I am a 25 year old Global Business degree seeking student who is majoring in Information Systems Management. Or is that the other way around, I'm not sure. I've made mistakes in my College career, and its been extended to about 7 years now. That joke David Spade and Chris Farley have in "Tommy Boy" relates to me. Farley: "Hey Richard, I graduated!" Spade: "And just a shade under a decade, good job." Farley: "Hey, lots of people goto school for 7 years." Spade: "Yeah, they're called doctors." Of course thats paraphrased from memory.
The computer job market is pretty stagnent right now. Even moreso then the rest of the the economy. I don't think the job market is going to get any better. When I started down my degree seeking way, computers were the big job market that everyone was training for because there was "BIG NEED." Now its oversaturated with these people and under increased competition from outsourcing and smarter systems. Of course there will always be a need for Computer Specialists, but I've come to the conclusion that the computer information system industry is going to shoot itself in the foot.
HTML, XHTML, XML, VHTML, Java, Javascript, Perl, ASP, PHP, VB, VBScript, C++, C#, C, and on and on. How can a person be proficient in all of this? I've taken 2 semesters of C++, a semester of VB, one that deals with HTML, and another that dealt with VBscript, ASP, Javascript, and XML. I'm far from proficient at any of these. I can understand it, but I couldn't put it to use without extensive help. And I'm nearly done with my College. As amazing as that sounds. I've decided to continue on and get a Masters degree and start taking some of those certifications. The masters is really to help me know more about the field, the certs are just resume padding.
I'm starting to think that the computer industry needs to regulate itself and come up with one or two standards for internet programming and web design. I know some people don't have my problem. They've been programming or making websites for years and years, and the degree is just a solidification of this fact. Most of my knowledge of the systems comes from the class and classroom projects. Its just not enough. If it stays like this, its going to get to a point where computer specialists will have to take the same amount of classes and years of training that Doctors do in order to get their real first job. They will have to know everything about everything and will be paid big time money to learn it.
If it stays as it is, I just want to stay in the industry long enough to make some bucks and start my own resturant or some other business in a field that isn't likely to be swept away by modernization or outsourcing.