any neo IT people out there..
i teach at a local community college - it seems like there is a lot of misinformation out there about IT job opportunities - many say there are no programming jobs in the area, yet recent reports in the PD and crain's indicates otherwise....
so my questions are:
what is your view of the IT job market?
what can we do to let people know there are IT jobs available?
can you suggest any ways i can recruit people into our CISS programs?
any thoughts would be appreciated...
posted by Mike @ 11:15 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Sorry - way off-topic, but...
I hope you and yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Mike::
I just came over from BFD and find this topic very interesting. From my immediate standpoint, the company I'm part of, thunder::tech, is constantly looking for talented programmers as our agency grows. We are trying to talk to students and recent graduates with a variety of skill sets.
IT companies in this region, especially smaller, growing ones aren't in the spotlight where students know about them and thus, strive to work there.
Another big issue is: How is the curriculm changing to keep up with constantly changing technology, the move of so many applications to the web and so on?
::Jason
thanks for the responses... even thr offtopic one!
jason,
what you are saying confirms what we have felt. the IT job market is healthier than many perceive it to be. i don't think our students suffer from the problem of only wanting to work at high profile companies - i think many need to widen their job hunting scope geographically (we are in lorain county - guess that gives away the college)
actually, we are doing our best to keep up...at the risk of bragging, i think at our community college we have been more responsive to this than universities - we recently changed our software development curriculum. it now includes 2 classes devoted completely to web stuff (a basic html, and an asp.net class (integrated w/db's) - plus another class where web aplications are covered to some degree. we have a separate web development curriculum as well (called, unfortunately e-business) - we are aware that the distinction between a "software developer" and a "web developer" (as opposed to a web designer) is blurred - perhaps to the extent of there being no distinction any more. we have made some changes and i anticipate more...
it's a challenge for us because in an associates degree program you really don't have a lot of courses to play with after the gen ed requirements and core ciss courses...but we try!
it is also a challenge, because a colleges procedures and structures are set up with more traditional disciplines in mind - ones that don't change as rapidly - plus we don't want to (and can't) change because of every trend - cause as we know some tech trends are fleeting....
esp. at a community college the goal is to balance the practical and theoretical - we want our students to have a solid theoretial background, so they can be adaptive to new trends, yet we must teach them some very specific skills to help them get jobs...
where is your firm located? do they hire interns?
drop me a line if you can
mike.zellers at gmail.com
Mike,
to answer your questions..
What is your view of the IT job market?:
My experience with this job market is that most companies are more interested in making money rather that giving anyone opportunities. I think this makes it hard for students to find the jobs they need to acquire the skills that companies are seeking. Its tough to get started..
This is a very competitive field to work in and I think it takes someone’s initiative to make it happen. Having a variety of skills can help someone survive in this job market.. But nobody can ever be the full package.
I have a Networking and E-business degree from LCCC and I also picked up some design classes on my own.. The strange thing is companies always see my art work over my programming and networking skills which usually gets them interested enough for an interview.
Also having a personal web site that displays my work has been a great tool for me..
I still haven’t found my “dream job” yet though but I have no plans on giving up....
What can we do to let people know there are IT jobs available?
Personally I don’t believe much that I read in the Crains..but that’s just my opinion..
Maybe put something on the college web site about statistics on jobs and salaries in the area. Maybe focus on skills that are in demand and forecast where technology is headed..(I think LCCC probably does this already).. Is the only thing that comes to mind right now..
Maybe you could also have good job fairs where employers and students can network.. Real IT companies that have something to offer.. My experience with job fairs at LCCC was that there were very few IT companies and very high student to job ratio..
Can you suggest any ways i can recruit people into our CISS programs?
Maybe have Workshops to show what the CISS programs have to offer.. Have quality internships with companies that are well established and can give students the opportunities to acquire skills that are in demand.
Hope this help..
jeremy
thanks, jeremy
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