Are all IT jobs doomed for outsourcing ? Vanity

[MyOptic]

Sorry about the vanity, but I've been recently laid off in an occupation that, at least in this area, (Huntsville Al), is mostly non-existent. I was an industrial optician, very few of these jobs left in the states anymore. I am looking at going back to school , and have been surveying the options open to me. It seems that with so much talk of outsourcing and importing of foreign workers going on here at freerepublic, any talk of getting into this field is almost nonsensical. But what about Network Technician jobs? I am looking into network +, MCP, Cisco ect. Certification. Even though these jobs cant be shipped out of the country, are they rapidly being replaced with H1b visa holders? In short, would I be wasting my money getting into this field? I have been a lurker since the impeached one has been in office, but have only posted twice, so please keep the spelling police at bay. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[FourPeas]

Welcome to FreeRepublic bump!

[pointsal]

WELL, YOU COULD TRY HUMAN RELATIONS AT DIRECWAY, THE SATELITTE COMPANY.....THEY SEEM TO THINK THEIR FUTURE IS IN INDIA.

EVER GET ONE OF THE SING/SONG BOYS ON THE PHONE? NICE FELLAS BUT THEY DAMNED SURE AIN'T THE BOYS NEXT DOOR.

[annyokie]

Jeez, don't holler so!

[annyokie]

Welcome!

[StatesEnemy]

Wow an optician.

The modern buggy whip maker...

Just remember, Corporate America will always need cashiers: "$7.69, .70, .75... $8, and $2 is 10. Thank you for shopping at MegaloMart"

[cmsgop]

What is a SING/SONG boy ?

[Billthedrill]

The bucks are in infrastructure at the moment, so the Cisco certs are a good bet. MCSEs are a dime a dozen (I know, I are one) and any Micro$oft cert under that is probably not much of a resume entry right now. Novell certification is more remunerative in the middle of the country than on the coasts (I know, I are a CNE too).

The Cisco certs, at least CCNA and up, tend to be pricey, but then they're all getting that way these days. The way the tests are structured it's getting difficult to get a certification without some sort of home-company-approved formal courses, many of which have de-emphasized real-world dope in favor of how-to-pass-the-tests approaches. Caveat emptor.

Wish you the best. You may be my boss someday.

[chance33_98]

I am looking into network +, MCP, Cisco ect. Certification. Even though these jobs cant be shipped out of the country, are they rapidly being replaced with H1b visa holders?

I am in the field, and have many friends and co-workers in the field. Certifications certainly help, and several of our guys still get regular job offers elsewhere.

Up until recently I relied on my experience in the field, but so far this year have my scsa, scna (sun certs in admin and networking), ccna, server+, a+ and should soon have my mcse, mcsa, mcdba, and sun java cert. Next year rounding it our with oracle dba, ccnp, and sun developer.

Do I need them all? Probably not (but I do all those things anyway, so it does not hurt!), but it helps to diversify in the field (would also recommend targetting certain software packages like websphere, etc).

I often see a demand for certain software titles as noted above and would encourage you to pick a field you enjoy (I like em all). I have done it all via self study, many people I have heard take classes say they just read from the books mainly anyway :) But it can be difficult for some things if you don't have access to the hardware (example, cisco routers).

As far as H1B goes, I know many people here on those as well and most have a problem with communicating with others and aren't as sharp in the field (again, that is my experience with about 35 people here on them, a small sampling to be sure).

If you need study materials, or access to some equipment, let me know. Would be more than willing to help you out. Just drop me a freepmail.

[CholeraJoe]

I have DirectWay through Earthlink. When I've called them I've gotten a native English speaker who spent 30 minutes trying to solve my problems without success.

When I've used their e-mail tech support, it is usually answered by Vijay, Anil or Chandra but their advice is dead on, easily understood and invariably successful.

Go figger.

[Agnes Heep]

I'm inclined to think that general IT is the way to go; a combination of networking, PC hardware/software and skills in various operating systems such as Windows and the various flavors of Unix. That kind of position is hard to outsource because it generally requires a live, hands-on presence. Don't think, however, that certification alone is going to suffice to land you a good job. You need actual experience to complement the certification. I started out as an entry-level PC technician. The pay wasn't good, but it gave me invaluable hands-on that I was able to jockey into a much better paying position about 18 months down the road.

[oceanview]

stay away:

http://www.njo.com/search/index.ssf?/base/business-5/1062305407141591.xml?starledger?b

be a hedge fund manager, go into real estate, marketing, sales, etc.

[X-FID]

I think the whole fledgling IT industry was a product of the internet bubble, and that bubble popped.

I'm not saying they aren't necessary, but my medium sized manufacturing company hired some (as contractors) and they proved way to inefficient and expensive and are now gone, basically, we maintain our network ourselves with virtually no outside help.

Maybe the very large companies still use them but smaller ones don't and probably never will again.

[egarvue]

The gold rush days of IT are over. But there is still room in the market. I see especially one area that has growth potential: Focus on databases. Its one of my maxims: data never dies. Programming languages change, networking protocols change, technologies change - but businesses will ALWAYS have data they want to store, report on, or convert to a new data system. You can't go wrong with focusing on data services. I know - its what I do for a living. Its not glamourous, its not flashy, but its there and data will never go away.

Networks are the infrastructure; those jobs will never go away. SOMEONE has to install and maintain the network, and Apu in India can't fly to America when the servers crash at 5:00 AM :-) Networking is like road construction - there's always work needing to be done. I think you'll do fine, especially if you don't get your hopes up for a massive salary - those days are over. But its still a good career.

[MyOptic]

Dang, I need to turn my hearing aid down. I had been employed as a contractor for NASA for over ten years, just tried to stay away from all the bureaucrats there, but in the end it was petty politics that did me in. I just tried to do my job as best i could and not get involved with the us vs them thing that goes on at all levels of Government. My performance reviews were always outstanding. Didn’t hang with the right crowd I guess. They were talking of moving the whole optics group over to the army, but that move wasn’t supposed to happen till the next fiscal year. It was however, the straw that broke my back as far as wanting to remain in that field. I just want to move on, and this seems like a viable option.

[CholeraJoe]

I used to work for a boss who objected to outsourcing customer service beyond the confines of Montana because one of our clients might have to speak to someone with a "Southern accent or (God Forbid) a Negro." The Bigot retired two years ago. Being from the South I was highly offended by his comments.

[Ramius]

There are certain hands-on computer fixit skills that will always be needed and cannot be practically outsourced. That's a good way to get into the corporate IT field. Enthusiasm, expertise and a good "bedside manner" when dealing one-on-one with real users in person is an indescribably valuable asset.

That so much of it is so poor is one reason that outsourcing starts to look valuable to some companies.

Beyond that, certs are worth somewhat less than the paper they are printed on. Excepting perhaps: Cisco certs. A good CCIE with a few years of experience on big iron can write his/her own ticket. Outsourcing notwithstanding.

[Helms]

My acquaintance says IBM is outsourcing to Mexico.

[agrarianlady]

I think in many cases this stuff is so hands-on that you could probably find a job. Especially the Cisco stuff (the more difficult and specialized). You can't physically hit an 'F1' key from India, as sometimes required with flaky servers. Although yes, it's difficult to compete with the immigrants.

My husband has his MCSE and has been in the network field for about 6 years. Right now he's earning 70K which feeds us all and allows me to stay home with the kids. (Which is lonely at times because he's always being paged).

I recommend going the computer security route. Learn how to administer firewalls and such. It will be a need for quite some time.

[Fifth Business]

I'm in IT and I own a company that depends on outsourcing for its revenue. Your plan seems reasonable to me. Network specialists do not lack for work, and they generally make higher wages than programmers.

I wouldn't worry about the H1Bs. Last few years only about half of the pool of available H1Bs have been used by companies. They probably were a necessary evil back in the late 1990s, but they aren't really needed now and companies are not taking the advantage of them they could take.