"I wouldn't recommend IT as a career," Wooi said. Like many in his shoes, this veteran programmer has fallen on hard times. "In the '80s and '90s, you could name your price but not anymore. These days, harcore programming is usually outsourced overseas," he added.
Wooi's frustration sums up the current state of affairs -- tech jobs are scarce. Period. But wait. If you ask the Australian Computer Society, folks there could paint an entirely different picture.
The Society released the results of its annual ICT employment survey yesterday. In a statement, it proudly proclaimed: "ACS Survey Shows Full-time Employment Finally on the Rise in ICT Sector".
ACS's tone, on the surface, sounds absolutely positive. "The 2003 Survey shows fulltime employment grew from 60.8 percent to 64.7 percent."
But upon further examination, it's obvious the remarks are riddled with confusing and contradictory statements.
(Note: In the 2002 survey, there were 889 respondents but only 607 responded to the most recent survey).
"There are some promising trends illustrated in this report, which support our belief that the ICT sector as a whole will continue to experience better than national rates of employment growth in the coming 12 months. However, unemployment levels remain unacceptably high," said ACS President Edward Mandla.
If the unemployment rate is alarmingly high, it's baffling why the ACS chose to spin such a rosy picture from the onset rather than stick to the facts.
Mandla goes on to say: "The dynamics of the ICT industry are currently very complex with many forces working for and against it. Offshoring and an increasing ICT deficit work against it. Open-source software and increased government/large corporate spending on projects work for it."
Large companies outsource their IT functions to IBM Global Services, EDS and the like, and cost pressures, as we've seen in the case of Telstra, has forced a significant number of jobs to be sent overseas. And open-source software? Name one major open-source project in Australia which has yieled a high number of job opportunities. Maybe the ACS is privy to certain information which eludes the entire IT industry.
The survey found that programmers were still in dire straits. "The worst affected skill sets remain programmers at 18 percent unemployment (down from 20 percent in 2002) and project managers, who remained static at 19.6 percent," Mandla said. So what does the ACS recommend? Your guess is as good as mine.
Perhaps the most puzzling part about this entire affair is Mandla's train of thought -- from unemployment, he switches gear to recruitment agencies. He revealed that the ACS might set up its OWN headhunting arm since members expressed strong antipathy towards these firms.
"The response to recruitment agencies in the survey is deeply concerning. The data suggests that the ACS ought to build closer relationships with recruitment companies and consider branding, certifying, investing in, setting-up or acquiring a recruitment company," Mandla said.
Will there be more opportunities if the ACS branches into recruiting? Can it do a better job than the experts themselves? The Society's track record speaks for itself, I reckon.
Mandla said it's a good time to be thinking about ICT as a career but many parents will beg to differ. At one university, intake for IT-related courses registered a 17 percent dip this year compared with 2003. Industry watchers attribute this trend to shrinking prospects for technology professionals. If those with experience can't find work, what can fresh graduates expect?
As a professional body which prides itself in representing the interests of information technology and communications workers, the ACS should start making substantial and relevant recommendations to improve current conditions instead of merely stating the obvious.
Has the ACS lost the plot? By setting up its own headhunting agency, will the ACS improve the ICT job situation? Send your comments to edit@zdnet.com.au.
One day we will have an inquiry into the bungling incompetence of the ACS.