Is IT getting too hard?

[TimberWolf]

I thought this thread was about Timberwolf getting personal with us all and thinking he was on a sex phone chat..

IT is getting harder and harder. My head is going to explode.

[Brussels Slumdog]

Explaining IT is getting too hard

Explaining what I can do and can't do to an agent/Interviewer is getting too hard.
How do you explain to the interviewer how you would do something when you sitting at home or in the park and are not logged on to the system.
In SAP I do not know every transaction code/database name off by heart and do not wish to learn them. Once I am logged on I can find my way around the system within minutes and solve most problems.This is something you learn by experience.
New versions,testing tools become must haves.
The greater the number of years experience the better.
My opinion is that you can either do something based on exerience or you
can't. Somethings take longer to learn than others and something so basic
you leave them off the CV.
Common sense and know how nice to haves

[expat]

I think it’s been demonstrated now that your savings, investment and current account and parliament are in the hands of people who don’t have the faintest idea what they’re doing with your money.

[aussielong]

I actually think the entry level is getting lower each year. New grads in my team can crank out fancy web apps in a couple of days that would have taken months 15 years ago. And these tools are forgiving. They don't spend weeks in the debugger getting the thing running.

I think the whole game is changing. Not many people are doing hardcore programming anymore. More people are assembling applications from frameworks in short timeframes- this decreased cost means they can develop stuff and throw it away if need be- and try something else. Companies are not investing in long complex projects with big deliverables at the end.

Undergrads can download the tools for free and learn them at home now - 15 years ago you had to have done your time on the job to get the experience.

I've specialised in banking systems. I don't see any future in staying generic with the skillset - too easy to offshore or undercut.

[TimberWolf]

I actually think the entry level is getting lower each year. New grads in my team can crank out fancy web apps in a couple of days that would have taken months 15 years ago. And these tools are forgiving. They don't spend weeks in the debugger getting the thing running.

I think the whole game is changing. Not many people are doing hardcore programming anymore. More people are assembling applications from frameworks in short timeframes- this decreased cost means they can develop stuff and throw it away if need be- and try something else. Companies are not investing in long complex projects with big deliverables at the end.

Undergrads can download the tools for free and learn them at home now - 15 years ago you had to have done your time on the job to get the experience.

I've specialised in banking systems. I don't see any future in staying generic with the skillset - too easy to offshore or undercut.

Yes, IT seems to becoming more knowledge based rather than thinking based. The web side of things opens up yet another Pandora's box of things you need to know or have used.

[expat]

Explaining what I can do and can't do to an agent/Interviewer is getting too hard.
How do you explain to the interviewer how you would do something when you sitting at home or in the park and are not logged on to the system.
In SAP I do not know every transaction code/database name off by heart and do not wish to learn them. Once I am logged on I can find my way around the system within minutes and solve most problems.This is something you learn by experience.
New versions,testing tools become must haves.
The greater the number of years experience the better.
My opinion is that you can either do something based on exerience or you
can't. Somethings take longer to learn than others and something so basic
you leave them off the CV.
Common sense and know how nice to haves

The agent/keyword model is broken.

What you say about SAP applies to me about Siebel. I don't know every Foreign Key on the S_ASSET table, but I know that there are lots, and I know where to find them (in fact I know where to find them without Siebel Tools, but try bragging of that to an agent).

And some things become so basic that you leave them off your CV, then you get an agent who's been told that they are must-haves, so you have to start trying to convince the agent on the phone that you really have them despite the fact that they aren't on your CV; knowing that he thinks you're blagging.

"Have" a skill: what does "have" mean?

[aussielong]

I think the game's up. If you got a great deal of experience its time to turn it into cash ASAP and then move on to something else.

I'm going give it maximum 5 more years of cranking then i'm going to do a government job or something where i can have a laugh and finish work early. Start living like a normal person.

Even the culture has changed in IT. No more pub lunches. The dotcom crash ruined the perks. No-one drinks anymore. Its full of androids and career programmers.
We started out writing games as a hobby.

Bah humbug an that.

[expat]

I think the game's up. If you got a great deal of experience its time to turn it into cash ASAP and then move on to something else.

I'm going give it maximum 5 more years of cranking then i'm going to do a government job or something where i can have a laugh and finish work early.

Just for balance, I'll recall that I was saying to myself in the early 1980s that I just hoped to get another 5 good years out of this COBOL lark.

[snaw]

I think the game's up. If you got a great deal of experience its time to turn it into cash ASAP and then move on to something else.

I'm going give it maximum 5 more years of cranking then i'm going to do a government job or something where i can have a laugh and finish work early. Start living like a normal person.

Even the culture has changed in IT. No more pub lunches. The dotcom crash ruined the perks. No-one drinks anymore. Its full of androids and career programmers.
We started out writing games as a hobby.

Bah humbug an that.

No more pub lunches?

News to me. They're a regular occurrence at every company I've worked at in London for the last 6 years ... ok pretty much only on Fridays now, not like the old days.

[snaw]

Just for balance, I'll recall that I was saying to myself in the early 1980s that I just hoped to get another 5 good years out of this COBOL lark.

I'm pretty sure networks, firewalls, datacentres etc are gonna be around for as long as I'm interested in making money off of them ...