Despite redundancies and cutbacks, Bill Goodwin finds that the vast
majority of people working in IT are happy with their lot,
according to this year's Computer Weekly/DP Connect survey.
The past few years have not been easy for people working in IT. The
good times of the dotcom boom now seem a distant memory. Employers
have cut their IT departments back to the bone, laying off talented
contractors and highly-skilled permanent staff.
Against this backdrop you could be forgiven for thinking that IT is
a gloomy place to be right now. Not a bit of it. A major new piece
of research shows that, despite everything, IT professionals are
still optimistic about the future. They are proud of what they do,
enjoy their work and do not want to swap IT for another
profession.
The Working in IT 2003 study, conducted by Computer Weekly and IT
and communications recruitment specialist DP Connect, quizzed more
than 600 IT professionals about their work, interests, hopes and
fears. The survey, one of the largest of its kind, shows IT as a
confident profession that has weathered storms but still sees a
bright future ahead.
That is not to say the downturn has not created its problems. Of
the respondents, 50% believe that their organisations have been
damaged by cuts in IT spending. They complain of pay freezes,
project deferrals and having to spend more and more time
maintaining out-of-date networks and systems.
According to 54%, morale in their department has suffered as a
result of staff cutbacks and redundancies and 25% say they know of
a significant number of IT colleagues who have left the profession
for good. The word fire-fighting comes up frequently in the
responses and some admit to spending sleepless nights worrying
about their jobs. "We keep looking over our shoulder to see who is
next," is one comment.
Contractors are much more worse off than permanent staff, according
to 75% of the respondents. One contractor says he has seen the
inside of more job centres than server rooms over the past five
years. And some permanent staff say they are worried that falling
contractor rates could put their own jobs at risk.
Yet most IT professionals are not deterred, with 66% believing that
the profession has a secure, long-term future. The industry may
suffer from cyclical ups and downs, but most of those surveyed
believe IT is here to stay. "If you keep your skills up-to-date and
pick the right technologies to train in, the sky is the limit,"
says one respondent.
Despite the current problems, 75% of IT professionals who took part
in the survey say they are proud to tell their friends they work in
IT. "My friends know what I do and how good I am at my job," says
one. "I am a geek and proud of it," says another.
With few exceptions, IT professionals genuinely seem to enjoy their
work. Job satisfaction motivates 60% and only 15% are moti-vated by
money. One respondent says, "To get up in the morning and look
forward to work has got to be a major benefit towards improving
quality of life."
Only 34% say they are planning to use their IT skills to move into
an unrelated career. In general, IT professionals are more likely
to want to move into a different field of IT. The public sector is
the most popular, followed by finance and then IT professional
services. Quite a few people say they quite fancy the travel
industry "for the free holidays".
Apart from a few diehards who live and breathe their jobs, the last
thing most want to do outside of work is more IT. Family life is
listed by 36% of the respondents as their most passionate interest.
Others are interested in watching and playing sport, travel and
reading. Only 7% rate computers and the internet as their top
activity. Some 33% admit to harbouring secret fantasies of being a
footballing or sporting hero.
Yet more than 70% of the respondents believe the profession still
suffers from an undeserved geeky image. Mention IT at a party and
people's eyes either glaze over or they ask you for help fixing
their PC. One person says he introduces himself as a dustman at
parties to avoid the inevitable, "Oh, can you help me with a little
problem?" Others relish the chance to use their talents to help
friends out, even suggesting it is a good experience to work on PCs
with non-standard configurations.
Virtually everyone (94%) agrees that good communications skills at
work are at least as important as technical skills. One manager
says that graduates with combined IT and business degrees are now
much more sought after than those with pure IT degrees.
"Communication is the most important aspect of my day-to-day role,"
says one ITprofessional. However, it is still true to say that some
of the best programmers "have the communication skills of a
banana".
On the positive side, the proportion of IT people who think the
industry's poor image is deterring women from the profession has
fallen since the last survey, but only from 41% to 37%. Women
complain that they feel excluded from work social events which
revolve around golf or the pub. Working late and having to travel
at short notice can make family life difficult. Even male IT
professionals agree. "To the general public we are seen as pub
bores who do not really have a life outside the computer screen,"
says one.
Ageism is another concern, with 34% saying that IT is a young
person's profession. A number of those over 40 with good IT and
business qualifications say they are struggling to find work. One
was told that he was over the hill at 39. But many people feel that
their companies are missing a trick by favouring youth over
experience. Youngsters may pick up new technologies more quickly,
but it is the older staff, with their armoury of tried and tested
solutions, that are able to fix problems.
Our survey findings suggest that more people may be deliberately
planning careers in IT, rather than falling into them by accident,
as has happened in the past. This year, 54% say they planned the
move, compared to only 46% in 2001. Many people trace their
interest back to the home computer craze in the 1980s. "When I got
my ZX Spectrum at 16, I knew I was destined to work in computers,"
is typical of the comments we received. Others transferred into IT
from careers as diverse as engineering, nursing or lighting operas.
Overall, despite the current problems, it is clear from our survey
that IT professionals are surprisingly positive about the future.
"The majority of them enjoy their job, are proud of what they do
and do not want to change their career. They are certainly more
upbeat than we expected," says Jan Stevens, corporate services
director at DP Connect. "Without a doubt, the downturn has had an
impact and there have been fewer project opportunities for people
interested in technical challenges. But people are optimistic and
it looks like things are starting to pick up."