Which IT Careers Are Hot and Which are Not?

necromante asks: "I've been working on different IT positions through my career: support; some networking; DBA; web development; project management; even working on the client side for a little while. However, I don't feel like I am really a specialist on any of those subjects and I feel I need to focus on a particular field. So, I decided to ask for some feedback before making my decision. I understand that this depends everyones tastes, likes and dislikes. However, I would like to have a better idea of which are the available options, and I hope the results of this discussion can benefit other readers. Is there any IT career that I should consider more than the others? Which are the emerging fields? Is there any industry I should focus on in particular? Which careers on IT are actually more in demand and which ones not? Is it a better path to focus on moving into management?"

Cisco Voice

[eggoeater]

One area that is rapidly growing is Cisco VOIP. I've been studying for my Cisco CCVP cert and it's more complicated than you might think. Most companies love the fact that they can use their existing network equipment (routers/switches) to replace all their PBXs/ACDs, not to mention free inter-network calling.

I work for a large company and we're currently in the process of a ~5 year migration from all legacy PBXs to Cisco Call Manager. Many other companies are doing the same. Just about all new offices are built with either Cisco or Avaya VOIP systems, but most companies go with Cisco since you don't have to be concerned with compatibility. (eg. A high-end Cisco router is also your telephony gateway where the T1s are converted to VOIP.) As you can guess, this calls for some highly specialized skill sets (eg. Call Manager/ICM/IVR + Cisco Networking/IOS, etc.) which not a lot of people have. If you're certified, you will NOT have a problem finding a job.

Loaded question

[t00le]

I think the question is somewhat loaded, but I suppose everyone has a perspective. In my opinion VOIP and Network Security are hot career paths. I have been working with both (Cisco) over the course of the last five years and the market is very good for specialized Network geeks. When looking for marketability on the job boards VOIP/NetSec are paying more than my other skills.

The one thing I do know for a fact is if you are diversified in a couple of "hot skills" your marketability goes through the roof. If you throw management experience along with that you can make some pretty hefty sums AND find a job you like.

My .02

Re:emerging fields:

[gosand]

OK, so which word is misspelled?

Stupid question

[__aahlyu4518]

Go with the job that you LIKE. Not what is the best for a career.

A career in which you don't feel at home with will kill you before you get to retirement.

Hybrids are key

[morglamb]

I'm manager of a couple of teams at top 5 bank, and my team is primarily responsible for data warehousing and ETL processing for the mutual fund division. Frankly, the best position in IT is the job that is not easy to acquire offshore, and pure IT is... I can find .NET or Java engineers both in the states or overseas; I can find sysadmins here or offshore; and while the requirements rigor is much higher for offshore resources in a development context, I can get it done cheaper, as unpopular as that may be on this board. Most IT folks don't work in a pure IT shop, ie - Google/Oracle/Microsoft - essentially a company where the technology is the product/service offering. We are enablers of some other business, and at least at my company, we are offshoring like mad so every new development position gets weighted against a set of criteria to see if it's offshore eligible: unless there's particular industry and/or business data knowledge, they typically are eligible. My recommendation - learn the business. It's the hybrids that companies will retain in the future. It's the blend of business expertise and IT solutions that is difficult for an organization, hell, even a manager, to replace. A specialist here is truly just a commodity worldwide without the corresponding industry and/or business expertise.

Regional Considerations are important

[jerryodom]

I just finished up a career move and have to say that where you're at matters a great deal in terms of "what's hot".

For instance I was working as a developer for an advertising company doing PHP, Perl, Linux, Javascript, etc where I live now. When that job dried up I needed to find work in my area but 90% of what's going on in Baton Rouge is in the Microsoft environment. I couldn't find a job for quite a while because I didn't have 2+ years of Microsoft development.

I got plenty of job offers out of state(for some reason Tampa Florida companies like my resume) but nobody around here.

So I purchased a few .NET 2.0 books and learned enough to talk my way into a position. Working with Microsoft development is ridiculously easy for me. I can't believe I had a hard time finding a position because I'd done non-Microsoft development but oh well.

Location is extremely important. I'd definitely take a look at what's going on where you want to live before you take a career focus. Now that I've been working with .NET I feel pretty secure that I could jump from opportunity to opportunity if I needed to.

Re:Good techies don't necessarily make good manage

[aadvancedGIR]

Actually, I beleive the Dilbert principle is more accurate in the GP case : "The least competent ones are promoted first to take them away from productive position where they could be dangerous".

IT/finance

[Wilson777]

Jobs in the finance side of IT are, and will, remain very strong. Jobs such as "quant developer" that combine strong IT skills with business knowledge will always be in demand from investment banks and other financial services companies. These roles involve C++ and VBA development plus quite good mathematical skills to be able to understand and implement the pricing models but if you have the skills you can get the money, one thousand pounds sterling per day in London at the moment if you're really good..!

You're right, if want "Hot" for $, get out of IT

[Anonymous Coward]

In 1987 I started working full time in IT (plus some part-time IT jobs before that). Two MS degrees (one in statistics, the other in CS). I'll make $83K this year.

My 23 year old nephew graduated from college last year, majored in marketing. He just got promoted and will make $85K in salary (bonus could put him into 6 figures).

If you want "Hot" because of the bucks, IT might not be the way to go.

Re:No Future in IT in USA

[slartibart]

Sorry but this is not as true as you think.

When you hire someone to program for you, communication is absolutely crucial to success. If the person you hire doesn't speak the same language you do (or doesn't speak it well), you're probably not going to get what you ask for. Also consider how bad communication will be if you are unavailable (sleeping) most or all of the time they're working. You can only communicate once per day. If they have a question, they have to stop working until the next day when you've answered them.

A good portion of the time, outsourcing is just not worth it. It doesn't matter how cheap the labor is, when the product you end up with is not what you want.

Re:The Fields You Love

[ThomsonsPier]

Hmm. It seems that most people don't know the full saying:

Jack of all trades,
Master of none;
But oftentimes better
Than master of one.