IT and IT related gigs

[PushRod]

Originally Posted by bellevue123

In the dev ops model, that would be the software engineers. Increasingly software engineers are responsible for provisioning their own cloud resources, monitoring, and dealing with all computing infrastructure. Of course there will always be a demand for some sort of IT, but that demand is decreasing and will continue to decrease.

It won't decrease for quite sometime if at all, it's called Dev Ops for reason software engineers are on the dev side while the ops side is everything they can't deal with.

[FrankSpencer]

Originally Posted by PushRod

It won't decrease for quite sometime if at all, it's called Dev Ops for reason software engineers are on the dev side while the ops side is everything they can't deal with.

Tell that to all buddies at Amazon and Netflix and Google who carry pagers. When their code breaks, they fix it. And redeploy it. In the middle of the night.

Devops is new model, practiced in reality at very few IT places. It probably is the way of the future for some sectors of the IT industry, and not others. Until the next 'paradigm' arrives. I predict Developer Enhanced Velocity Operations ...

[PushRod]

Originally Posted by FrankSpencer

Tell that to all buddies at Amazon and Netflix and Google who carry pagers. When their code breaks, they fix it. And redeploy it. In the middle of the night.

I've been through that especially on the network side of things, I always said too much networking will never be enough. I would think that those at Amazon and Netflix and Google would have some sort of Integrated framework & Event-Based monitoring but who knows.

[Cecilia M]

Originally Posted by bellevue123

I'd advise against any of those options personally. Cloud computing is only going to become more widespread, which will reduce the need for many of these IT/support/admin positions. Companies will no longer manage their own IT to the extent that they used to.

And who supports the cloud computing applications? Angels?

[bellevue123]

Originally Posted by Cecilia M

And who supports the cloud computing applications? Angels?

Highly scalable software written by software engineers at a very small number of companies. Yes, there will be some support engineers at these companies. And yes, there will be some technical staff at the data centers. However, there are huge efforts underway to automate away as much of this as possible. Plus, most IT people will not work for one of the large cloud computing firms.

Anyways, the point is that demand for these folks will likely decrease in the long term. If I'm choosing something to study, I'd prefer to pick something that will be in demand for my entire working career.

[nF88]

Originally Posted by FrankSpencer

This program is specifically targeted for transitioning folks with non-CS degrees through a program that ends up with a Masters degree in CS, and provides internship/coops along the way to help with costs.

MS in Computer Science - ALIGN | ALIGN | Northeastern University

Thanks so much for this, Frank. However, $60k just isn't within my budget, which is why I'm considering community colleges.

[nF88]

Originally Posted by Cecilia M

I have a decent paying IT job in Seattle and I have no IT schooling whatsoever. I have a couple of liberal arts degrees, but over the years I have learned software specific to my original field and slowly drifted over to the IT support side. The funny thing about IT is you can learn everything there is to know about a certain technology and then it changes. ha! About 65% of being an IT person is just critical thinking and problem solving on the job and constantly be willing to learn, adapt and grow at a pace that matches the industry. (the other 35% is donuts)

That having been said, I think one would probably have a wider field of job opportunities if he or she had some kind of certificate or training in something, so you are probably doing the right thing. I don't think your BA totally goes in the trash- I think you can market it as a time when you learned critical thinking skills and intellectual skills that still serve you well, and the additional community college courses in IT-specific things are how you are picking up practical skills.

When it comes to what you should study, I think you should pick the one that most interests you, go headlong into it, learn as much as you possibly can and try to get some real world experience before you hit the job market. If you choose something just because it's the "most in demand" but it doesn't interest you, you are setting yourself up for a pretty difficult time in school and your career. Good IT people are always in demand because non-technical people don't want to have anything to do with that work.

Good luck with your career change and know that if you get an IT job, it's never boring!

Thanks for this, Cecilia. This is sound advice. I wish I could get some real world experience before I hit the job market, but I think the only way to do that is by getting an internship through schooling.

I think the area I would (possibly) be most interested in would be as a help desk person. I know they don't typically make bank, but that's what I think I would enjoy most and I think I would feel most comfortable with. I still want to dig deeper into the areas of interest. I'm definitely not looking for programming or data designing work.