Is IT getting too hard?

[oracleslave]

In IT. Yes.

Deservedly so.

But .net programming is all some of these geeks know.

Oh Dear.

[ASB]

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.

Still do quite a lot of it. Cobol.Net does winforms asp etc (though anybody thinking I know I'll write this entire web app in Cobol might just be ready for the funny farm).

[CheeseSlice]

We are not in a 'mature' profession like law, medicine or even accountancy, where experience builds on a foundation that adds value.
Evolve or die...

This is something that always goes through my mind. Did I make a mistake going into IT? Should I have gone into something less prone to fundamental change every 3 months.

Also, these mature professions are what I see as the 'protected' professions, with closed circles and institutional gatekeepers (some written into law) to keep the riff raff and outsourcers well away.

I do have to question the 'adds value' part though. When was the last time a solicitor added value, rather than blatantly ripping you off for every possible penny?

[expat]

So if you can't or have no desire to evolve then you're doomed?

"Evolving" doesn't mean throwing away your entire career and learning investment to date; but that is what avoiding the IT srapheap demands. In no other profession is 20 years deep and varied experience taken as worthless next year, by people who have no idea what it means anyway.

[oracleslave]

"Evolving" doesn't mean throwing away your entire career and learning investment to date; but that is what avoiding the IT srapheap demands. In no other profession is 20 years deep and varied experience taken as worthless next year, by people who have no idea what it means anyway.

I agree. Do you have any solutions?

[OwlHoot]

This is something that always goes through my mind. Did I make a mistake going into IT? Should I have gone into something less prone to fundamental change every 3 months.

IT isn't the only occupation subject to constant change. Law and medicine are also constantly changing, and I reckon these are or certainly can be much more demanding than IT.

I wouldn't presume to speak for others, but for me in some ways IT is a cushy well-paid option compared to what I might be doing if computers hadn't been invented. I mean ask yourself what you'd have been doing say 100 years ago (health issues or premature death aside).

[Brussels Slumdog]

[QUOTE=CheeseSlice;848001]This is something that always goes through my mind. Did I make a mistake going into IT? Should I have gone into something less prone to fundamental change every 3 months.

Also, these mature professions are what I see as the 'protected' professions, with closed circles and institutional gatekeepers (some written into law) to keep the riff raff and outsourcers well away.

I started in Accounting which is dominated by qualifications and changed to IT which is experience driven.
Do you want to work in a sector where someone earns more than you because they have more qualifications but know less than you or do you wish to be paid for your actual know how?

[sappatz]

It

As an analyst/programmer/software engineer involved in all stages of the software life cycle, with all the processes, charts, diagrams, case tools, software, databases, etc knowledge involved (the list is endless and getting longer), before coding even starts, isn't it a bit much to be expected to know all about control xxx.nn in latest software product yyy.nn and be able to be able to communicate with actual people and know the business inside out? Is everyone just taking the p1ss now? It never used to be this hard, all you had to do was think. Now you have to be an encyclopaedia too.

i have seen worse like roles a one-man role where you need to be programmer/project leader/sysadmin with a very large knowledge, needless to say (and to spice it up there is no one else in the company with an ounce of knowledge of the software in question altough a large company)

[oracleslave]

i have seen worse like roles a one-man role where you need to be programmer/project leader/sysadmin with a very large knowledge, needless to say (and to spice it up there is no one else in the company with an ounce of knowledge of the software in question altough a large company)

You could always teach English in China/Taiwan/Korea.

[aussielong]

IT isn't the only occupation subject to constant change. Law and medicine are also constantly changing, and I reckon these are or certainly can be much more demanding than IT.

I wouldn't presume to speak for others, but for me in some ways IT is a cushy well-paid option compared to what I might be doing if computers hadn't been invented. I mean ask yourself what you'd have been doing say 100 years ago (health issues or premature death aside).

Zakly. In IT, you can be on 40K (I haven't worked in the UK for 5 years but that used to be a good permie salary) after 2 years out of college - without being a rocket scientist. Just pick up the right skills, get a few projects under you belt and you can be on top dollar. Most other careers don't allow that until much later.

A lot of people actually like the constant change in IT (not me, I have to say). Anyway, its only the baby skills that have a high churn. The core skill sets stick around for 10+ years.