Where's Your Job Headed?

**JoeyGee** · 01-12-2008, 08:18 AM

I'm in IT. About 10 years ago, I was working with 2 other guys doing consulting/network design, etc. That was when IT spending had no limit, and we had plenty of work. I knew that wouldn't last, and I was about to get married, so I took a more stable job at a natural gas utility. The old saying was "You'll never make a million dollars, but you'll have a job for life".

Well, the utility business is actually highly volatile, with tons of mergers and buyouts. I have gone through many of these cycles, and I just can't take it anymore. I am the lone survivor in the IT dept. in my state, and am most likely safe for awhile, but I am tired of what I do. There is no hope for advancement, due to all the mergers (despite all the promises of "exciting opportunities with the new, stronger company".

A separate issue, it that all I am left to do all the "hands-on" support--break/fix, etc. since everything else is at our company HQ out of state. I can see this type of work going away, as the life of a fat desktop PC in a business world is slowly dying.

I am starting to work now on my Masters, and will also pursue life in education. Hopefully I will land a job as a teacher (making far less money) but will be able to be home with our kids when they are out of school.

**Uncle Cracker** · 01-12-2008, 08:52 AM

You would think that your buddy would not be an "antique" with an IT/EE degree, C-Man, although he might need an educational tweaking to stay abreast of new technologies. His problem is probably more a result of overseas outsourcing or domestic saturation. Lotta relatively cheap IT graduates flooding the market today, and older or more expensive guys might be getting lost in the equation. In that industry, one might come to rely on his niche or his network, with a specialty or a special reputation to make him the better hire than his peers.

**smorris** · 01-12-2008, 09:20 AM

I am also in the IT field, specifically security. Been there for the best part of 20 years. How it plays out with the current company is unclear but for the moment it pays the bills and I am traveling all over the world. Going forward, it is one of the few growth fields in IT with a deficit of qualified practitioners, plenty of 'certified' players but not many with depth of experience. I get 2-3 calls a month from companies wanting to talk to me.

One of the more interesting points is working with foreign law enforcement and seeing tyranny in action.

**Ed62** · 01-12-2008, 10:13 AM

I hope I never get a pink slip. That would mean I'd have to go back to work.

A local steel mill was my place of employment for over 30 years. It was sold 3 times while I worked there. Even though my job was never in jeopardy, things changed. It became common place that when people retired, the vacancies created were not filled. This seems to be a common thing in downsizing for many industries. Many people were "bought out" in order to get them to retire early.

Ed

**MilDoc** · 01-12-2008, 12:39 PM

Believe it or not, I wonder what the future holds for general pediatrics like I do now - office only, no hospital, etc. Vaccines have wiped out a lot of the truly serious infections I used to see every day. Most of the kids that come in have simple viral infections that can only be "healed" by time.

And the in-store clinics like CVS pharmacy will probably take a lot of that business.

I can see most of pediatrics evolving into hospital based service, with general office practice relegated to family practice and alternate providers (nurse practitioners, etc).

Maybe a good thing. But I'll be retired by then anyway.

**tjmac44** · 01-12-2008, 12:52 PM

I work in IT, J2EE programmer, at a major transportation company. J2EE jobs are to be going to India very fast. The days of programming are coming to an end. The days of writing a spec and sending over to India have begun. I wonder someday if we will be saying "Get yourself a old piece of software that was Made in the USA".

**Alex Franke** · 01-12-2008, 12:54 PM

Originally posted by MilDoc

Believe it or not, I wonder what the future holds for general pediatrics like I do now - office only, no hospital, etc. Vaccines have wiped out a lot of the truly serious infections I used to see every day. Most of the kids that come in have simple viral infections that can only be "healed" by time. ...

I can't even begin to express to you how reassuring it is to have an actual pediatrician (not a clinic or family doctor) tell me things like, "oh, she'll be fine -- I've seen a *lot* of babies with that growth curve, and now I'm even starting to see some of their babies as well." ...or even just smile and say "what a beautiful baby. And look -- he already wants to stand!" This is especially true when it's clear that the doctor knows the child, family, siblings, etc -- comments like "Oh, you've grown so much since I saw you last year! Do you still bear-hug your sister like you used to?" make me realize the value of a quality pediatrician.

I wouldn't trade it for the world, and I sure hope it doesn't go away anytime soon... my kids will be seeing their very same pediatrician until the day either he retires or they turn 18 and are turned away at the door.

**Tom Slick** · 01-12-2008, 01:22 PM

I'm an "IT" guy, but not "IT" as it has become today, I'm an "Industrial Technologist". Currently finishing up my BS in IT, going into facility management and probably into some form of consulting/management for implementing technology into industry. Yeah, I'll be "that guy" who is replacing humans with robots.

**crokett** · 01-12-2008, 03:20 PM

I'm pretty sure my job isn't going anywhere any time soon. There will always be a need for somebody to fix computers. The more complicated they get the happier I am. The real money isn't in the computers themselves anymore, it is in the software and the services companies need after they buy them.

**Hellrazor** · 01-12-2008, 03:29 PM

With the housing market turning sour, oil prices going up, etc I think a lot of people who think they are in a bulletproof job might be wrong. Turning to the educational fields is a good idea until they are saturated. We haven't had any issues hiring technology teachers.

We had problems filling jobs with someone who is "highly qualified" in:
1. Latin
2. Family Consumer Science (what used to be Home Economics)

**scmhogg** · 01-12-2008, 06:58 PM

Criminal Defense:

I will never be out of business. Unless crime stops. I have represented three generations of the same family. When our clients have had children, my wife and I have considered it like an annuity.

When people ask me how things are going, I repy, "Great crime's up."

Steve

**Pappy** · 01-13-2008, 10:40 AM

When I retired from the Corps in '90 I considered putting my training to work for me. I was a Aircraft Firefighter (CFR) and cross trained to back up the structural side of the field. There are only a handfull of airports in the country that have a dedicated CFR unit. Most are a division of the city fire dept and the fireman rotate in and out. At 41, I was too old to even take the test for hiring, despite my previous training and experience.

The other training the Marines provided didn't offer any real employment possibilities, just not a lot of call for Population Control Technitions, a.k.a., hitmen. Worked armed security for a couple of years until I got on with the Post Office. Not the most glamorous job, but it is relatively secure and the wages are decent. In about 6 more years I will hang that uniform up, too. (More like burn it!)

**JimD** · 01-13-2008, 04:34 PM

The easiest way to describe my job is to say I sell nuclear fuel - to electric utilities with nuclear power plants. I've missed a couple opportunities to get promoted but my job is secure. As long as everybody keeps wanting to heat and cool their houses and do all the other things with electricity that we want to do, there will be a need to generate it and the global warming scare is causing people to want to go to non-fossil fuel. Nuclear is the only realistic alternative for large amounts of power and we are starting to be threatened with more orders. For over 20 years I've sold fuel to the existing plants which would get me thorugh my retirement date even with no new plants.

Starting salaries for engineers in our industry keep going up. It is hard to keep the new hires with less than 5 years experience ahead of the kids straight out of school. Nuclear engineers are the most in demand. We need them to design reactor cores but cannot get enough and keep them long enough. Construction of the new plants should start to get big around 2010. That will create a lot of jobs. We have the first two of a new design under construction in China now (early stages) and are writing the contracts for several stations in the U. S. to be operational by 2015.

The utility industry is more stable if the utilities are regulated. We expect most of the new units to be built by regulated utilities. If they can get the PUC to agree to allow rate recovery it removes a lot of risk. The southeast looks like the biggest because there is significant load growth and the utilities are regulated.

Jim

**cabinetman** · 01-13-2008, 05:45 PM

Originally posted by JimD

The easiest way to describe my job is to say I sell nuclear fuel - to electric utilities with nuclear power plants. I've missed a couple opportunities to get promoted but my job is secure. As long as everybody keeps wanting to heat and cool their houses and do all the other things with electricity that we want to do, there will be a need to generate it and the global warming scare is causing people to want to go to non-fossil fuel. Nuclear is the only realistic alternative for large amounts of power and we are starting to be threatened with more orders. For over 20 years I've sold fuel to the existing plants which would get me thorugh my retirement date even with no new plants.

Jim

Whew!! All I can say is...more power to ya!!!

.

Where's Your Job Headed?

Where's Your Job Headed?

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