My observation that a lot of people in IT came from poorer families could be completely wrong, and it is almost certainly partially due to the fact that my career to this point has mostly been in technical support rather than something more glamorous in the industry. I have seen a large number of technical workers who have purported to come from modest backgrounds, though. Beyond this, I have also noticed an inordinately large number of people from modest backgrounds who have taken a significant interest in tech as their key to a better life, even if they have not ultimately gotten a technical job.
In some respects this makes total sense. It seems like the industry more than most others rewards and punishes workers based on ability and intelligence. Politics applies, but to a lesser degree. If you're not cut out to be a programmer, or a systems administrator, or whatever it is going to matter less if your dad is the CTO for the company. You probably could coast in a different department, such as Marketing, where individual contributions are more difficult to quantify. On the flip side, if you are naturally skilled and someone gives a chance you can do well.
This also makes sense from the education perspective. This is a white collar profession where a bachelors degree or a graduate degree is not required. The same cannot be said for other white collar roles, from doctors to lawyers to mechanical engineers. Sure, most technical jobs claim to require at least a bachelor's degree, but most of those will also allow for "equivalent work experience." Less of an educational requirement means a lower barrier for people who don't have the money up front for a college education and/or four to eight years available to make a bet on a specific career.
I think the biggest reason for this, however, is the marketing from schools like DeVry and ITT Tech. By their nature they target students with lesser means (in either time or money) than a traditional school targets. Since the biggest bang for their buck is to target those industries where someone with an undergrad degree or less can make a decent living, they focus on the tech and healthcare industries. I have worked with a lot of DeVry graduates, and an unfortunate side-effect of their education that seems to be a universal is significant student loan debt. Since not everyone is cut out to work in technical fields, this presents a bit of a risk that the degree will not lead to a job to pay off the loan for the degree. It presents a hidden risk to those who are cut out for the industry as well, though.
Something that I learned before I had much technical experience on my resume is that, unless your degree is from a relatively prestigious school, experience matters far more than education when applying for a technical job. The places that hire straight out of school usually expect some specific ability or depth of knowledge that you don't necessarily get in the classroom. The people who do well tend to be the ones who did a lot of out-of-class learning on their own. This is a problem for any student with limited real-world experience. For-profit school students, with their higher-than-average debts that will not go away until they are paid off, are in a much tougher situation, however. A degree does not guarantee a job in the industry, and one may not ever be available for specific, individual graduates.
As a final note, I do seem to run across a lot of people who think that IT is the gateway to six-figure incomes, and I think this draws in people looking for something akin to an earned lottery payout. There are people who make that but, based on what limited information I have, they tend to fall into one or (very likely) more of the following four categories.
- They hold a senior role.
- They live in an expensive city that necessitates high pay.
- They are a consultant and can tolerate the income variability.
- They happen to be an expert in a relatively new and highly-used technology.
My foundational point is that technical jobs do offer opportunities that do not exist in other places, but they should not be pursued by people who do not have a genuine interest in the work. The payout simply is not as high as some people think it is, and there is a good chance a person looking to enter the field for the money will have to fight for opportunities just to get a position to acquire the experience employers expect. If you do like the work and have realistic expectations regarding what you will make, then entering the industry makes sense.
2 comments:
It's also driven by the technical training companies like Centriq, who have ads on the radio all the time basically saying, "Hey, do you know nothing about computers but would like a high-paying job in IT where they're hiring like gangbusters? Well come get trained by us, and you can go from a random dude who barely knows how to turn on a computer to a rich IT guru in no time! Call now!"
Jason, that's unfortunate as well. As you and I both know, there's a steep learning curve with most technical jobs, and a lot of places don't have the patience to get people up to speed.
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