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this is bs. i would assume that a lot of mit grads (most ?) work in biomedical research doing real work (as opposed to hosting a video site that shows mostly cat videos). your too tunnel focused on internet social networks. very many more technologists do far more rewarding work with decent compensation.
he was obviously just talking about people who want to go the route of internet technology. no one was saying it's the ONLY technology sector. geez... don't need to categorize the entire sector as trivial.
Good IT jobs are being outsourced nowadays at a rapid pace. The low-end IT jobs out there still available pay less than a living wage. Facepuke, Google, Microsoft, Apple all subcontract or use H1B1s to fill low-end IT jobs. Welcome to 2016!
It helps to work at a "hip" company. Or the right sort of established one. Think Facebook, Google. Whats App wold have been good. Pinterest, Twitter stuff like that. You'll learn more at a small company. You can also pick a niche, but that is more of when you have a graduate level degree.
You want to work somewhere that came out of Y Combinator. Or someone with funding from Andresson or Kleiner Perkins. These are VCs that have good connections and look good on a resume. They also help "alumni" get jobs.
I will have to look all this stuff up. Thank you!!
If you're just out of college and have a degree from places like Strayer, U of Phoenix or DeVry, in many cases your degree won't be given much weight. Beyond that, I suspect the school you attended will be more important at places like Google or Apple than it will be at the non Silicon Valley type employers who hire the vast majority of IT workers. I'm sure there are niches out there as well where the name matters, but in the majority of cases as long as you went to a reputable school it shouldn't.
That makes me feel better. I'm pretty sure there are colleges out there with good programs that offer 4-year degrees too. I don't want to have to go to a university if it's not a must but all in all, good to have more than one school to choose from. And obviously when the time comes, I will have to see just how reputable their program is.
I agree with most of what you said. I would say that web development, still, is the easiest starting point because there are a handful of jobs that require only basic HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Some development roles simply don't have any entry-level jobs. Take this from a guy who has applied to hundreds of development jobs and probably browsed through a million. I have never once seen a listing for a
Game Developer
SDET
that didn't require at least 3 years of professional experience.
The lucrative companies such as MSFT, GOOG, etc. always have Software Engineer/Developer positions that are open to recent grads or graduating college Seniors and sometimes only to recent grads or graduating college Seniors (the listing will have as a requirement "Must have graduated in the past 6 months" or "Graduating in 2016"). Those positions are very competitive to get. Your resume is at the bottom of the stack unless you're one of the top CS grads I described earlier in this thread.
Alternatives to "real" development are
QA Engineer (basically, a manual tester)
Support Engineer (basically, someone who files bug reports)
Content Developer (basically, someone who fills in HTML tags with words)
to name a few. I don't think anyone who thinks of themself as a programmer would take those roles as a 1st choice, but they make for great consolation prizes at MSFT, GOOG, etc. because you can still make $70k in those positions at those companies and apply internally for real development positions later.
As I mentioned earlier, Program Manager is a role that many of the top companies want CS grads to go into. Most CS grads I know who work at Microsoft are Program Managers. You'll make more than a Level-1 Software Engineer ($150k versus $100k at Microsoft).
Man, you seem to know a lot. I am grateful for all the advice everyone's given me.
How does it help if you are a woman or a racial minority? Maybe helps means you can get paid less to do the same or more skilled work with more education and/qualifications?
OP if you are planning to become anything in IT, please know that this one of the fields where:
1. Employers are actively outsourcing and planning to outsource to reduce wages.
2. The government is encouraging tons of people to join (at the behest of companies, who claim there is a worker shortage) to reduce wages.
3. There is no union or professional organization to protect the rights of the workers in the field.
If you will be a programmer, then you will work hard and damage your eyes and wrists (esp if you do a lot of Windows-related work and use a mouse). It is also not too good for your health over time, as there is generally a lot of sitting involved. I can't really concentrate well when I'm standing for some reason. It is mentally challenging work, and if you will not have job security or a good work environment, I'd think twice about doing it as a career, unless you really love programming.
If I were you, I'd go into a field with a good professional association. For example, medicine or physical therapy. If you become a surgeon, you can make upwards of 600K per year. This is a lot even with malpractice insurance and other costs. The AMA also fights on behalf of the members to ensure there are lucrative jobs available and decent working conditions for members.
In my experience, some of the developers from India are good, and some are bad. As in very bad. But it doesn't matter because they are cheaper than American workers. At least for now.
You bring up a very good point. A lot of companies used to outsource to China for manufacturing and look now...their labor costs are said to be too high and some international companies are shutting their factories in China and relocating to even cheaper countries such as Bangladesh perhaps.
What happens when even countries like Bangladesh are 'too expensive?' I guess by then, maybe wages will be comparable in the U.S. and they will return 'home.' HAHA I know that that day would probably never arrive but seriously, wages for a lot of industries have fallen plenty in the past few decades.
While the article dates from 2013, the source is accurate and respectable - and things haven't improved that much since then, what with the basic blow-out of all the jobs gained in that short-lived energy bubble.
Long story short, any industry that graduates more people in its field per year than there are job openings in that field does NOT have a shortage. Of course, having all those extra grads lying around does help lower salaries and allow companies to be insanely picky about who they hire, so there's that advantage to promoting the "STEM shortage" myth if you're a big business.
That being said, when it comes to career advise, STEM - as bad as it is - is still one of the better options since too many other things are either vanishing entirely or heading to the realm of part-time, minimum wage work in our new, employment-free society. Good luck.
Thank you. Actually, this is one of my fears. It's like things are happening too fast whether it be jobs getting insourced/outsourced, taken over by technology, poverty wages, etc. It seems as if you can never catch up or by the time you catch up, the bar is set higher.
You said 'employment-free' society. This is something I have been thinking of of late. I wonder how our lives will change when the system caves. I can't imagine how this system will work with so many people not having jobs or having jobs and living in poverty.
isnt the distinction that colleges only have one school (liberal arts) whereas unversities are a collection of colleges (humanities, school of medicine, college of engineering, ...).
Good question. In my mind, I've always thought of colleges as a place you can only get an associates and have to transfer to a university for anything higher. I have recently found out that some colleges offer 4-year degrees. To my knowledge, you can't earn a master's or doctorate's from a college. And universities usually have a wide range of disciplines to choose from and offer advanced degrees.
I agree with the second part of what you wrote; I am unsure about the first part and so I think it's best not to say yes or no.
I can't imagine how this system will work with so many people not having jobs or having jobs and living in poverty.
It doesn't actually work, it's all smoke and mirrors today. The USA is drowning in debt and shedding good paying jobs. Eventually the system crashes.
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Maybe helps means you can get paid less to do the same or more skilled work with more education and/qualifications? 
