Technology Sectors that are Hot or Heating Up Now?

unemployedCoder-in-retraining asks: "As a recently "leisured" programmer, I'm very interested in trying to turn misfortune into opportunity. This means using this career discontinuity to bone up on the latest-n-greatest in the hot sectors of the industry, to offer a better chance of a finding another great job. Of course, then one asks: 'What's Hot?' The Telco/Switching sector seems to have flatlined (Nortel and Lucent as examples). Cable and DSL access device and service development seems to be struggling. Wireless 3G networks seem to be having a hard time in North America. And yet, we here that a recovery is underway and that the technology sector as a whole is picking up again. So I ask you: 'Where?' In what sectors? What are the most important new technologies to learn to enhance employability? Somewhere, somebody is hiring or will be soon. What do I and other victims of the slowdown have to know to 'get back in the saddle' in the near future?"

Reason for overly sunny info

[PsiPsiStar]

I've been reading the book Next (my father reccomended it. He's a businessman so it's at that level. It did have some interesting stuff though, like explaining the conflicts of interest that most financial advisers are involved in and how you can get more accurate estimates of profits just by reducing their estimates by 10%.

So that can help to explain why what you're hearing isn't matching up with reality.

Re:Don't chase trends

[selderrr]

I will depend heavily on the trend, and the trendsetter. If you want to chase a trent set by some small town startup, you're probably fucked indeed. If you follow a trens set up by a donkey with enough cash momentum to give that trend a huge initial push, you can hook up and ride along for quite some time.
A few examples are .Net, XBox, java, 3D games, palm stuff... most of these started as a gadget that turned into a trend which turned into a full blown sector. Some of these will survive, some will die out.

Hey, the poster asked for interseting job opportunities, right ? He didn't ask for an interesting or valuabble job !

web services

[bilbobuggins]

web services.

i know it sounds like a trendy buzz-word but i think it's here to stay and some seriously cool stuff will start to happen soon (look at Google).
at any rate, if you can walk into a potential employer and say 'I can convert your current software into a remote API for access by your clients in a multitude of languages' I think you have a pretty good shot at a job. at least, this is what I would be trying to learn if I had time.

Oh, and being able to throw around 'SOAP' and '.NET' a lot doesn't hurt too much either ;)

Biotech?

[cr0sh]

This may be the next big thing, but right now most of what the usual geek could get into seems mostly hype. What I am talking about is the field of Bioinformatics. From what I understand, Bioinformatics is basically "data mining of biotech databases" - more or less. I know there are a few books available on the subject (including one by Oreilly). The main problems with "breaking into the scene" is most positions, when offered, require you to have some kind of science degree (biology related, generally) - even though it is just data-mining. I tend to wonder if it is because you really have to know the terminology behind the data you are looking through (maybe), or if it is just such a young field that the employers thinks they need such people right now.

It is something I would like to get into: I live in Phoenix, and the city is trying to get something going here called the "International Genomics Commission" (IGC - the "C" part I am hazy on) - basically a huge research lab for biotech, etc - so far, it is seemingly being sucessful. Anyhow, I haven't got a chance in hell of possibly getting onboard "early", so to speak, because not only do I not have a degree in any bio science area, but I don't have a degree at all (ok, I take that back, I do have an Associates, but from a tech school - read: Near Worthless). All I do have is 10+ years of professional experience in software development and database applications - but I am not sure that will count for much, at least at this point in time.

Another area to consider: Alternative Energy Research - I am not talking solar, etc - but more on funky engine and prime mover designs, etc - I am seeing more of this stuff crop up all over the place.

Work on up-and-coming Big Free Software Projects

[Micah]

...like GNU Enterprise [gnue.org].

As people continue to see the light and increasingly prefer Free Software, and want to keep their data in a more open system, projects like this should skyrocket in use, and people that know them well should be more valuable.

The Problem with "Hot" Jobs

[fidget42]

is that they tend to cool off, and the hotter they are the faster (and farther) they cool. I would really recommend a more "tempid" area for work, as those jobs will be around for a while. Network administration may not be sexy, but I have yet to see a network that can manage itself.

I personally work in embedded systems development. While the pay may not be at the top of the curve, you will not find a more challenging area nor will you find a brighter group of developers. The best thing is that your skills are kept sharp for when the industry heats up again (i.e., You can do what on a 486 with 128K of memory?).

not hot but stable

[Anonymous Coward]

Look into NT engineering. They are always jobs posted on hotjobs.com for them. I was a Solaris Operator for Dow Jones but now that the bubble burst we were let go. Now it's almost impossible to find another unix job. There aren't any Linux jobs outside of programming which are all temp jobs or require a rediculous amount of experience(8-10 years). Don't believe me.. Go to hotjobs.com and look for Linux Jobs. The only one is for rackspace.com and they've been flooding that for 4 months now.

Career for dummies:
Windows World:
Obtain A+ cert -> get job repairing PC's at Best buy or small pc shop ($10/hr)-> Obtain MCP and read up on MOUS objectives -> Get Job as Help Desk ($20/hr) -> Obtain MCSA + CCNA -> JR NT Engineer($25/hr) -> Obtain MCSE + CCNP -> SENIOR NT Engineer -> SQL Cert (oracle/sql)+ Visual Basic -> DBA (100,000/year) ->RETIRE

Unix World:
temp unix operator job ->learn Shell scripting/perl and veritas and earn SCSA->Look for underpaid SCSA admin jobs->(after a few years you realize that now the bubble has burst there is no demand for unix admins)-> go to windows

or

RHCE->troll slashdot->learn c and write free code ($0/hr)->go back to windows

Summary: The hotjobs of the future will be Supporting Microsoft products.

Graphical summary: http://finance.yahoo.com/q?d=c&c=msft&k=c1&t=1y&s= lnux&a=v&p=s&l=on&z=m&q=l

Computer Games

[EpsCylonB]

The computer game industry is worht more than the film industry worldwide, it is predicted that it will grow year on year for the next five and there is a specific lack of people who have experience or specific training (cause none really exists).

Downsides are that it is very competitive, only 10% of games released make money. It is very difficult to make headway in the industry unless you work for a publisher or a well established software house.

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A better question...

[hendridm]

Where can I get an IT job in the U.S.? Anyone? I have applied for EVERYTHING here in the Midwest (meaning ALL IT jobs I've come across and anything else in the newspaper, even bank tellers, secretary positions, retail stores (damn college degree), and I can't get anything).

I'm quite aware the Midwest is years behind the rest of the planet in everything except antique automotive storage techniques, but I am willing to relocate. Where should I go?

Wrong question

[evilpenguin]

I see that others share my sentiment about this. The question is the wrong question. Learn and master the fundmentals. If you are into hardware, learn your electrical engineering. Master it. If it is software, learn the fundamentals of programming, systems design, algorithms, threading, etc. Learn a few fundamental languages (for the *nix world I'd say C, C++, Java, perl, shells, and then maybe some others that extend your world-view, such as lisp, scheme, and smalltalk). Learn how to express solutions for common problems in each of these languages.

I see so many programmers coming up these days whom I describe as "tool-junkies." They are programmers who know how to solve problems with one library collection, one integrated compiler suite, and nothing else (and, yes, I am referring mainly to Visual Studio, but there is a Java "tool-junkie" culture too -- Java programmers who can't work outside of their only IDE).

If you find yourself using a library without the slightest inkling of what must be happening in that library it should send warning flags up in your head. You should be able to write anything any other programmer could write. If you can't imagine how to even begin, you may be a tool-junkie. (Note that I am not saying you would have to write it as well as any other programmer -- obviously skills vary -- but you should have some idea how to tackle the problem, because you should have seen and solved something like it before. Genuinely new techniques are extremely rare. For the most part in programming you are making a symphony of familiar tropes, not breaking new ground.)

Learn fundamentals, not buzzwords, and maybe you won't find yourself looking for another job involuntarily.