It was reported on ITWire 16-Nov-08 that 17,500 jobs are gone: “this has been a bad week for technology workers. As the economy continues to squeeze technology companies, staff are set to get crunched by swathing job cuts at BT, Sun and Yahoo!”
This just goes back to my earlier post on IT as a career choice about why kids are not choosing an ICT career.
Why would you choose it? ICT jobs are the canary in the coal mine of the economy – slow to appoint new workers & early to remove jobs in a downturn. Might as well become an accountant, at least that is a growth industry!
Aide Mémoire 
Hi Kate,This is an interesting post. I think during downturns in the economy reporters tend to report all the “doom and gloom” stories as it grabs the headlines and it can be easy to get swept up in the headlines.While there are number of companies announcing lay-offs and redunancies there are still a number of companies that are hiring which tends to go unnoticed during these tough financial times.In IT there are some great people and companies who really make innovative solutions and it can be very satisfying to be involved in that.I think the reason for students to go into IT is not just about job security or salary, but students should aim to do something they enjoy and love (if they want to be accountants – go for it, but if coding is what someone enjoys they should strive for that).
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The reason I got into IT, from accounting of all places, was that being a programmer allows me to create. Being creative as an accountant tends to get one put in jail…But that wasn’t you question. Why work in IT? If IT is about having a day job, then IT is the worst industry ever. Long hours, bugger all respect for past performance, constant change, and dealing with people’s emotions as you change their world.If however you go into IT to change the world, that is a different thing entirely…
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