dot-com
dreams. She enrolled in classes to learn about HTML coding and Java script.

"I was hugely attracted to the money possibilities and
had heard so many stories of booming tech
companies and their lax work policies," said the Chicago resident. "I wanted to be a part of it."

Now that the Internet bubble has burst, and rattled by
an unsteady work environment, Serafin is going back
to school to become a veterinarian.

"Now I just want to do something meaningful with my
life," she said. It "sounds cheesy, but I really feel that
way."

Gone are the days when students excited by
high-flying start-ups packed into classrooms to learnthe language of computers. Across the nation, top
schools are reporting a decline in enrollment in
computer science courses. At the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, about 20 percent fewer freshmen this spring declared electrical engineering and
computer science as their intended major than in 2001 or 2002.

Locally, schools such as the Illinois Institute of Technology have reported a drop in computing interest as job
opportunities have dried up. At IIT, undergraduate enrollment in computer science, as measured by the number
of credit hours taught, fell 30 percent between spring 2001 and spring 2003.

At Northwestern University, the number of freshmen who plan to become computer science majors dropped
28.5 percent this year compared with last year.

Students are spooked because opportunities such as signing bonuses, stock options, six-digit salaries and
perks like casual dress and bringing pets to work have faded, says Mike Jurs, a spokesman for Waltham,
Mass.-based BrassRing, a provider of recruiting services.

The outlook for IT workers remains bleak. A May 2003 telephone survey of 400 hiring managers by the
Information Technology Association of America found that the predicted demand for IT workers reached a new
low of 493,000 positions over the next 12 months, down from 1.6 million at the start of 2000.

But while the hiring frenzy has disappeared, "absolutely, technology is not going away," Jur says. "It is safe to
say there will always be a need for skilled technology employees."

Professors say some students may be overreacting to the tech bust, as jobs still exist, especially for those who
are talented.

"It used to be the case that six years ago you would get a job if you could spell `Internet,' even with a couple of
typos," said Leo Irakliotis, associate chairman of the computer science department at the University of Chicago."Those days are gone--and it's a good thing, actually."

The job market "has raised the qualification bar for employees," he said. "Those who are well-trained and prepared will find a job."

Grads with computer-related degrees, who a few years ago saw a double-digit increase in starting salaries, continue to be hard hit, however.

A survey released last month by the National Association of Colleges and Employers showed that computer
science graduates' salary offers dropped 4.4 percent from last year to $47,419. The average offer for information
sciences graduates was down 6 percent to $39,787, according to the group.

To make themselves more marketable, many students are combining computer science with other studies,
such as biology or finance, to train themselves for positions in any number of applied fields: bioinformatics,
computational finance, weather modeling and others.

Benjamin Shargel, 24, of Cambridge, Mass., graduated from Northwestern with a computer science degree in
2001. During his senior year he received a job offer from Sapient Corp., a Boston consulting firm, but the offer
was rescinded a few months later when the economy soured.

Multidisciplinary studies

Now, instead of working as an IT consultant, he works for Icosystem Corp. on scientific research projects that
rely heavily on computer programming and software experience. He plans to study next year for his doctorate in
statistical physics.

"For me, computer science has gone from being an end in itself to a means to an end," Shargel said.

Employers such as IBM Corp. cite multidisciplinary studies as an attractive feature in job candidates, as
opposed to computer science graduates who have extreme, but perhaps limiting, specializations in Java or
other computer languages.

"The need for people with tech skills, if anything, will increase in the future," said Gabby Silberman, program
director and recruiter at IBM's Center for Advanced Studies.

"Let me qualify that," he said, "by saying we will probably see a new breed of technical person that has
information technology skills but is well-rounded in other fields."

In Chicago, the job market for IT workers is starting to improve, says Gabriel J. Velazquez, senior technical
recruiter for TEKsystems Inc., who places IT consultants with medium to large companies in the area.

The economic slowdown forced businesses to scale back, but as budgets expand and new projects are approved, companies will again turn their eyes toward workers with computer science skills, he said.

At the same time, some businesses have begun to send IT work overseas, to take advantage of cheaper labor
in such places as India, says Scott Farley, business resource manager for Computer Resource Solutions Inc.
an Itasca technology consulting firm. "It's very much threatened our industry," he said.

Opportunities available

Still, he believes opportunities will always be available for U.S.-based tech workers. "With companies,
technology is always going to drive the ability to reach customers quicker, faster, more conveniently," said Farley.

He suggests that more programs are needed at the high school level to pique students' interest again in computer science.

Although schools have reported a drop in enrollment, the numbers of students who want to major in computer
science is returning to normal--rather than swollen--levels.

"Like most departments we were barely able to keep up with the demand," said Edward Reingold, chairman of IIT's computer science department. "Since we were greatly understaffed before, we're now only slightly understaffed."

[florida_guy]

Originally posted by ramirami
http://www.chicagotribune.com/techno...,7973267.story

Article from todays chicago tribune.....

Thanks for posting the interesting article ramirami.

[RipRocK]

ramirami, thanks for this post. It was no big secret that the IT field's been experiencing hard times. I know a few people who graduated a couple of years ahead of me who went to work for Nortel and were laid off about a year ago and they came back here and been working here and there. When they were off to Ottawa, I was intensely envious of them at the time.

The days of 75K/yr for HTML coders, the summer interns getting stock options, obtaining millions of venture capital with just a few slides of Power Point sldies is long gone, not that I was ever part of it. By the time I got my CS degree, the fizzle, let alone the bubble was hard to find in the IT industry and had to settle for being a glorified filing cabinet maintainer (DB Developer). I think the IT market, as with anything else, inevitably had to succumb to or be corrected by the economic reality.

[kemosabe]

Originally posted by RipRocK


[ S N I P P E D ]

The days of 75K/yr for HTML coders [ . . . ] is long gone, not that I was ever part of it.

[ S N I P P E D ]

Our hidden cameras catch up with RipRocK on the streets of Edmonton, eh?

[RipRocK]

Originally posted by kemosabe
Our hidden cameras catch up with RipRocK on the streets of Edmonton, eh?

[RLumpy]

"Like most departments we were barely able to keep up with the demand," said Edward Reingold, chairman of IIT's computer science department. "Since we were greatly understaffed before, we're now only slightly understaffed."

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Amusing anecdote: I went to school with Ed Reingold at IIT back in the sixties. He was a computer geek back then, sneaking time on the IBM punch-card computer in the Physics Department. He had a '53 Chevy that we borrowed, to go get pizza and beer in Chicago.

Didn't even have Hondas back then, except for motorcycyles. I had a little Honda 50cc machine that I used to go see my girlfriend, now she drives the Pilot.