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Job security top concern for IT directors Two-thirds of CIO's feel their jobs are at risk due to the business’ view of IT’s performance. Business process improvement was rated the main priority for IT directors in 2005. Security was ranked second, followed by enterprise-wide operating costs. (Jan. 2005 ComputerWeekly) Unionization is a mixed bag for mainframers Recently, we asked if Search390.com members would be interested in joining a union. We received dozens of responses ranging from "sign me up today!" to "no way in hell." Below you will have some excerpts from some of the many responses we received. You can share your thoughts by taking our poll. (Dec. 2004 search390) Share president addresses changing mainframe workplace Shops that have gone really big into distributed system and open systems have discovered that the mainframe discipline of change control and all those other good things is really needed in this other environment. The people that they put in those jobs didn't have that. They had multiple catastrophes. They are taking some of those mainframe people and saying we need that skill set you have to have to run an industrial strength data center and bring that to our open system environment. In that case, they are grabbing up mainframe people and moving them into the other environment. (Nov. 2004 search390) Staying Power A large proportion of baby boomers envision themselves working well into their 70s, but on the whole, companies are not prepared to accommodate them. When we lose talent in the aging IT person, we lose tacit knowledge, not just explicit knowledge. Despite some pioneering examples, the obvious advantages of retaining mature workers has not convinced more than a small minority of companies to actively work to retain their older, wiser talent. (Sep. 2004 ComputerWorld) IT workers' morale hits rock-bottom Staff morale among IT workers is at rock-bottom as companies have cut budgets and ditched staff in a bid to ride out the prolonged downturn in the industry. In a bid to reverse the trend, half of those companies surveyed have already begun implementing employee recognition programmes in a bid to boost morale, while four in ten are offering more skills training. However, only one in 20 companies is using hard cash to perk up glum workers. (Jun. 2004 The Register) Mad as Hell IT workers are feeling that their CIOs have given up on them as partners. Even worse, they feel that their clients and customers are looking at them less as partners than as expensive "necessary evils" that must be tolerated. At least, until the implementation is complete or the whole thing can be outsourced or automated. (Apr. 2004 CIO) IT pros unhappy at work Only 14 per cent of IT workers are very happy in their job - one in ten IT workers is unhappy in his job. Care assistants topped the list of the happiest workers, while IT staff made it to mid-table. Those in the media are among the most unhappy at work. Pity those poor sods who are journalists and write about IT. (Mar. 2004 The Register) No safety net for programmers He applied for additional government support for workers whose jobs have been casualties of free trade and globalization. But the US determined that programmers do not qualify, because of what they'd produced on their old jobs: software. Commerce and trade rules classify software as a "service" and "not a tangible commodity," rather than an "article" as the trade act stipulates. (Jan. 2004 Salon) New year won't lead to new mainframe jobs Pundits and analysts all over the Web are predicting a major U.S. economic recovery in 2004, but don't expect the country's mainframe job market to improve along with its overall financial situation. The current U.S. trend of farming out work to foreign countries will continue to drain the number of available mainframe jobs, especially for developers. (Jan. 2004 Search390) Have developers "forgotten their place" Kathy writes that when developers "don't have to see or talk to customers, they can tell themselves happy little stories like This is what our customers want or It's not our fault". JBob writes "All too frequently, developers pretend that they know better about what the user/customer wants. It's at those times that you need to remind them that it is not their job to know or to even figure out. Their job is to write good code." (Dec. 2003 Daniel Steinberg -- java.net) Can This Relationship Be Saved? Managers seeking to rebuild trust among their IT employees have their work cut out for them; outsourcing, layoffs and tight budgets have created ill will that verges on bitterness. With their skills moldering and their influence waning, many IT workers say they are feeling shut out. (Nov. 2003 Computerworld) IT Careers Caught in a Cross-Current The trouble areas for tech right now are programming jobs and other work that doesn't have to be done onsite. An uptick in enterprise spending on hardware and infrastructure is boosting the high-tech job market but, at the same time, it's being buffeted back by the number of jobs that are being lost to off-shore outsourcing. (Nov. 2003 Datamation) How the IT industry really works A lot of systems are deliberately built to be difficult to understand and unintuitive. To help her understand the system, the project manager sends her to see the cleverest person in the world.
The cleverest person in the world seems mainly interested in patronising the new starter and withholding information from her. (Sep. 2003 BrainBox) IT worker unemployment at 'unprecedented' levels About 150,000 IT positions were lost in 2001 and 2002, about two-thirds of them in programming. IT managers told of data center consolidations that led to layoffs or offshore plans. For the future, automation improvements and the development of self-healing applications will also hurt some IT career paths. (Sep. 2003 ComputerWorld) Big Offices Are Better When it comes to knowledge worker productivity and effectiveness, some IT people — particularly programmers — are the poster children of knowledge workerdom. How many times have you heard that the best programmer is 10 times as productive as the worst? By the way, one of my other favorite research findings is that programmers with bigger offices are more productive. (Sep. 2003 CIO) The worst manager I ever had He'd tell you to the minutest detail how to build everything. The design was often quite bad and overly-complex, but he wouldn't allow us any input. I think most developers will agree, building something without any creative input whatsoever is incredibly boring work. (Sep. 2003 BrainBox) Careers: Mainframe Technologists Over-worked and Over-stressed When compared to Windows administrators, mainframe system programmers work in a more technically demanding environment, supporting more users on more mission critical applications. Server consolidations, Linux-on-390, grid computing and IBM’s new z990 systems will make the mainframe a more than viable computing environment going forward. The upshot is that mainframe technologists shouldn’t stress about their employability. (Aug. 2003 Enterprise Systems Journal) Forget IT, Australian students told More than 90 percent of IT managers said that based upon current conditions, they wouldn't recommend information technology as a viable career path. We've reached a saturation point...there's just too many skilled techies out of work and they're all fighting for either the same pie or the scraps left behind post-outsourcing. (Jul. 2003 ZDNet) What's in a name? In today's tough economy, professionals with more general titles might have a leg up. If you put yourself in the wrong specialty, you could ace yourself right out of a job. Hot titles now include chief security officer and database administrator. Not hot titles include data center operator and help desk representative. (Jun. 2003 Network World Fusion) IT - thank you and goodbye Well old information technology you have been kind to me through the years. Climbing the hill of aspiration from programmer to analyst to manager and the lofty director, back down the other side to contractor. A lot of money has passed under the bridge of wasteful excess and now it all has to end. (Jun. 2003 ComputerWeekly) 100 Best Places to Work in IT Top 100 companies tend not only to work with advanced technology but also to spread that work throughout their organizations to avoid creating groups of haves (those developing cutting-edge applications) and have-nots (those stuck maintaining old systems). This year's Top 100 make it clear that even during hard times, employers can earn the respect and loyalty of their IT workers. (Jun. 2003 ComputerWorld) Understanding the Psychology of Programming Writing code is an act of creativity. This is one of the reasons programmers are happier working on new projects rather than maintenance projects. It isn't just that they don't want to get buried in the filth of the past (although that's part of it); maintenance doesn't offer them the opportunity to create. (Mar. 2003 DevX)
Discrimination in the IT Department Divides I have come across are Mainframe and the rest, IBM world and non-IBM, Cobol and non-Cobol programming groups, Batch and real-time teams. Within these dualities the minority teams often suffered within the culture and could feel unwanted, unloved and un-valued and the subject of verbal put downs. (Jul. 2004 IT_Director)
IT firms take heat for 'sweatshop' labour Many IT manufacturers have outsourced some of their operations to developing countries because wages are much lower, it's easier to hire and fire workers as demand changes, and few people are members of a union. IBM in particular was criticised for failing to include provisions that would stop suppliers from using forced labour or child labour, imposing excessive working hours, or using harsh or inhumane treatment. (Jan. 2004 ZDNet)
A Look Behind IBM's New Hires IBM sees customers demanding more management and control of their heterogeneous computing environments. The 10,000 are needed to accelerate IBM's computing on demand initiative which is all about autonomic system management. But if IBM goes in search for employees in India or China this announcement may not necessarily spell good news for unemployed US IT folks. (Oct. 2003 CIO Information Network)
UK workers talk favourite revenge tactics More than half of UK workers would take revenge against a former employer if they were unhappy about losing their job. Badmouthing the company (31 per cent), taking customer leads (38 per cent), signing their ex-boss up to an X-rated mailing list (10 per cent) and sending nasty emails (10 per cent) were identified as key revenge tactics. (Jul. 2003 The Register)