Computer industry 'faces crisis'

**Shimano105** · 17 November 2006, 09:58

I propose more immigration... John Reid... period of consultation etc.

**AtW** · 17 November 2006, 10:02

Nothing suprising - at the time of .CON bust few wanted to enter IT courses because situation was so dire and with 3 year lag now is the time this decision is felt by the industry which loves so much fresh grads who would work long hour for sh1t pay for the sake of 2 years exp, and best of all every new year new grad can be found.

IT is certainly no longer a field where career is worth pursueing unless you love computers that much, but then again if that's the case then it is smarter to become a plumber or carpenter, work locally for cash in hand, have some physical exercises on fresh air, shag bored housewifes and do computer programming as hobby in the evening while zipping Bollinger Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Francaises

**bobhope** · 17 November 2006, 10:13

So that should mean an upward pressure on rates?

**DimPrawn** · 17 November 2006, 10:22

Originally posted by TheOmegaMan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6155998.stm

Here we go!

1. Industry declares "skill crisis"
2. Government appoint minister of IT
3. Government propose solution. Immigration.
4. Government dish out 1,000,000 work permits, mostly to India.
5. Big companies snap them up wholesale.
6. Lots of young, naive, idiots arrive in the UK and work for £6/hr
7. House prices triple!!!!!

**Ardesco** · 17 November 2006, 10:30

To me the fact it comes from the BCS means it is probably half truths and wild assumptions.

I actually worked for a test manager who was high up in the BCS and had himself and ISEB practitioners once. He was without doubt the most useless person I have ever met in the world. He knew nothing useful, enthused about being a geek and was more interested in pushing the BCS to everybody around him than he was actually doing his job. He would do such amazing things as test a product that was written specifically for IE (standard corporate build) in Firefox and then raise showstoppers because it didn't work properly (It is written specifically for IE because corp build does not have firefox and it should not be installed an any corp machine and it says this in spec and release notes moron...). In the end they sacked him 2 months into his job for gross incompetance.

If all BCS people are like this my advice is steer well clear and ignore what they say as they obviously don't have a clue...

**Cliphead** · 17 November 2006, 10:34

Originally posted by AtW

IT is certainly no longer a field where career is worth pursueing unless you love computers that much, but then again if that's the case then it is smarter to become a plumber or carpenter, work locally for cash in hand, have some physical exercises on fresh air, shag bored housewifes and do computer programming as hobby in the evening while zipping Bollinger Blanc de Noirs Vieilles Vignes Francaises

I've never had a career in IT, I'm a musician who does contracting as a hobby in between gigs. Lots of bored housewives if that's yer thing.

**BobTheCrate** · 17 November 2006, 11:04

Computer skills are essential across a whole range of disciplines - everything from pharmaceuticals through to modern transportation systems depend on properly skilled IT specialists.

Well DHL last year (or year before) moved its entire European data centre to Prague making a substantial volume of 'skilled IT redundancies'. Most if not all the development work has been performed in Kuala Lumpur for a number of years now. So what other logistics outfits are recruiting ?

Ans : None.

properly skilled IT specialists ay ?

Oh I know. Someone who has got 10 years + commercial experience of .net, Java II, C++, XML, Oracle, SAP, some other piece of application software that no bugger has ever heard of, business analysis, graphical design with proven ability to integrate all the aformentioned technologies at molecular or sub molecular level. And graduated from University no more than 2 years ago. Also is unlikely to physically flatten some HR idiot who hasn't a clue about anything or anyone. And that's just to be considered for interview.

Salary expectation : £16k to £25k

**sasguru** · 17 November 2006, 11:09

Well what do guys expect if techies who know something don't move into management? The problem is few techies can deal with the politics of the corporate world, preferring instead to stick to technical stuff. That's fair enough but you can hardly complain if the management vacuum is then filled by numpties. The place to be is on the interface between business and technology. Those who can genuinely straddle both worlds can easily make 6 figures as a permy, which beats contracting.

**Forumbore** · 17 November 2006, 11:21

Originally posted by sasguru

Well what do guys expect if techies who know something don't move into management? The problem is few techies can deal with the politics of the corporate world, preferring instead to stick to technical stuff. That's fair enough but you can hardly complain if the management vacuum is then filled by numpties. The place to be is on the interface between business and technology. Those who can genuinely straddle both worlds can easily make 6 figures as a permy, which beats contracting.

I work for a large UK retailer and there is hardly an IT worker to be seen here in the UK as all the systems have been otsourced to India. It is no wonder few people wish to move in to IT when all they hear is that most companies are looking to offshore their IT.

Where are these organisations that are so desperatly short of IT workers anyway?

Computer industry 'faces crisis'