Following what has been a tough 18 months for the IT
industry, Maldwyn Palmer contemplated a career change and a move
away from IT.
Having seen most of my friends and colleagues being made
redundant at one time or another but having escaped all the purges
myself, for years I have lived with the fear that this year could
be my last in IT and pondered what I would do afterwards.
Yet, I am still here. I know I have been lucky, much luckier than
many of my colleagues. I am still the person my friends call if
they have a problem with their PC or need advice and, in my
fifties, I am currently helping to design and build a not
insignificant J2EE application for a major corporation.
It is not all over for me with IT - not yet anyway. Hang on in
there, it can still be an exciting place to work.
Mark Vincent, SureTrack development team,
Electronic Services
The downside of all this is that computing science in its purest
form is not at all popular among the student population of
today.
One wonders what will happen in the future. After all, somebody,
somewhere, will have to have specialist knowledge of computer
systems. Or will all the stuff requiring true expertise be done by
robots?
John Donaldson
I too work in IT and at 36 I am on the scrapheap. Although this is
a personal blow, I am pleased that companies have stopped wasting
hundreds of millions of pounds on IT projects that deliver very
little extra efficiency, competitive edge or cost savings.
It is good news that the man on the street is now computer literate
and society as a whole can benefit from the collective increased
efficiency that this will bring.
Moreover, I hope that as a result of this companies will be more
profitable and our pension funds might recover. On the other hand,
if the corporates feel the need to blow more huge sums on some
other "need to have, but don't want to know much about" cause, can
someone please tell me what it is?
Alternatively, I will have to go in search of that million-pound
book/screenplay that I always knew I could write but was too busy
answering calls from cretinous users to get around to.
Simon, Brussels
There are still great efficiencies and savings to be made through
the implementation of good IT strategies that are closely related
to business needs. If we are truly to keep IT alive we should not
walk away but use our brains to identify where we can further save
our customers or employers money through the use of technology. The
future is alive and well, it is simply time to justify our
existence.
Phil Larkin
Every one should adapt to changing environmental conditions and
circumstances. The least intelligent animals in the wild do this
naturally.
IT is changing rapidly, and this fact is obvious for all to see.
New cutting-edge technologies are emerging almost daily, and it is
down to the individual to stay ahead of the race and adapt
accordingly.
Due to the vast array of new technologies, it takes even the
brightest of us hours to gain the required knowledge - time we do
not have in today's marketplace. The older and more experienced
should sell their skills to companies direct, thereby cutting the
commission paid to agencies.
The days of excess are over, companies have seen their revenue drop
significantly over the past two years, and would prefer to train on
the cheap. Older, experienced IT gurus should go out and approach
companies.
Lower IT costs are what is driving companies to to India and other
former Eastern European countries.
Chris King
IT - thank you and goodbye
Read article >>