I recently left life in Toronto. Arguably one of the continent’s most connected and technologically advanced cities. During the height of the dot-com boom it was “Silicon North” in the press, and for good reason. Most of the large IT companies had headquarters there. 360networks was born there. Good things happened to IT people in Toronto.
This attitude resulted in an incredible saturation in the IT marketplace. One job I applied for, and was shortlisted for, had more than 2500 applicants. It wasn’t unusual to see single, entry-level jobs, getting 500+ applicants. In fact, the IT recruiting agency in Toronto took off not to help candidates find jobs, but mainly to sort out the unqualified candidates. They became the work horses of corporations who were sick of getting IT-school grads applying to VP positions. Gaugers of real qualification, so to speak.
That’s one of the reasons I moved to Winnipeg. For this position there were 40 applicants. Of whom 6 were qualified. Not really much of a contest, in terms of competition. It’s definitely more nerve-racking to be the final 4 out of 2500 applicants, trust me.
Anyways….
Tech schools across the continent have started closing.
This can only be a good thing for the real IT people among us. You know what I mean. Those who aren’t like Bob.
The closing of the schools, hopefully, means less students seeking jobs that don’t exist, which will eventually filter down to only those who are actually qualified (or really want to be) IT people, instead of just those looking for a quick buck thanks to tech-school hype advertising.
The forces of free market economics at work in the job market. The timing couldn’t be better. The whispers of a job re-awakening are gaining strength (whether you believe them or not). At the same time, less people are entering this job market. A good thing for those of us who are qualified, have experience and have proven ourselves valuable to a variety of organizations over the years.
I’m not likely to leave my job anytime soon, unless I get a truly amazing offer at a company at least as good as HSC, but I wish the rest of the job seekers all the best!
February 23rd, 2004 at 6:35 pm
I’m glad the paper cert isn’t getting the respect it used to. I would really like to see some public colleges and universities institute a “limited access” policy for IT-type majors as well. Over 50% of the students in the business school at my alma mater are MIS majors. Add that to the CS and EE graduates (it is mostly an engineering school) and you have a glut of tech workers still in the market, albeit with better educations, but still having trouble finding work. Maybe it won’t be so bad if the “retiring baby boomer” theory pans out, but for now I feel fortunate in having an IT career at all
.
February 25th, 2004 at 6:19 am
I am one of those jobless school grads…. I agree with Vinne, my graduating class was full of students from the pre-dot-com bomb era. You know the ones who thought they could learn everything about IT in 4 years.. It’s sad to say but out of 80 MIS grads in my class 5 or maybe 10(that’s pushing it) knew anything about MIS.
My theory about MIS is this: MIS is like a music degree; you don’t jump into a college program and expect to be a master piano player when you graduate. You must have started playing the piano at age 13, that’s why you become a music major. The same should apply to MIS, don’t waste the first year and half teaching MS office and the difference between a server and a client. That should be a given. If they don’t know it — Barnes and Nobles has a whole aisle dedicated to these people.
Sorry J I don’t mean to rant on your site, but it’s what happened in my program. It really blew my gasket.
March 1st, 2004 at 12:31 pm
Right on, right on! I’ve long advocated standing each job applicant in a large paper bag and telling him “Now code your way out.” It’s about time the market and good IT folks started driving all the IT poseurs away.
One trivial nit, Jeremy:
less : real; {* continuous quantities *}
fewer : integer; {* discrete quantities *}
This is how I teach statisticians to tell ‘em apart.
March 1st, 2004 at 8:07 pm
Good points – the market trimming should teach the difference between being overemployed and underemployed. Liked the Bob link as well.
February 29th, 2004 at 2:55 pm
Carnival of the Capitalists
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists! Last week’s Carnival can be found here Miscellany First * Professor Bainbridge discusses Martha Stewart and executive compensation. Executive compensation long has been a target of shar…
December 7th, 2004 at 1:09 am
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