* SIMposium has good news for tech workers
IT pros at the Society for Information Management’s SIMposium, taking place in Dallas this week, were told that the trend to outsource some tech work overseas is not what is taking American jobs away but the advancement of technology. As technology improves, organizations are not required to hire as many people to perform the tasks that are now automated, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, told attendees.
As noted in a story in NetworkWorld.com by John G. Stevenson, a former SIM president and now president of JG Stevenson Associates, Reich said the IT industry needs to be populated by college educated IT pros to adequately compete in the global economy.
Stevenson reports that according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2012 more than 21 million IT jobs will be created in the United States, but only 17 million new IT pros will enter the job market. (Would this point to tech jobs being not as alluring to non-tech folks when compared to other industries? In a “Tech Appeal” study released by Dice in July, 73% of non-tech adults said they would recommend a career in the healthcare industry, compared to 64% of non-tech people suggesting a career in technology.)
To address the potential worker-shortage issue, SIM has announced the SIM Foundation that will run a number of initiatives to advance the IT profession, including research into current and future skills of IT pros, initiatives to increase the number of students becoming IT majors, and to promote the leadership development of current IT professionals. You can read more about the Foundation’s goals in the story link above.
The society also reported good news for current IT workers: a survey of CIOs and other IT execs found that IT budgets, staffing and salaries are expected to rise in 2007. According to a story in NetworkWorld.com by Senior Editor Carolyn Duffy Marsan, 85% of CIOs expect their budgets to rise or stay the same in 2007, and 80% anticipate increases or little movement to their 2006 budgets, compared with 2005 levels.
A full 72% of CIOs said their IT staffing levels would stay the same or increase in 2007, while 71% said their IT staffing salaries would increase in 2007. Some 20% said their IT salary levels would stay the same next year as this year. You can read the full story here.
While you’re at NetworkWorld.com, you may want to read Carolyn’s interview with Mike Jones, CIO and corporate vice president of Children’s Hospital Health System in Milwaukee, about “Why CIOs are optimistic about 2007”.
Are you optimistic for your career and your job prospects in 2007? Let me know.
Next week: A look at IPv6 training.
