IT Jobs Will Be Hot With Obama In The White House

[ChromeFoundry]

Dec 17, 2008 04:36 PM


There's a little more than a month before President-elect Barack Obama gets sworn in. Based on the hints he's provided so far about his economic stimulus plans and other programs, some pundits are predicting that demand for IT jobs will take off, especially in key sectors.

"This will be the second best of times for IT people," after the dot-com boom, predicts Rob McGovern, CEO of online job matching site, JobFox, in an interview with InformationWeek.

"Our economy is an information-based economy, and Obama's $700 billion economic stimulus programs will create millions of new jobs -- and that means it's a good time to be an IT person," he says.

Some sectors will be particularly promising for tech talent, says McGovern. That includes health care. Obama has said a major component of his economic recovery plan focuses on building a health care IT infrastructure and promoting the use of electronic medical records by doctors.

As you probably know, the Bush administration also pushed the adoption of health IT, including the creation of a national, interoperable health information highway. While progress has been made in the adoption of e-medical record systems by hospitals and doctors over the last several years, there's still by far a much bigger reliance on paper than digital records in health care. Obama's expected to put more funding behind various health care IT-related initiatives. Under Obama's administration, McGovern expects the health care industry's demand will strengthen for a variety of IT talent, including software developers, security experts, and bio-informatics specialists.

Health care isn't the only industry that will be seeking IT expertise over the next four years, says McGovern. Other industries include the alternative energy sector, which will be looking for various kinds of specialized engineering expertise, but also more mainstream tech talent.

"I'd rather be an IT person doing work on the accounting system for a company that's building solar energy products than the accounting system of an automotive company," says McGovern. "IT people typically leave jobs for more interesting work, and smart people will find interesting IT jobs in promising industries."

Also, Obama's initiatives related to revamping the nation's roads, bridges, transit system, and extending rural broadband also will fuel the creation of new tech-related jobs needing telecommunication engineers and computer-aided drafting expertise, predicts McGovern.

Meanwhile, moves toward greater oversight of the financial markets in the wake of Wall Street's recent crisis also will bring a need for compliance specialists, including tech expertise.

One last tech-job related prediction from McGovern: "You won't see an increase in the number of annual H-1B visas," something that Congress has been weighing the last several years. Between the weak economy and a Democrat-controlled Congress, McGovern doubts increases to the H-1B cap will come anytime soon, although reforms to crack down on visa abuse and fraud by employers will likely gain support.

"The ability for companies to import foreign IT talent will get more difficult," he says, "but that will be good for American workers."

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/12/_it_jobs_will_b.html

[no limit]

1. I sure hope so.

[OhioChick]

2. You and me both.

K&R

[drm604]

3. That makes three of us. n/t

[tridim]

7. Let's hear it for four!

Losing my job is about all I think about these days.

My neighbor's company just hired a Jr. Developer and they got 400 resumes in 2 days, mostly from Senior Developers.

[Myrina]

10. Goin' for FIVE ... IT Project Manager here ...

... currently employed - while my title says PM, basically they treat me like a glorified Admin Assistant because I'm the woman ... :eyes:

Can't wait until the market opens up and jobs start posting!!

[OhioChick]

11. Senior Consultant here...or aka Hired Whore.

I sure as hell hope that job market opens up, soon.

[undeterred]

15. Six

Right now I am driving 120 mi per day for a crummy unchallenging assignment that is. I have something lined up when it ends in January- a job with no benefits and the lowest rate I've ever accepted. At least its a job.

[Azlady]

4. Good strong words there that all of IT folks needed to hear/read!

This is great news! Made my day for sure

[Rebubula]

5. IT

The future is in the Internet and other future iterations of the technology.

To ANYONE that is not having a good time in their field or wants a good career - look into an MCSE course. I had been waiting tables and wandering around the country with the Dead and Phish (not that I regret anything, but a 32 year old person with no real skill set or college degree is not very hire able for anything that will make good money) when I got tired of it. I took out a loan and took some classes.

That was 9 years ago. I can still smoke grass, drink and go to shows (no more three months tours, but I am getting too old for that shit anyway) and be the same irreverent asshole that I always was - while at the sametime being highly respected and well paid for my skills.

If you have an at-risk teen (I mentor to local at-risk teens), suggest the IT field. Most of the people that I have worked with over the years have been good, liberal folks. Only a few assholes.

Just my 2 Cents

[many a good man]

12. Right place, right time

Like you I was stuck in a dead end job and got my MCSE cert in 97. I had absolutely no IT background at the time. Instead of networking, I added some database certs and life is good.

I was desperate at the time and did some digging to find out what jobs had more demand than people to fill them. At the time it was MCSE. Forunately, I liked it and I'm good at it.

Hopefully Obama can help create another environment like we had in the late 90s. It turned my life around. I would love to see it happen to others. Especially good Dems; most IT folks I know are pretty apolitical.

I'm in Rockville. Maybe we can grab a drink sometime! :toast:

[nyc 4 Biden]

6. Good News!

I gave up on the IT field after I couldn't get a full-time job back when I graduated college in 2001 after the dot com bust. The market was flooded with very experienced IT workers that were forced to work for low salaries. I was very disheartened and gave up on IT, basically wasting the 20K I paid (and am still paying) for my Network Admin degree to supplement my BS in economics. I guess I could always go back if my current job goes sour.

[tridim]

8. IT needs a union.

I've been used and abused almost my entire career.

Low pay, no benefits, lots of unpaid overtime, homework, etc. They can get away with it because they know how hard it is to find IT jobs now.

[Rebubula]

9. Homework?

What are your Certs? Skill set?

In the DC area, IT jobs are aplenty. I know of a couple of companies that are always hiring (consultant stuff) because of the economic situation. In this economy, it may be wise to look at an IT consulting firm. Many mid sized companies do not want full time help (if you set up the network properly, it does not take much work) and staffing firms (like Dataprise in Rockville) are unable to keep up with demand.

Obviously, every area is different.

Good luck to you.

[Billy Burnett]

13. We should all become IT specialists/ Microslutcertified.

That way we can all swap information around with each other and make the big bucks. After all, we don't need to be actually making things here anymore, so there's no need for training for that. IT specialization will help US/multinationals swap information with their subsidiaries in China that will be making everything and then we can swap more information around. Yeah. That's the ticket.


Semi :sarcasm:

[ihavenobias]

14. Kick n/t