Posted on 06/29/2007 2:48:14 PM PDT by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
After a short downturn, the tech economy is back on the upswing. Hi-tech careers are on the rebound and, with the right college education and on-the-job training, your future looks bright. Professionals with technical training or degrees from online technical schools will find prime-time opportunities to advance their careers. Some of the top job seekers poised to laugh all the way to the bank in this resurgent tech economy: IT specialists, database administrators, high-tech marketing pros, and digital designers.
We'll take a closer look at these individual careers by type, but first the good news numbers that are putting smiles back on the faces of high tech career seekers. According to a Cyberstates 2007 report released in late April, the tech sector increased jobs by 146,600 positions in 2006, up for the second straight year. More than 66,000 positions were added in the engineering and tech services industry last year, setting an all-time record for total jobs in that sector. The report, which benchmarks tech job health, found that wages for hi-tech jobs outpaced salaries in the rest of the professions by a whopping 86 percent. Fast Facts and Last Laughs
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that techies will thrive in the decade ending in 2012:
* Computer systems design jobs will grow by 54.6 percent * Software publishing jobs will grow by 67.9 percent * IT management and consulting services by 55.4 percent.
Career Training Spells High Tech Success
To compete for the new positions--and the right to say "I told you so" to those doubters--techies will need training in the latest versions of programming, design, and database software. For newbies, that means earning a degree from a tech school, college, or university. For those already in the IT professions who hope to remain competitive, it may mean signing up for a technology degree program online to upgrade skill sets and earn advanced certifications without interrupting their working lives.
Here are some promising tech career groups whose apologetic loved ones will be expecting them to pick up the tab for dinner: IT Specialists
If you're drawn to this sector, you're ideally cut out to b a computer or information systems manager. The BLS predicts faster growth for these careers than the average growth for all other occupations through 2014. The candidates with the best prospects will have masters or MBA degrees with an emphasis on technology from campus-based or online degree programs.
* The commitment: advanced education in project management, e-commerce, networking, and programming, among other specializations. * The payoff: median salaries for IT specialists approach six figures.
Database Administrators
Database administrators, the BLS predicts, will be "among the fastest growing occupations through 2014." You'll be able to enter the profession with as little training as an associate degree, but the best-paid database administrators will hold a bachelor degree in computer science or information systems, with a specialization in back-end tools that help organizations crunch data.
* The commitment: Want to stay current? You'll probably need to enroll in online courses to bone up on the latest software. * The strategy: To really advance in the field, consider earning a master's degree in business administration (MBA), with an IT concentration. * The payoff: Top-end pay: over $100,000 a year.
High-Tech Marketing
High-tech marketing pros are the hearts that pump out corporate earnings. It used to be that a simple undergraduate degree in marketing, advertising, or public relations could help you land a promotions job. But these days, high-tech firms want their marketing gurus to know how their products work and have a sound background in technology. If you're already a marketing pro, you may need to return to school to learn the nuts and bolts of the tech products you sell.
* The commitment: You'll certainly prosper from completing an online MBA degree program. Many companies will pay for your online training in software, networks, or security. * The outlook: The BLS predicts growth in marketing jobs to outstrip the average growth for all other jobs in the economy through 2014. You can expect to travel a lot, and earn a lot, too. * The payoff: Median annual earnings for high-tech markers are over $110,000.
Digital Design & Graphic Arts
The BLS notes that designers with website design and animation experience should move to the front of the hiring line. Though you may be able to enter the profession with an associate's degree, most entry-level positions will require at least a bachelor's degree with specializations in digital design software. The greatest job growth will be in interactive digital design for media artists working on projects for websites, cellular phones, and computer games.
* The commitment: Digital design schools offering degrees or certifications in media arts are available from online colleges as well as campus and vocational schools. * The outlook: Among all the graphic design professions, digital designers will find the most new jobs through 2014. * The payoff: Take the engineering route in, and you'll be looking at $60-$90K once you've got some projects on your resume.
Don't let anyone fool you. Tech jobs are here to stay. Techies, rejoice!
I wonder how long it will take them to out-source the jobs to India.
Just wait for the tax cuts to the “rich” to roll back....
Outsourcing was(is) overhyped. It’s there, but not to the extent the libs will have us believe.
I wouldn’t call 4 years a short downturn.
100% - BS
It’s just getting started.
Oh course we have Americans wanting to make sure that Americans do not get the jobs. The video is un-f**king believable.
B4L8r
Yeah. Sure the college students will trust this. Since a mere 5 years ago corporations halted all college hires in IT — some of them did it 2 years in a row — and many withdrew previous offers. College students got burned big time — while professionals with many years of skills were laid off and unemployed for months — up to two years in many cases.
Like the immigration bill, the issue here is trust. Invest 4-5 years in a degree just to find your job went to India. I think many will wait to see.
Hi-tech has been and is moving out of California. Companys can’t find people that know what they are doing.
Don't you mean Japan?
No...wait...that was a generation ago.
Just as there is no way that Japan could manage to swallow up all the jobs in the US, so too there is no way that the US can deny jobs to China and India.
China and India suffer from long-standing cultural limitations which have caused them to struggle in competing with the industrial might of the US.
But there is no inherent reason that China and India cannot overcome those limitations. As they do, jobs will appear there, allowing productive people to do what productive people do ... produce.
If you adopt the attitude that success for the Chinese means failure for you, then I think you are going to make some bad decisions.
How are you harmed if a neighbor down the street, struggling to make ends meet working at McD sixty hours a week, decides to go back to school to study engineering? Will that cost you your job? Or will all the economic boats rise with the rising tide?
Will you not be able to succeed in this world if a middle-class consisting of a billion Chinese and Indians decide to adopt a middle-class lifestyle? If you can succeed in such a scenario, then how do you expect them to make the transition to such a situation, if not by importing jobs and productivity as their economic attractiveness permits?
Jobs may be on the increase but so are the H1-B visas which means the jobs won’t be for Americans.
ping
“your job”
Your? Self-employed heading to India?
Don't you mean Japan?
No...wait...that was a generation ago.
Ya' nailed me there because I've been out of that business (but not the hobby) for quite a length of time.
I wrote my last commercial application in 1998 and it is till in use today, but in a short time, it may as well have been written in Egyptian hieroglyphics.
The economic burden of Kalifornia doing what Kalifornia does is not a burden that a high-tech company should have any interest in taking on.
Kalifornia refuses to discipline itself fiscally at a time when the economy is booming. The state is attempting to take over the solutions to every conceivable problem of mankind, from mandating medical insurance, to solving the non-existant human-caused global warming, to dictating to people in the Tahoe basin that they can't clear the natural vegetation around their homes.
The costs of all of these things, of necessity, fall on Kalifornians. As the productivity of Kalifornians falls, the standard of living must fall also.
Kalifornia has purposely become a haven for millions of under-educated illegals. The medical problems and education burden for these millions has been placed on the backs of the productive. Those who can most easily leave, will do so. The productive who consider moving to Kalifornia will opt not to do so.
For many years I worked in a group making custom tooling for a semiconductor fabrication operation. We expected our projects to be productive for a minimum of five years and considered extrapolating past ten years to be totally unrealistic. Sounds like your application has done just fine.
When I visit the plant (which is quite infrequently now) I take considerable pleasure in seeing that a controller I built in 1975 is still operating. I would be very surprised if anybody still there knows that. Or cares.
What exactly do you mean by 'controller' ?
It's a controller of a motor which is handling semiconductor materials during processing. The motor behavior is controlled by operator settings and feedback to the operator is supplied to verify the operation.
The application would be rather trivial using a microcomputer; but such were not available then.
Really? Find me a H1-B guy straight off the plane that companies want to send to a client site to show the flag.
“Ring Ring”
“Yes, XYZ Company”
“Why did you send this freaking wierdo over here?”
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