The Falmouth Public Schools have an active, CORI-compliant volunteer program, and they’ve asked me to speak tomorrow at the High School’s Junior Career Day on Software Engineering\/Computer Programming.<\/p>
\nI’ve put together a PowerPoint deck, but to tell the truth, my heart really isn’t in it. When I made the career change about 10 years ago from HR to programming, I expected things to be quite different.
\nFor example, how to tell these kids that their job prospects are pretty dismal now, and only expected to get worse by the time they’ve slogged through a tough degree in Engineering or Computer Science?
\nAccording to last Sunday’s Boston Globe, Massachusetts lost almost 4,000 high tech jobs LAST YEAR alone (3,859 to be exact). That, following the bloodbaths of 2001 and 2002, and during a time when the overall economic picture for the state was on the rise.
\nWhether because of the tech bust, offshoring or other factors, the profession hasn’t been a whole lot of fun for a long time. The old days of comraderie are gone, replaced by pressures on salaries, bad working conditions, overcompetitive co-workers and clueless managers.
\nThere is, of course, the pleasure in building something that helps to make lives and work easier, and the mastery of new skills and techniques.
\nFurthermore, I’m sure that those who spend their days in think tanks, like the R&D centers that Microsoft has been building in India, are having a good time, especially those whose housing expenses are only about 12% of gross pay.
\nMy colleagues are more optimistic than I am, figuring that there will always be opportunities for developers in the US. The kids should go for it, they sez.
\nUltimately, it probably doesn’t much matter what I tell them or the impression I leave: my neighbor the public school teacher predicted that I’ll have a decent turnout and they’ll enjoy the presentation. After all, I’m giving them a legitimate reason to cut class.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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