Time For A Career Change

The I.T. workforce is singing the job blues. According to a recent survey, six in 10 IT pros are ready to bolt from their jobs, and the majority of those people want a different employer.

Sixty percent of 462 IT workers recently surveyed by the Computing Technology Industry Association say they're looking for new jobs, and 81% of job hunters describe their searches as active. A whopping 80% of those looking for new gigs say they hope to land with new employers.

Nine out of 10 of those surveyed are employed. The average survey respondent had more than nine years of IT experience. This was the first time CompTIA conducted the survey, so it couldn't provide comparative numbers for previous years.

Other findings of the survey indicate that some of the job-itchiness may be caused by a lack of career-development programs. "Most employers don't seem to have a good understanding of what's involved with IT work or advancing an IT career," says Neill Hopkins, CompTIA's VP of skills development. Employers would do better at retaining tech workers if they did more to improve skills and provided career opportunities, he says.

Respondents say they get little career help from employers. Eight-five percent say it's up to the individual to decide what training and education they need; only 8% get suggestions or requirements from their employers.

Employers don't make it easy or cheap for technology workers to get additional training. Only 20% of the respondents say their employers provide paid time away from work for training and education, and 88% say they're responsible for paying at least part of their career-training costs.

IT workers spent $2,200 on average for training and education in the past year and expect to spend $2,300 in the next 12 months. They spend about 11 hours a week learning new skills and technologies.

With the job market for IT workers improving in some areas, job dissatisfaction could foreshadow increased employee turnover in the months ahead.