Not enough IT workers?

Last Updated on April 17, 2017 by Dave Farquhar

His Billness claims he can’t find enough IT workers. I think this is more posturing so he can get more visas–it’s cheaper to import labor from the Far East than to outsource, I guess.

I don’t see this shortage he’s talking about. Billy needs to read what I’m reading: unemployment is up and salaries are down in the IT field.

If he can’t find the workers he needs among the 2005 graduates, it seems to me he needs to be looking at the people who have a bit more seasoning.

And when the unemployment rate among IT workers is higher than the national average and salaries are decreasing in the face of increasing cost of living, do you think that might have something to do with why the dean of engineering and applied science at Princeton sees fewer people going into that field?

I just came off the job market. Trust me, it’s not like your phone rings every hour with a job offer or even an interview.

Either the situation is extremely different on the programming side than it is on the sysadmin side, or Gates isn’t seeing (or refuses to see) the whole picture.

If you found this post informative or helpful, please share it!

4 thoughts on “Not enough IT workers?

  • July 19, 2005 at 12:17 pm
    Permalink

    Arfa Karim Randhawa should be given a extended contract. Gates has little chance of finding this level of intelligence at Pakistani prices. He’s lucky that he came in second to Disneyland. Most people schedule him shortly after root canal. The meds last a couple of hours.
    I believe that as China opens, American IT will close. If it can be hauled off, American capitalists will.

  • July 19, 2005 at 12:46 pm
    Permalink

    Well, I’m on the "programming" side of the industry. The market has seemed to warm a bit over where it was a couple of years ago, but the salaries have stagnated. In fact, a recent IEEE salary survey showed the median slipping. This was over all electronics-related industries, not just software, but that should only be of more concern.

    As for outsourcing, there’s been more resistance in software circles. This is anecdotal stuff, but I’ve heard of several projects basically being redone when the code written overseas came back a bit "lacking" in quality. Seems that you get what you pay for in software, too.

    • July 19, 2005 at 10:02 pm
      Permalink

      Surely this is because of their education and not their intelligence? They will retrain and quickly come back.
      Outsourcing effects not only IT workers, it also replaces workers at McDonalds. Roll up to the callbox and place your order with a person in India. Drive up to the window and pick it up. All this, thanks to the computer.
      Somebody better figure out something quick.

  • July 19, 2005 at 10:59 pm
    Permalink

    When I was changing careers to IT I thought that programming was more likely to be outsourced than sys admin work. Of course most of my work is performed remotely even if remote means via ssh from 100′ away.

    There is more of a preference that you be able to lay your hands on the hardware on occasion, whereas all programming can be done from pretty much anywhere. But of course if they are willing to locate the whole operation overseas it doesn’t make much difference whether you’re a programmer or sys admin.


    -Steve

Comments are closed.