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Can The IT Career Choice Be Saved?

It's certainly enlightening to read why so many people are disaffected with a career choice that they presumably felt positively about at least at some point in their lives. It's also profoundly sad to me to see so many people so full of negativity about their life's work.

Believe me, I don't blame them for a minute. I see many of the problems up close and personal, because I'm married to an IT guy. I've lived with the 2 a.m. beeper calls, the worrying that he'll make it in one piece to the data center (an hour away) in the middle of a snowstorm when a major server's gone down, the 18-hour days, watching the exploding-head syndrome as he tries to solve a problem while being yelled at for whatever's wrong to begin with (regardless of whether it's his fault or not), the traveling so he can train other ITers on technologies that he's expert in, and so on.

This might sound like whining, but it's really not meant to be. It's just the way it is. And I'm extraordinarily proud of my IT guy; he does a difficult job and he does it very well. And of course all jobs have their challenges; as Dad used to say, that's why they call it 'work.'

It's a fact, though, that the environment has certainly changed, that working in IT (and pretty much everywhere) is more stressful, and that fewer people are entering the field than before. So what to do?

Robert Rosen, president of the IBM Share user group and a long-time member of this industry, has some interesting ideas. He's on a mission to help retain existing IT professionals, and help recruit new ones, and says he believes the field is still a "fun" place to be. One of his suggestions is for people at or near retirement age to return to their companies--or go to others--as consultants. Often they can get involved in more interesting projects than the ones they left. Companies don't have to pay full benefits to 'consultants,' so everyone wins.

Here's another one: allow more ITers to telecommute. Yes, I realize that not everyone's job description is telecommute-friendly. But there seems to be resistance to telecommuting from some quarters that's more based on a fear of loss of control, or reduced productivity, than anything. Two key points here are that 1) it can and does work and 2) if it doesn't, all interested parties will know it within a week. In fact, IT people are often more productive working from home because there are fewer interruptions. But if the temptation to pad around in fuzzy slippers and watch "Star Trek" reruns proves too strong, no real work will be accomplished and a watchful and proactive manager will catch on pretty quickly.

Given today's higher gas prices, the ability to work from home a few days each week can be a very real and powerful benefit. A couple of companies recently offered tips on how to make telecommuting successful for all involved.

Helping matters--at least this month--is that the IT job outlook is brighter than it's been. A new survey says that IT and telecom professionals were considerably more optimistic about their jobs in September than workers in most other sectors. Some 82% of the IT pros surveyed said they were happy with their current jobs in September--the highest score to date--compared to only 70% in August.

At this point, we know why people are leaving or are unhappy in their IT careers. What can we do to get them to stay? I'm thinking that if bright, articulate, successful IT managers put their heads together, they can and will come up with different ways of retaining and attracting good people.

Let's try to advance the discussion. I invite you to take part by putting your two-cents' worth in the comments field below.

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