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What do we -- as developers -- want more than money? Good question. I think there are a lot of things we care about more than money. We want a challenging environment, good management, ability to learn things, and more. The author of the article, below, has pointers like these, and others, that I believe we care about. Excellent article. We do care about these things, IMHO, more than money. :-)

Reference
Nine Things Developers Want More Than Money, Software by Rob blog

How have things changed in a matter of a year or two. That's music to my ears, :-), but these things change quickly. I do believe, however, that as software engineers we have a bright future ahead of us.

According to the latest U.S. government statistics, the future of the IT job market looks bright. As the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics points out, five of the top ten fastest growing jobs between 2004 and 2014 will be within the technology industry. In some cases, these jobs are growing at a pace of 40-55% over the next ten years, clearly outpacing the growth of jobs in other industries. The five fastest-growing IT jobs include: network systems and data communications analyst, computer applications software engineer, computer systems software engineer, network and computer systems administrator, and database administrator.

...fast growing IT job is computer applications software engineer, which has an expected growth rate of 48.4% over the next ten years. Firms of all sizes will require the services of developers who can write and customize software in response to constantly changing consumer and industrial needs.

Reference
CareerNews entry
Top Five Fastest Growing IT Jobs

I have been enjoying the CareerNews letter for some time. It is a newsletter (available to all) produced by the ACM organization. It focuses on, guess, IT career-related news. It does a nice job agreggating them from different sources. It also does a nice job providing concise comments. A lot of times I only read their comments, as the article itself is not as clear. They really do a great job.

The latest issue of the CareerNews newsletter is packed with excellent articles.

The article I like the most is "Young and Hungry", which explains how you, as a young professional (and not only), should work towards going up in the corporate ladder.

Another article that I liked is "Enterprises Focus on Retaining Tech Talent" (the title says it all).

I recommend that you check out the newsletter and subscribe to it. It's bi-weekly and every issue contains at least one good article. It is a good way to see what's going on in the IT profession.

Reference
CareerNews Newsletter, available for everyone

What's the best job in America? If you asked me, I would say "software engineer." But that's just me... Hold on, it's not only me. Money Magazine lists Software Engineer as the top job in America! Wow.

Here's what they say about it:

Software Engineer
Why it's great Software engineers are needed in virtually every part of the economy, making this one of the fastest-growing job titles in the U.S. Even so, it's not for everybody.

Designing, developing and testing computer programs requires some pretty advanced math skills and creative problem-solving ability. If you've got them, though, you can work and live where you want: Telecommuting is quickly becoming widespread.

The profession skews young -- the up-all-night-coding thing gets tired -- but consulting and management positions aren't hard to come by once you're experienced.

What's cool Cutting-edge projects, like designing a new video game or tweaking that military laser. Extra cash from freelance gigs. Plus, nothing says cool like great prospects.

What's not Jobs at the biggest companies tend to be less creative (think Neo, pre-Matrix). Outsourcing is a worry. Eyestrain and back, hand and wrist problems are common.

Top-paying job Release engineers, who are responsible for the final version of any software product, earn six figures.

Education Bachelor's degree, but moving up the ladder often requires a master's.

Reference
Best Jobs In America, Money Magazine

I am a software developer because that's what I like to do, and because I think I'm decent at it. But I'm affected by the happenings in the software industry. Last couple of years, the news had been all negative. Recently, however, the tide has turned: I've been hearing a lot positive news. Companies are hiring again. It's a joy to read an article like the following, Study says U.S. tech hiring grows.

the number of U.S.-based technology workers is higher today than it was at the peak of the Internet boom. Not only that, but also the U.S. tech sector is expected to post positive job gains for at least the next decade.

Reference
Study says U.S. tech hiring grows, CNN/Money article

It's not for me. At least for now. I'll reconsider after I've had 7-10 years of experience (I have 5 now). But it's definitely something that's on my mind. One of the ideas that I got from reading this article, is to consult when I'm nearing retirement (I would love to retire in my early 50s). I would be able to work part time, get some money, and do what I like to do. Not a bad idea. Hey, maybe I wouldn't have to retire?

Anyway, the following is a very good article.

Considering a Consulting Career by Katherine Spencer Lee in CW.

I read a lot of Java books, articles, and blogs. The articles by Yakov Fain in JDJ are always interesting. The latest, How To Pass A Technical Job Interview With Flying Colors, is very good as well.

Are you looking for a job? Do you have a lot of knowledge? Oh, yeah? You can have a great success if you IPO. No, this is not a stock-market entry. It is a career entry. Yes, you can IPO - Get the Interview (I), Pass the interview (P), and Get the Offer (O). Treat these separately and do them one at a time, Yakov argues. He goes on to explain the IPO in detail.

He has some very good tips:
- tailor your resume for each employer;
- prepare by creating interesting stories about a challenging project you've been part of;
- be energetic and show interest;
- look for a job while you still have a job and accept it only when it is better.

"Take charge of your career and actively build it the way you want, " Yakov ends. Mr. Fain is right on the ball with that article.

Reference:
How To Pass A Technical Job Interview With Flying Colors by Yakov Fain, JDJ, July 2005

Related:
Sample Java Interview Questions

We're making more money in 2005 than in 2004. A quarter of us are unhappy with our jobs. We are scared of offshoring. But overall, things have turned around for the better: more opportunities, rising pay, less competition. You'll find this and other details in this well-written report on InfoWorld.

2005 Compensation Survey by InfoWorld

Not now, of course. But in a couple of years, will there be a shortage of IT professionals? It's hard to say. It definetely doesn't look (and feel) like that right now. There are still a lot of IT guys unemployed. And even though there's been a pickup in jobs recently, it is still fairly hard to find a good job. But things are changing...

Things are changing because there's been a significant drop in number of students enrolling in the Computer Science major. That's actually a big concern, especially for companies as IBM and Microsoft.

What's the problem? The problem is, they say (see articles, below) is that there will not be enough students to fill the positions. Companies are either going to have to look overseas to bring people, or to offshore projects.

This is my take on the situation: if the situation improves -- it is easy to find a good job -- students will come. And we'll be happy as well. :-)

Related Articles
[1] IBM, Colleges: More Top Students Needed
[2] Fewer students major in computer

I liked this article, How to Position Yourself as the Top Candidate by Jeff Hocking. It probably gives you the information you heard somewhere else, but you choose to ignore it anyway. As the number of hiring companies increases, you'll have more choices. Therefore, make sure you choose a company that fits your needs. Do your research. Not only will it help you get the job, but you will be happier because you found something that you wanted. Researching the company, finding out the company internal structure, finding out about company's culture is a very important step. The article will give you a little bit more detailed information of what you should do.

According to a report by Information Week, it is. It looks like the unemployment rate for IT professionals is 3.7%. which is close to the lowest rate reached at the end of 2001. Are things looking better for us? I think so. And altough things still look a little murky, it looks like the situation brightened quite a bit from a year or two ago. Read the whole report here. Don't go jumping in joy, yet. The rate is so low mainly because IT professionals started leaving the field. Nonetheles, companies are starting to hire.

Joel Spolsky, my favorite blog author, gives his advice to college students. The advice is also applicable to people that are just moving to programming fields. Interesting read -- click on the link, below, to see the whole article.

Joel's Seven Pieces of Free Advice for Computer Science College Students:

1. Learn how to write before graduating.


2. Learn C before graduating.


3. Learn microeconomics before graduating.


4. Don't blow off non-CS classes just because they're boring.


5. Take programming-intensive courses.


6. Stop worrying about all the jobs going to India.


7. No matter what you do, get a good summer internship.

Stop Whining!

That's the general theme of this excellent article published in Software Development Times (read the article here). If you wonder who Ed Yourdon is, then do a search on Amazon.com and you'll see. Needless to say, Ed Yourdon, is one of the most influential Computer Science minds that you'll hear about. What's more, he predicted the fall of American programmers in his book, Decline And Fall of the American Programmer. In this article, he shared some very valuable points. Points, that if you take them seriously enough, will put ahead of the competition -- wherever it might be. I'll explain in a little more detail.

My initial view on outsourcing was that something has to be done about it. I still think so: companies need to be encouraged to create jobs in U.S., not given tax incentives to create them elsewhere (if that's the case, though). But I also agree with Ed Yourdon: We need to stop whining and take our future into our own hands -- become the best. If we are the best, outsourcings is a non-issue.

"Stop whining. Stop waiting for someone to solve the problem. Take charge of your own jobs, your own career and your own future. No one else is going to do it for you," says Yourdon. He goes on to say that yeah, the loopholes should be eliminated.

The bottom line, he says, is that we have to make sure that we are in the top 10, or top 20 percent in our companies. If we are not, we are doomed to lose our jobs, regardless of what politicians do or don't do.

What can we take out of it: get into a position in your company so that you are needed; become wanted. If you're there, you don't have to worry. Otherwise, becoming a software craftsman would help. :-)

I really recommend reading the article, Outsourcing Realities: Time to Stop Whining.

It finally looks like the IT industry is picking up. The signs are still mixed, but overall, I think, the industry is looking better and hiring is going to pick up. Here are three articles from News.com that support that view.

Greener pastures--and wallets--for tech workers? -- News.com article

Tech services jobs increase -- link to article

Is IT hiring picking up? -- link

Adding Value…Growing Careers
The Employment Outlook in Today’s Increasingly Competitive IT Job

That's the title of the study published by Information Technology Association of America. This is one of the best I've read. A little long, but the content is great.

Topics covered in the survey are:
• Size of the IT workforce
• Demand for IT workers
• Best background for IT employment
• Soft skills and other factors
• Employee retention
• Future sources of job

Here is a short excerpt:

http://www.itaa.org/workforce/studies/04wfstudy.pdf

I came across an interesting article, How To Survive The Coming Bust, recently -- little dated, but still valuable. The author argues that you need to do the following six things to survive.

1) Provide Guarantees
2) Analyze the business and provide a better solution
3) Dramatically decrease the defect rate
4) Create well-documented, maintainable code
5) Provide better feedback
6) Show the customer how you will make them money or allow them to cut costs

I think most of them hold true and I do think that we -- software engineers -- have a bright future indeed. Under one condition, though: we have to be better than our competition. We have to be better than those developers in other countries. We have to be the best. (I'll create a post about how to thrive in a global IT market later.) It is possible, it just requires more work.

Off-shoring high-tech jobs is a growing pain for U.S. professionals, especially now, when the job situation is still tough. See what's happening in India where many of these American jobs are headed?

In the article, Chitale discusses the mistakes companies make when offshoring IT work, his concerns that US companies will move their offshored work
to China, and how the US political climate affects the bottom line of companies in India.

An interview with an Indian Exec.

According to IEEE-USA, number of employed in IT-related occupations dropped in the second quarter of 2004. The drop in employed software engineers, programmers, and computer scientists is blamed on the continuing trend for U.S. companies to send jobs overseas, often called offshore outsourcing. So there you go, outsourcing is hitting us pretty hard, and encourages others to leave the IT industry altogether. I think something has to be done about it. That's why I'm looking into John Kerry's solutions on offshoring. But this is a hard issue, and I don't know whether there is a good solution for it. :-(

The IEEE-USA reported the following high-tech employment trends yesterday:

* The number of employed software engineers in the U.S. dropped from 856,000 in the first quarter of 2004 to 725,000 in the second quarter. Yet the unemployment rate among software engineers dropped from 3.3% to 2.9% from one quarter to the next. In 2003, an average of 758,000 software engineers were employed in the U.S.

* The number of computer scientists and systems analysts dropped from 672,000 in the first quarter to 621,000 in the second, and the unemployment rate for computer scientists dropped from 6.7% to 4%. An average of 722,000 people were employed as computer scientists and systems analysts during 2003.

See the whole article High-tech employment numbers drop in second quarter on Computerworld.com

This is a pretty good, useful resource if you're involved in IT, or planning to become. This handbook shows Computer occupations, their outlook, stats, what to look for and more. Plus, it's coming from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, so you know it's legitimate.

Anyway, for computer programmer, they say to expect a 10-20 percent growth (average for other occupations) in 2002-2012 period; there will be increased competition (off-shoring) in the field. The following are their significant points:

• Nearly half of all computer programmers held a bachelor痴 degree in 2002; about 1 in 5 held a graduate degree.

• Employment is expected to grow much more slowly than that of other computer specialists.

• Prospects should be best for college graduates with knowledge of a variety of programming languages and tools; those with less formal education or its equivalent in work experience should face strong competition for programming jobs.
  

As for software engineers, the outlook seems very good, as they're projected to be one of the fastest growing fields from 2002 to 2012. The following are their significant points:

• Computer software engineers are projected to be one of the fastest growing occupations over the 2002�12 period.

• Highly favorable opportunities are expected for college graduates with at least a bachelor痴 degree in computer engineering or computer science and with practical work experience.

• Computer software engineers must continually strive to acquire new skills in conjunction with the rapid changes in computer technology.
  

See the report here -- Professional and related occupations

This is not a joke. Some IT people are required to train their replacements from India, China, and others, and after they're done, they are fired! Are you kidding me? That must really suck! Believe it or not, some big companies are doing it! This practice has to stop! Nobody wants to dig their own grave. How low can the U.S. companies go to save a buck or two?

Read the whole article here, which appeared on Yahoo! News

A very good, 6-step guide for the thinking technologist @ ComputerWorld.com

You should read it if you're work in IT, as outsourcing is becoming more of an issue for us -- and it will probably increase over time.

So what's the ultimate solution? Put yourself into a position where you cannot be outsourced: give them value that they cannot get anywhere else!

Anyway, read the article here that tells you how you can actually do that (or help you in that direction).

A fall-off of computer science majors -- 23 percent fewer this year, according to a poll of several hundred North American universities by the Computing Research Association -- has prompted industry leaders such as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates to lecture at schools, telling students that their skills can still earn them a healthy salary even as companies export jobs overseas.

Professors report that students are less enthusiastic about computer science at even the most prestigious academies, and are concerned that this attitude is fostered by more than just the disappointment of the dot-com implosion. On the other hand, computer science students who have elected to follow other career paths claim their computing skills give them an edge: Matthew Notowidigo, who has chosen to become an investment banker after majoring in computer science at MIT, says an understanding of computing technology will be critical to nearly all fields in the future.

John V. Guttag, head of MIT's computer science department, says that in order to combat the erosion of computer science majors, "we have to emphasize...that a good computer science education is a great preparation for almost anything you want to do." Gates says the most talented students are not being drawn to computer science because there is little excitement or understanding surrounding the field. He told students in a series of lectures that breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, speech recognition, and machine-to-machine communications are on the horizon thanks to years of research, faster computers, and better software. Gates added that computer analysis and modeling is becoming increasingly vital to well-entrenched disciplines such as biology and industrial design, as well as emergent disciplines such as nanotechnology.

NY Times Article (free registration required).

I think that's a great answer by Bill. We're going to have to learn to live with outsourcing. You cannot eliminate it completely. So what's the answer? Compete with them and WIN!

If you're a top-notch U.S. developer you should not worry. You will always be in demand (minus the occasional downturn or correction, of course). But if you're not, you should strive to be, as you might find somebody else with your skills somewhere else.

See the whole article at ADTmag.com here.

I think that, as the economy rebounds, so will the programming jobs. I do not believe that outsourcing is the major catapult here: it is, mainly, the dot-com effect and the slowdown in the economy.

Maybe the software industry (for software-engineers) is not looking that bad after all. According to Time, computer-software engineers (or applications developers), is one of the top 15 jobs with the largest projected increases for 2000-2010; it's actually number 9 in the biggest gainers category, expecting 380,000 new jobs.

They say, "As long as computer upgrades are constant, so will be the jobs."

I also think that software engineers will be in great demand in the next decade. Why? It's still a very young field, and a lot of companies will need the engineers to develop software properly -- according to the software-engineering standards. Good for us, software engineers, developers!