Future of Computing Profession
The IT environment has changed dramatically and we should expect to see more changes in the future, if what we have witnessed in the past is anything to go by. We cannot talk about the future without looking back a little.
At the end of the 1990’s, IT professionals were ruling the job market because of the acute shortage of IT labor during that period.
At that time, it was believed that IT Professions will sustain this trend as more and more business processes become automated. Unfortunately, things took another turn. After the 2001 global recessions, companies that had been investing heavily in IT projects (because they thought IT would solve all their problems) suddenly realized they didn’t need as many coders in the first place, started painting large targets on the overbuilt IT departments due to the need for budget cuts. The result was massive IT job cuts.
Optimistic IT professionals thought things would pick up after the recession, but this too, never happened. Things stayed low.
Presently, the numbers of technical support professionals and system administrators who were the epicenter of the IT job boom in the 90s are now greatly reduced, if the entire support desks and data centers have not been completely outsourced. Although this is not saying that these jobs are completely extinct, but the shortage of IT labor and skill set experienced in the 90s clearly does not exist anymore.
The IT Environment has also evolved such that traditional applications that used to require extensive administration has migrated to the web where they are offered as cloud computing services. The implication of this is that the average users (who are now more tech savvy anyway) will need less support and are likely to choose and manage their own equipment because they’ve become more proficient than they were a decade ago. The need for in-house IT support is gradually wearing out.
Fortunately, it’s not a doom and gloom for the IT profession. Hiner (2011), Identified three
At the end of the 1990’s, IT professionals were ruling the job market because of the acute shortage of IT labor during that period.
At that time, it was believed that IT Professions will sustain this trend as more and more business processes become automated. Unfortunately, things took another turn. After the 2001 global recessions, companies that had been investing heavily in IT projects (because they thought IT would solve all their problems) suddenly realized they didn’t need as many coders in the first place, started painting large targets on the overbuilt IT departments due to the need for budget cuts. The result was massive IT job cuts.
Optimistic IT professionals thought things would pick up after the recession, but this too, never happened. Things stayed low.
Presently, the numbers of technical support professionals and system administrators who were the epicenter of the IT job boom in the 90s are now greatly reduced, if the entire support desks and data centers have not been completely outsourced. Although this is not saying that these jobs are completely extinct, but the shortage of IT labor and skill set experienced in the 90s clearly does not exist anymore.
The IT Environment has also evolved such that traditional applications that used to require extensive administration has migrated to the web where they are offered as cloud computing services. The implication of this is that the average users (who are now more tech savvy anyway) will need less support and are likely to choose and manage their own equipment because they’ve become more proficient than they were a decade ago. The need for in-house IT support is gradually wearing out.
Fortunately, it’s not a doom and gloom for the IT profession. Hiner (2011), Identified three
References: Cooney M. (2011). Gartner: The future of IT? Get ready to blow stuff up [Online] (Accessed November 25 2011) Craig, B [Online]. Available at: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/detail?sid=6306376a-d021-44d3-bb69-add0ff6b189d%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=a9h&AN=60800639 (Accessed November 25 2011) Hiner, J. (2011). The Future of IT [Online] (Accessed November 25 2011) THINKstrategies (2005)The Future of IT in Large corporation. [Online]. Available at: http://www.rightnow.com/pdf/saas.pdf (Accessed November 25 2011)