Schooling

On Sunday 07 December 2003 16:29, Michael Havens wrote:
> Okay, here is what I'm thinking....
> What is the job market like for IT people?
> Here is what I am going to do. My voc. rehab counselor told me about a
> school (Maricopa Skill Center) that is thinking of soon starting a prog=
ram
> focusing itself on training people to become slot machine technichians.=
I
> ask you all; what is a modern slot machine? Answer: It is a big special=
ized
> computer with whistles and bells! I am going to prepare myself for this
> program by doing as Bob suggested and getting my A+ certs. (THANKS BOB!=
)
> As I talked to my father about this further (and I whined about wanting=
to
> be involved with UNIX) he helped me to realize that the rerpair aspect =
of
> it is not the whole enchilada. It is quite possible that UNIX might be =
the
> OS of the casino I am working for.
> It is a good thought at least.
> What do you all think of my new plan?

Michael,
     Interesting question. There are several technical areas in your comm=
ents=20
that are all seeing an enormous amount of change. First, much of the "IT"=
=20
area as we've known it for the past 10-20 years is now moving off-shore t=
o=20
India, Russia, China and other places where labor, educated labor, is pai=
d=20
significantly less than US labor. This move is happening in technical sup=
port=20
as well as pure software engineering. And when I hear a technical school=20
hyping their IT program on the television, I'm starting to feel more and =
more=20
uneasy about what they are selling versus what the job market may be like=
 in=20
the US in a couple of years. That's the minus side as I see it.
     Second, and not clearly a plus or a minus yet, Unix (and the variant=
=20
known as Linux) is seeing a very large upswing in popularity, but the fut=
ure=20
is somewhat cloudy due, in no small part, to the battles in the courts th=
at=20
are now taking shape, and which lead many companies to take a "wait and s=
ee"=20
attitude toward open source. While it is true that many companies, even l=
arge=20
ones, have embraced it, you'll also find that those very same companies a=
re=20
hedging their bets by continuing a positive relationship with closed-sour=
ce=20
products. IBM is a good example because they've invested a huge number of=
=20
dollars and resources into open source in general and Linux in particular=
,=20
but I dare say that the majority of their revenue from notebook computers=
 (to=20
pick just one part of their business) comes through paid-up software lice=
nses=20
from Microsoft. It's not clear to me, therefore, whether Unix (Linux) is =
a=20
"sure bet" just yet.
     Third, and the one clear positive in my answer, is that Linux is now=
 in=20
use in gambling machines. I've worked with the engineers who were buildin=
g a=20
poker-playing video machine for casinos and those machines are in product=
ion=20
as of about two years ago. The company, IGT, is at http://www.igt.com/ an=
d=20
you can take a look at their job postings to see what they are looking fo=
r. I=20
searched for "software" a few moments ago and turned up several software=20
engineering jobs (requiring a BSEE or equivalent). One of them said,=20
"Required working knowledge of MS Windows and PC-based software developme=
nt=20
tools. POSIX, UNIX, RTOS experience desirable. Knowledge of crytography,=20
compression, XML, Java, and DHTML a plus." (I jokingly asked one of the=20
software engineers at IGT how to win using their machines and, in all=20
seriousness, he answered, "Don't play.")
     Considering all this, I think it might be worth your while to check =
some=20
websites of potential employers and, possibly, use the telephone to talk =
with=20
someone in their HR department and see if they currently have people on s=
taff=20
doing the kinds of things you are considering. Of course, they won't be a=
ble=20
to tell you what the situation will be in a year or two. For that, you'll=
=20
simply have to roll the dice and see what comes up like the rest of us.
     Good luck (no pun intended).

--=20
Ed Skinner, ed@flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/