Surprise! Tech is a safe career choice today

Surprise! Tech is a safe career choice today

The once rock-steady tech job has been battered by ferocious waves lately: a dot-com bust, offshoring, outsourcing, H-1B replacements, cost-cutting, and now layoffs resulting from the global economic crisis. Weary tech veterans also lament tough working conditions, citing everything from ridiculously excessive hours to ignorant managers to zero opportunities for advancement. So it's no surprise that very few college-bound teenagers dream of toiling their lives away in a cubicle staring at a computer screen.

Yet, in the current tough U.S. job market, a tech career is actually one of the safest ones to have. Tech is still a good profession with decent pay and relatively solid job security. "The reality is there's still a very healthy job sector in information technology," says Mehran Sahami, an associate professor of computer sciences at Stanford University.

Tech's poor image, though, continues to blind...

BT to sue council over "unlawful" contract termination

BT to sue council over "unlawful" contract termination

BT says it is suing Essex County Council after the supplier claimed that the local authority terminated its IT outsourcing contract illegally.

Essex brought in BT four years ago in a bid to save money, but council leaders have decided to end the arrangement and bring IT back in-house.

A spokesman for BT said: "We are disappointed Essex County Council has unlawfully terminated our contract. Having discussed the position with our lawyers, we can confirm we will be seeking substantial damages."

The contract still had three and a half years to run.

Public sector union Unison claimed that the authority stood to lose millions of pounds after ditching the deal.

In a report last year, Unison said that council staff were unhappy with the way the work was being carried out by BT.

Read the rest of the article...

Gates predicts recession will last until 2012

Gates predicts recession will last until 2012

Speaking at the annual Technology, Entertainment, Design 2009 conference in California last night, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted that the US economy would suffer another three to four "very tough" years.

Despite the hardships of the economic crisis, however, Gates called on world governments to continue investing in sectors such as education and healthcare.

"We're going through a period ... where a 50-year credit expansion has moved to contraction," said Gates. "You're going to have a number of years where aggregate demand is low."

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

Retain Your Value With Recertification

Retain Your Value With Recertification

It seems as if every business article or report you see lately starts with a mention of the economic downturn. As a result, not only is having a credential of value increasingly beneficial for an IT professional, but keeping that certification current is paramount.

Yet, as purse strings tighten and head counts shrink, IT professionals must weigh the benefits of recertification with the time and money investment involved. Those considering recertification also should be aware of several key trends in the industry before taking the plunge.

To help the decision along, let’s take a look at some of the critical factors involved, including the standard preparation time, durability of the credential, date stamping, cost and requirements.

Read the rest of the article here.

-ken

Citrix: Collaborating With Constituents for a New Cert Program

Citrix: Collaborating With Constituents for a New Cert Program

In early 2007, Citrix Education decided to revamp its certification program. Not only did changes to the program need to reflect and support the growth of the Citrix product portfolio — as well as evolving technologies and industry trends — but the new curriculum also had to address the needs of Citrix customers and partners.

For this reason, Citrix Education tapped into its constituents to collect in-depth feedback on the existing program and solicit ideas for improvements. The following findings emerged:

To read the rest of the article, see here.

-Ken

Revision no help for tough governance exam

Revision no help for tough governance exam

A new qualification is available for experts in IT governance. It's so hard that you can't revise for it, only take it and hope you are good enough to pass, as Gary Flood reports.

Sorry if the above seems off-putting, but the organisation behind the certification is adamant that becoming Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) can never be seen as something achieved by any kind of brain dump.

Read the rest of the article here.

-Ken

Cisco to lay off 2,000 staff, but more at risk unless recession lifts

Cisco to lay off 2,000 staff, but more at risk unless recession lifts

Up to 6,700 jobs may be at risk at Cisco following CEO John Chambers' forecast that revenue will drop more sharply than expected.

Chambers said yesterday that 2,000 of Cisco's 67,000 would go soon. He said the company was not yet considering a company-wide lay-off.

He expected sales in the current quarter to fall 15% to 20% compared to the same time last year,up to twice the figure forecast by analysts.

Read the rest of the article here.

-Ken

Employers using social networks to check recruitees

Employers using social networks to check recruitees

Over 30 per cent of human resources departments and business managers admit to searching for potential and current employees’ social networking profiles for information about their background and behaviour - and 24 per cent of those say that they have been put off by something they have found.

The study of 961 HR people and business managers, commissioned by people search website Yasni.co.uk reveals that they used sites like Facebook and MySpace as part of the recruitment processes, looking for any pictures, comments, or status updates that may inform extra insight into job applicants.

Read the whole article here. This is to follow on from threads like this and this.

-Ken

Enterprises finally take to Windows Vista

Enterprises finally take to Windows Vista

Enterprises are slowly taking to Windows Vista, says Forrester.

The analyst firm's annual hardware survey found that 31% of IT managers in North American and European enterprises have begun their migration to Vista, and Vista is powering just under 10% of all PCs within enterprises.

Forrester said, "Despite considerable interest in Windows 7 - Windows Vista's eventual successor, slated for release in early 2010 - Windows Vista is finally shaping up to be the operating system that dethrones Windows XP."

Read the whole article here.

-ken

UK government needs IT aid from India

UK government needs IT aid from India

Indian IT firms will be the first representatives of Indian industry to meet a new parliamentary group focused on improving the UK's economic relations with India.

IT suppliers such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL and Infosys will meet the new group on Wednesday 11 February. Private sector and public sector IT projects as well as immigration the key discussion points.

The fact that IT firms have been selected for the first meeting is no surprise given they contribute a large proportion of Indian investment in the UK. TCS and HCL employ 5,000 and 2,000 people in the UK respectively. The next meeting of the APPG will be with banking and financial services firms in India.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken