WashTech News: Labor News
September 16, 2008
WashTech News

High Schools and IT Careers

Priyanka Joshi

This month nationwide, nearly 50 million students, out of them 14.9 million in grades 9 through 12, headed off to approximately 97,000 public schools for the fall term, and before the school year is out, an estimated $489 billion will be spent related to their education. How willing, and prepared, are these students for a career in Information Technology? WashTech surveyed the country's top public schools to see what accomplished high school students are saying about choosing IT as a career. Hot button issue of outsourcing, lack of loyalty in "employing local", and a saturated IT market are all at play as students share why they are choosing to pick or leave IT for good:




Andy Berger, 16, Basis Charter School, Tucson, AZ: "I am planning to get advanced degrees in Physics and Math. I like computers, and my mother is in high demand as an IT professional. However, the way big corporations are outsourcing jobs, makes me never want to work for them. I want to contribute to the local economy, and to ensure respect for the human values of the country's labor force."




Ciara Proctor, 16, Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, IL: "With IT jobs becoming increasingly scarce, there is a natural level of hesitancy surrounding the decision to pursue this career. In a perfect world, the most qualified person would receive a job. However, in today's field, qualification for a job is only one component. The thought of pursuing this career for years only to be left jobless is a terrifying one, especially with the rising cost of college. I decided that I was not willing to gamble my future wondering if I would get a job in a market that is outsourcing these positions at a staggering rate."




Blake Hall, 17, Basis Charter, AZ: "I am undecided so far and I'm leaning towards majoring in Math and Physics. I would love to develop software but outsourcing jobs not due to merit, but pure commercial profit, scares me. So, I'm choosing to stay in college for a longer period of time, till these uncertain times can settle down. The way out of this mess is for big business to respect the local worker and pay fair for better qualified workers. "




Rogan Kriedt, 17, Pacific Collegiate, Santa Cruz, CA: "I like Math a lot but after I saw the rapid pace of American IT jobs outsourced, I decided to not choose Computer Science or IT. I am choosing Economics. Outsourcing worries me and I feel powerless to do anything about it. "




Katherine Bacon, 17, Basis Chater, Tucson, AZ: "I am going into bio-medical engineering. If this field would get outsourced, I wouldn't know what to do."




Matthew Ramir, 17, Northside College Preparatory High School, Chicago, IL: "I'm not very worried about finding a job. I'll try to get into Information Security, or system/network administration. Both are growing fields, with a good chance they wouldn't get outsourced. Information Security is safe simply because it's a huge risk to let someone outside of a nation run its security and network admin is extremely hard to do from a remote location. If I end up doing something completely else, that's fine with me. Computers are stressful anyway."




Felicia King, 17, Pacific Collegiate, Santa Cruz, CA: "I'm thinking of going into Computer Science with biology. My entire family is in engineering and product design, and so far we have survived outsourcing. However, the threat of outsourcing is very real for us. We need to keep our educational standards high so high level jobs don't get outsourced."




Klaudia Leja, 17, Northside College Prep, Chicago, IL: "I have been interested in choosing IT as a career since my freshmen year. The reason why I am hardly worried about the outsourcing of IT jobs is because it is a constantly growing and changing market. I have heard that as many as 8 of the top 10 growth jobs by 2010 are technology related. I believe that as long as someone has passion, he will be able to pursue that career successfully. "




Molly Dee, 17, Basis Charter, Tucson, AZ: "I'm a big fan of science, and I'm considering a career in bio-medical engineering with computer science. Hopefully my field will not be affected by outsourcing. I am, of course, concerned with job insecurity of our economy. I want to have an education and have a good job just like the other person. It's sad we have to think of these things now."



 
Talkback on Article
 
Sep 29, 2008, 3:09 pm
These kids got it right. IT used to be a fun, exciting, and interesting profession. I have been doing it 20 years and IT has gone downhill. It's still alive and well in many places. Lots of firms have offshored their stuff only to realize poor results and have brought it back. Wonder how much of a waste of money THAT was. I will tell you right now, the watch words are "Run IT like a business". As soon as you have accountants and finance people running IT, it's time to leave.

     Cletis McShane, Chicago, IL
 
Sep 24, 2008, 5:08 pm
I just got around to reading your bulletin on this. I have a rather unique perspective. After over 22 years developing software, the last 20 at the same company, I have seen the writing on the wall. I've retired from IT and am going back to school to teach. Contrary to what many of the students in the article you referenced think, security, network management and analysis jobs CAN be outsourced. I'm thinking that, for the foreseeable future at least, high school teaching will still be done locally. I'll be teaching business and computer classes here in about a year and I will make sure my students understand the potential downside of an IT career.

     John Albertsen, Seattle, WA
 
Sep 22, 2008, 2:12 pm
The govt has no problem outsourcing critical security jobs. US Passports are made in Singapore, where many can get a real shortcut to citizenship. They say no one is capable of doing this simple task here.

     dennis, lakeville MN
 
Sep 18, 2008, 4:58 pm
A propos Ed Pape's comment: My Silicon Valley congresswoman---two of the students featured above also reside in her district---refuses all dialogue on offshoring and guestworker programs out-of-hand, including suppressing any mention of the issue at her public town hall meetings. She has an aide who's listed as her expert on `high-tech policy,' but she actually only counsels and assists employers and individuals experiencing visa problems. We all need to become much more aggressive at raising the consciousness of the entire citizenry, and thereby develop some clout.

     wls, Silicon Valley/Beach, California USA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 4:09 pm
First it's IT, then it'll be Biotech, then it'll be the other sciences that get outsourced. It's is interesting, however, that it's the field with the strongest property rights laws that have the most severe outsourcing... while the academic world, where information is shared more openly, and where there's more international exchange, where the jobs are not outsourced. They don't pay as well and are less plentiful, but the jobs are stable.

     john, Los Angeles, CA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 2:10 pm
I am a retired computer programmer/business analyst. I did NOT get to retire when I planned to retire. I was outsourced, H1B'd and downsized into retiring way too early. The IT field no longer holds good opportunities for American workers as had been true 10 years ago and more. The bottom dropped out of the market in the early 2000's and has not really recovered. Government job forecasts need to updated to show the reduced need and the resulting lowering of job and salary prospects.

     Maida Genser, Tamarac, FL
 
Sep 18, 2008, 12:34 pm
Some of these kids express interest in studying physics and/or math in college. I would strongly encourage them to use their apparently keen critical thinking skills to investigate these career paths before they make a decision. In my own experience (B.S. and M.S. in physics), physics is a very intellectually stimulating subject, but the career opportunities are pretty dismal in my opinion. Not much you can do without a PhD, and starting salary after PhD (postdoc) is ~$40k/yr.

     Adam, Chandler, AZ, USA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 12:20 pm
Outstanding comments from these bright young people; they are literally the future. We should require all members of congress who are pushing for more outsourcing, more imported labor, more "temporary" workers, etc., to do a lecture tour of our nation's high schools and colleges and make their case directly in front of those who will be hurt by these lawmakers' disastrous policies. Pangs of conscience might even rise up inside the lawmakers' extremely thick skulls.

     Adam, Chandler, AZ
 
Sep 18, 2008, 11:48 am
My advise to any young American looking for a career is to find a future that requires you to be here in the US. I now own my own business as a tow operator/owner, that requires you to be here, not overseas. Sorry, but Sahieb cannot tow from over the phone.

     Ken Christensen, Stanwood, WA. USA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 11:43 am
I am very worried about the future for our kids and country. I have been in the IT field from 1989 to 2003 providing desktop and network support. It amazes me how our government allows this to happen to it's people. I have seen how colleges and big companies promote education but are not willing to keep those jobs within our borders. Look at how many IT colleges are out there and then see how many jobs there are for them to fill. The numbers do not ad up. My advise, "NO NOT GO INTO IT".

     Ken Christensen, Stanwood, WA. USA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 10:22 am
I was out of work for 2.5 years before finding a job. These kids are right. All large corporation are drinking from the fount of the same defective thinking of outsourcing. Look at Boeing and many other companies. It is not working for the guy on the street.

     Daniel Melhorn, Battle Ground
 
Sep 18, 2008, 8:53 am
Is this info being shared/or how can we share these views with our congressmen or state representatives? And what is being done to prevent the escalation of the outsourcing epidemic in our government and in the American business world?

     Ed Pape, San Angelo, TX USA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 8:41 am
I'm in IT and I thought I would have a job forever, but with the spectre of outsourcing over my head, this is not a pleasant field to be in. These are smart kids.

     Dot, Summit, USA
 
Sep 18, 2008, 8:40 am
These kids should worry. Microsoft and others complain that there are not enough qualified people in the US to work for them and so they are shipping people in from overseas (and paying them less) and outsourcing overseas where the regulations are less. Our government supports this behavior and even practices it themselves. Washington state outsources work (and then complains about not having enough tax revenue)! http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/152829_outsource17.html

     Lise Quinn, Kirkland, WA
 
 
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