I've been in the business of creating software for a living for 40 years now. The ease of getting a job in this industry is cyclic.
- 80s: you needed two years of experience to get a job. How do you get that experience? Great question! People would go back to school to get a master's in computer science hoping that would improve their odds in finding a job.
- 90s: offshoring begins in earnest, not to mention the huge recession under the Bush administration. Companies were laying off left and right. Things got better as the decade progressed and the so-called "world wide web" became popular.
- 00s: started with the 9/11 disaster. When the towers fell, IT jobs fell with them. Nearly every IT consultant had their contract terminated. Add to that the Y2K crises was over and a lot of IT professionals and new graduates found themselves out of work. Just when things started to look up, the economic crash of 2008 came and kicked us in the nuts. They say the graduates from 2008 never made up for their lost income and opportunities.
- 10s: Mobile! Mobile! Mobile! Breathed new life into the industry. After reeling from Y2K, a lot of companies got serious about replacing the mainframe altogether, not just patching things up. Jobs were pretty good.
- 20s: No real growth in processing power or system capabilities. Development methodologies, technologies, and architectures have been stable for over a decade. A period of refinement and driving efficiencies - i.e. downsizing. AI is in its infancy and people are wondering what it really means for business. Remote work means the talent pool is now much more vast. You can no longer get hired just because you were the best available in the local market. Very similar to the 80s in that people want proven experience.
There you go. The easy days are probably behind us.
I've been in the business of creating software for a living for 40 years now. The ease of getting a job in this industry is cyclic.
- 80s: you needed two years of experience to get a job. How do you get that experience? Great question! People would go back to school to get a master's in computer science hoping that would improve their odds in finding a job.
- 90s: offshoring begins in earnest, not to mention the huge recession under the Bush administration. Companies were laying off left and right. Things got better as the decade progressed and the so-called "world wide web" became popular.
- 00s: started with the 9/11 disaster. When the towers fell, IT jobs fell with them. Nearly every IT consultant had their contract terminated. Add to that the Y2K crises was over and a lot of IT professionals and new graduates found themselves out of work. Just when things started to look up, the economic crash of 2008 came and kicked us in the nuts. They say the graduates from 2008 never made up for their lost income and opportunities.
- 10s: Mobile! Mobile! Mobile! Breathed new life into the industry. After reeling from Y2K, a lot of companies got serious about replacing the mainframe altogether, not just patching things up. Jobs were pretty good.
- 20s: No real growth in processing power or system capabilities. Development methodologies, technologies, and architectures have been stable for over a decade. A period of refinement and driving efficiencies - i.e. downsizing. AI is in its infancy and people are wondering what it really means for business. Remote work means the talent pool is now much more vast. You can no longer get hired just because you were the best available in the local market. Very similar to the 80s in that people want proven experience.
There you go. The easy days are probably behind us.