Thread: IT as an occupation?

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

No 2 son has just lodged his QTAC application for 2015. From those of you in the game, what are you thoughts about going into IT?

Money, opportunities, happiness, security of employment (Not in that order).

He's always been good at IT at school and has done Math B & C, IT and physics in senior.

His QTAC preferences are:

Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Information Technology
Bachelor of Engineering/Bachelor of Information Technology
Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Electronic and Computer Engineering

At the GU open day a few weeks ago the presenter said there were 1800 457 visas issued for IT last financial year. His point was of course that there are job in the industry.

I think with international outsourcing, and the ability to seek jobs anywhere in the world, the bubble has burst some time ago for the whiz-bang high paying jobs that you hear about. These types of jobs may allow him to bring his inherent skill to what may be a non-traditional IT role.

Our IT dept has a very high proportion of English as a second language employees - possibly 80%. I've wondered is it due to poor pay or conditions that these people are willing to accept (that 'Aussies' won't) or they were simply the best candidates. I must say, it seems to be a very dreary place to visit - lots of faces staring at screens in small cubicles.

Perhaps advise him that so many other fields allow you to have exposure to IT type tasks - what office job these days don't you have your face stuck in a screen?

Also, many IT jobs are nothing like you learn in school or at home - the opportunity to cover a little bit of everything, with the ability to focus on what you enjoy. The IT field is so broad, that you could be cutting code all day for some really boring goal, to working at Google or Apple 'changing the world'. Unless you're looking at management, you'll probably need to specialise.

Not to say every company is like that, but if were up to me, I'd only be interested in working in our IT dept if I was in a management/decision making role.

I could go on and on...

Been in IT nearly 40 years, great job and career if you can pick up a job. Issue as you rightly said is the amount of outsourcing in Australia, primarily to India. To put it into perspective a fellow IT work mate, a high caste Indian that I have worked with for 25 years, said a couple of years ago its getting to the point where he needed to send his 2 boys (both doing IT at Uni) back to India to get a job in Australia !! So its a lot harder to get a job as it once was, but there are still jobs, but a lot more competition. A lot of IT people I have worked with have moved successfully into business jobs.

Another way to look at it, is that IT has become part of lots of jobs, so its a great skill to have behind you. Mix it with a management degree, or sales and marketing, or an engineering degree or ..... something else he may be interested in and it gives a lot more flexibility into the job market.

Money - comparatively IT pays well
Opportunities - harder than it was, once experienced though the USA and the Middle East do like Aussie IT people
Happiness - yep, but you need to do the hard yards and get lots of experience in different roles; support, development, architecture, technology
Security of employment - not like it was, however if you are good then just chase the jobs/work, be prepared to travel

Good luck for your son.

Go look into financial IT areas, some of the basic stuff is being sent os but with it growing and everyone wanting customisation there is a large area in that field. Another area to look at is health, with that sector growing they need locals who can do what is needed for that situation. My brother is in IT in health and my BIL is in financial/super fund IT.

White D3,,

Is he going into IT because he thinks he will make lots of money doing it... or because he has a genuine passion for the subject.

If the former...forget it. If the later, chances are he will be good at it and find a way to make a good living.

I run a small IT department of 8 staff (Mix of infrastructure and development roles) in a non IT company (Marketing organisation.).
The IT people that do very well in our business are those that:
a) Have a real passion for what they do.
b) Can communicate well with non technical people as well as computer systems.
c) Remember that IT is there to support business processes in most cases ...sometimes it's what the business needs that is important rather than the best technical way to do something.

Good luck with it.... It's a challenging time in a kids life. I've got one that started Architecture at Uni this year.. only to decide after great results in semester one...that she doesn't want to be an architect... All we can give them is guidance and support.... after that it's up to them...

Not in IT myself but deal with several large IT organisations regularly and have a lot of friends/relatives in it. Most people I know have changed jobs on average every 2-3 years - sometimes through choice other times without.

The low level/entry level stuff like tech support/sys admin/install has low pay and low job security.

More job security and more interesting work (if not a lot more money) can be found in areas like HPC (supercomputing) and other niche fields.

In the past there has been a lot of high paying positions in industries selling (specialised technical) software or mining hardware+software to the mining industry, however these are drying up to some extent.

If he is passionate about it, the key is to develop skills needed by some of these non-mainstream areas - e.g. C++ , OpenMPI, etc, etc...

All the guys doing standard stuff in windows and java are the ones getting outsourced....

EDIT: I would recommend doing an Elec/mechatronic/compter systems/microelectronic engineering degree with or without a double degree in IT. This will give a wider range of employment opportunities later.

I worked for an automation company that decided after I was gone that mechatronics engineers would be the hot ticket. They've found out those guys don't have enough mechanical or electrical knowledge to do either well. They are now back to hiring mechanical or electrical engineers.

It doesn't matter which engineering discipline you study these days. You will be immersed in computer coding if you want to be.

Originally Posted by WhiteD3

No 2 son has just lodged his QTAC application for 2015. From those of you in the game, what are you thoughts about going into IT?

I've been in IT since around 1980, and tried most things in the industry. I'd say if he can do a decent engineering degree, he should go for that. Do some IT along with it - it's good to understand IM and IT, given the way the world is going these days - but don't rely on it as a career option. It is getting ever more competitive.

Wish I had never got into IT.
I look longingly at so many trades who actaully get away from a desk and make something worthwile. Physically engineering something.