The JobSyntax Blog is currently participating in BlogSwap with other bloggers interested in recruiting-related issues. Each week during BlogSwap, another blogger will post to JobSyntax about topics that should be of interest to our readers, and we'll write posts for different audiences on other sites. It should be a fun experiment, and we hope you discover fun new content!
Our second guest blogger is Shannon Seery of EXCELER8ion. Welcome, Shannon (and Julian!)
The Move Offshore: Is Software Engineering a Dead-end Profession in the US?
Not according to a recent article in InformationWeek which states:
…. IT jobs were added at a faster rate during the past 24 months than in some perennially hot fields like accounting, nursing, and legal, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Good news for JobSyntax readers as some of the fastest growth was seen specifically among software engineers (up 3.6%). And, a recent article on CNN Money ranked Software Engineering the number 1 - top 10 best jobs in America! Of course – this growth is slightly deceiving as the growth today is mainly due to an overall market correction from the days of the dotcom bust. Being in Internet advertising, this is when I had to become a pharmaceutical sales rep in order to get a job in the Bay Area. I am one of the few that actually returned to my field once things turned up. Similarly, the software engineering industry is actually beginning to suffer from a lack of software engineers due in part to the mass industry exodus during the bust, but also fewer students are choosing to major in computer science and enter the field. There is an overall perception that there is no real growth/development (i.e. real career paths to managerial, not just individual contributor roles) or that these jobs will soon be outsourced to India and elsewhere. According to Gretchen, in a few years, it will be a full blown shortage of software engineers.
Technology is what drives most innovation and the majority of companies have woken up to this, and while the recent IT employment growth is indicative of the awakening, the industry now needs a rebranding of sorts to let the next generation of workers know that the industry has matured since the days of the bust. While I agree with Gretchen that recruiting and evangelizing responsibilities should be integrated into every software engineer's job; it also seems like the industry overall should help out as well.
This reminds us of a similar situation in healthcare. Recruitment Marketing targeted to the next generation of workers encouraging them to ENTER the field has become a necessity to help combat the impending nursing shortage. To help combat the nursing crises, industry leaders like Johnson & Johnson have launched a full media campaign to help the industry as a whole. The J&J campaign is called “Discover Nursing” and it is a widespread marketing efforts that encompasses print, internet and TV. (I actually saw one of their ads on CNN a few nights ago…for those of you outside of recruitment marketing – budgets big enough for national TV spots for recruitment purposes is almost unheard of!).
Given the importance of software engineers in this information age to business innovation - perhaps the industry could band together and launch a smart marketing campaign (the Microsofts, Amazons, Ciscos, Xerox, and Googles out there) the way that healthcare is beginning to for Nursing. (Given the field – we are sure that some pretty amazing interactive marketing campaigns could be created utilizing web 2.0 strategies that healthcare by and large just isn’t ready for.)
A perception change is needed to let the employers and the next generation of workers know that it is a viable career and that yes - There are still software engineering jobs left in the US!