AgS2K

Depends on the company; many financial companies are offshoring their IT work. Don't know about Healthcare

Meeyatch1

Wow....there are lots of other people on here taking time to ponder a career change as well...

thunderchicken

Health Care was touched by the outsourcing bug. I'm a casualty.

I'm right now doing contract work as well, and I can't stand the feeling of not being a perm employee.

That's the #1 reason I had to trade in my S last month.

There's a lot of discussion about this topic, and I personally think that the market is going to shift back. Customers do NOT want to talk to someone who doesn't understand things and they do like to be face to face with someone.

I think Customer Service is going to make a huge comeback in the next 2 to 5 years, because people are starting to get frustrated with this outsourcing.

People are going to realize it's better to pay for something that works right the first time, instead of having programmers who don't know what their doing having to redo their work 3 to 4 times. That low hourly wage starts to addup with hours are so much more than a local developer.

You have to admit though, Programmers are pretty damn overpaid. That's our own fault, but right now, being a contractor, I'm making almost twice as much as when I started out 4 years ago.

thunderchicken

Stick it out, if you have experience, you'll at least have a better shot than newbies coming out of college. Companies aren't going to train people who don't know what they're doing. They want someone ready to go once they start.

cashout

Me too!... great minds... great minds!

cashout

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nin009
I left the industry about eight months ago.

cashout

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SierraC3_S2000
I am in the communications field and do some IT work but I work on military contracts overseas. I know of one contractor right now that is hiring for Iraq paying desktop analysts $235,000.00 a year. If you are a single guy this might be something you

cyber_x

I feel the same pain. I'm in software and haven't received a pay raise in 3 years. Lately, there's been layoffs, and we no longer get quarterly bonuses. My tuition reimbursement program has also been stopped. Employers know that the job market is tough, and because of that, they no longer need to treat employees well. Low pay, low morale, low appreciation, and long hours are pretty much the norm.

Personally, I'm about halfway through my MBA, and hope that will lead me to happier lands on the business side. I'm not holding my breath, though.

steve c

Now here's the odd flipside to things.

We have been hiring mid-level programmers and a couple senior folks for the past year (.net, some SQL, VB6 background) and have had an incredibly hard time finding folks capable of passing a simple tech screen (how do you swap a value between to variables ... etc, simple shit mostly).

Granted, the location is in the midwest, but we are paying a competitive wage.

My theory is that most of the good folks (not all, I know some talented people out of work) are still employed and the industry has gone through a very necessary cycle of cutting out the dead wood. Let's face it, we all know and have worked with people in this field who belonged in a canning factory somewhere in Alaska.

ruexp67

I think Whitepony hit the nail on the head. I am a System Engineer with a company that does not make their money on IT. My raise last year covers the monthly payment on my S. I have been here for 3 years, so I got in JUST before everything went to hell. We are not hiring, but it's for reasons that have nothing to do with the IT industry.

I think security is a great way to go.

If you think you worked long hours before, then become a network engineer to learn what REAL long hours are. I could not do that anymore. Our comm guys never sleep.